News  Cultural Appreciation Week Celebration and Awards Ceremony Acknowledges Work of Champions and Community Participants

The Massachusetts Trial Court Cultural Appreciation Week (CAW) Celebration and Awards Ceremony featured powerful performances that moved the packed audience, remarks by court leaders on culture, inclusion, and belonging, and the presentation of awards to planners and participants of the 2024 Cultural Appreciation Week.

The event was held at the Massachusetts Probation Service Training and Operations Center (MTOC) in Clinton on Friday. This annual awards ceremony is an acknowledgment of the Cultural Proficiency Champions, also referred to as Champions, who plan statewide activities each year. Cultural Appreciation Week takes place in October and the 2024 theme was "Diverse Threads, One Tapestry." The celebrations featured author talks, art and museum exhibits, panel discussions, games and trivia contests, as well as music, poetry, and dance performances, cooking demonstrations, and food tastings.

Northampton District Court Officer I Thomas Bolden kicked off Friday's event with a dynamic rendition of "The American Anthem," which brought the audience to its feet and thunderous applause. Supreme Judicial Court Associate Justice Dalila Wendlandt, guest speaker, spoke about her life and career experiences as a woman of Columbian descent who grew up in Louisiana— first becoming an engineer followed by a law career, and appointment as a judge. Associate Justice Wendlandt also spoke about the importance of events such as Cultural Appreciation Week.

"When we invite each other to celebrate our stories, our music, our clothing, our holidays, and especially our food, we share a part of ourselves, and that is what this Cultural Appreciation Week is all about--taking time to recognize the vast diversity that we have here in the Trial Court and taking the space to make those connections" she said.

Associate Justice Wendlandt added, "You can go to a St. Patrick Day's Parade and celebrate that you are Irish. You can go to a Puerto Rican Day Parade and celebrate that you are Boricua (Puerto Rican). You can go to a Juneteenth Day and celebrate that you are also African-American and you can break Challah (a special bread in Jewish cuisine) tonight with your friends at a Seder. Hyphenated identifies are American identities. They are part of our shared story and the greatest strength of our country."

Probation Commissioner Pamerson Ifill, Court Administrator Thomas Ambrosino, and Dr. Carmen Gomez, Deputy Commissioner of Pretrial Services and manager of the Cultural Appreciation Week, also addressed the audience.

Commissioner Ifill spoke about the importance of inclusion, "Diversity at its core means to include, involve, and provide opportunities and access for all people regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, religion, orientation. It doesn't matter who and what you are. It means we want to include everybody. This is the best time of the year for us all to get together and celebrate each other, recognize each other, and the contributions that we make."

Court Administrator Ambrosino told the audience, "One of the favorite things I do in this job is to go out to the courts. I love that part of the job, going out to meet the workforce and Cultural Appreciation Week gives me that opportunity. I love the events. They are entertaining and quite moving. I'm impressed by the stories our employees tell us about their personal history. I personally think that is the great strength of our system—the diversity among our workforce and we really should be celebrating it....I want to let you know that I and Chief Justice (Heidi) Brieger really are grateful for your hard work. I would just say keep it up and I am really looking forward to next year."

Dr. Gomez also reflected on her one-year anniversary as the manager of this statewide celebration. She took this role following the appointment of Commissioner Ifill who first introduced the idea of the celebration to the Trial Court nearly nine years ago.

Friday's ceremony also featured the New Generation Performance Group of Northampton which gave a riveting performance—including Spoken word pieces about societal issues-- that moved many in the audience to tears. The production was followed by an awards ceremony when plaques were presented to Champions who hosted “Signature Court” events—designated court and Community Justice Support sites that are visited by court and community leaders-- and Certificates of Appreciation were given to Champions who planned the more than 100 events across the state.

The first Cultural Appreciation event began as a day-long celebration in 2017 with 70 Champions who were mostly Massachusetts Probation Service employees. Now, It is a week-long fete planned by 300 Champions who are Massachusetts Trial Court employees.