As you’d guess, we have a busy Art Department at Blue Q. But did you know we have two? One team coordinates Blue Q product design, and then we have our team in Arts and Assembly. They’re front and center in a busy, buzzing space with plants everywhere, huge murals with Keith Haring-esque drawings, and lots of friendly people working and making art together.
The Arts and Assembly Department is made up of people with and without disabilities who work together at the very heart of Blue Q. If you’ve ever been delighted to find an unexpected gift or piece of artwork in your Blue Q order, it came from Arts and Assembly. This team is one of the main reasons why Blue Q is a fun and meaningful place to come to work every day. Their contributions to the company and its culture go way above and beyond!
HOW WE STARTED
We didn’t dream up this program on our own. We’ve had tons of help and guidance and partnership from one of the leading organizations advocating and working for the civil rights, education, and inclusion of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities: Berkshire County Arc.
The Arc formed in 1950 when parent groups came together in Minnesota to organize efforts to increase public investment in research into intellectual and developmental disabilities. Since then the organization’s advocacy work has been instrumental in winning the passage of landmark legislation like the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Today the Arc has 549 state and local chapters all over the United States, including right here in the Berkshires.
Blue Q's program has been designed over 30+ years of collaboration with Berkshire County Arc, and it’s completely unique to our workplace. It combines elements of a creativity-focused day program, and time spent doing paid work like assembling and packaging products for Blue Q including Lip Shit and Pocket Boxes. The program is funded by Blue Q and Berkshire County Arc (which is supported by donations and grants).
HOW IT WORKS
As the New Product Development Department works on generating new ideas and products for Blue Q, we always keep in mind the Arts & Assembly Department. How can they help? What level of involvement can they have with each new item or category? It’s important to us to maintain a good balance between their paid assembly work and creative activities. The amount of production work they have can fluctuate based on demand and we neither want to overburden them with tedious packaging work, nor underwhelm them. As we all do, this department takes pride in the good work they do for us, not to mention the paycheck.
Whenever someone is doing work on the products we sell, Blue Q is paying for work hours at a rate that's above Massachusetts minimum wage.
The Berkshires is well-known for its cultural assets and outdoorsy lifestyle, and our program aims for inclusion in both areas. One of our favorite local organizations, Community Access to The Arts, comes by every week to provide art classes for the whole Arts & Assembly team. They work in a wide variety of mediums, and their projects festoon the halls and walls of the building and teammates’ desks. Another highlight of the program happens in the garden and the kitchen. Friends from the Berkshire Botanical Gardens come by throughout the summer to guide the team as they plant and maintain the community gardens at Blue Q headquarters. As the gardening season gets into full swing, there’s a weekly harvest, followed by a cooking class in the office kitchen, and delicious fresh snacks like kale chips and homemade pesto. The leftover veggies are left on a cute little farmstand in our building entry, called The Sharing Garden, where anyone can help themselves to the fresh produce and herbs like kale, mint or chives.
There’s also time for fun, like field trips to visit baby animals, or watch a movie, or trick-or-treat in the warehouse at Halloween, or gather the whole company to hear Meaghan sing Elvis tunes on a rainy afternoon. It all culminates in the annual Arts and Assembly Team Awards Show at our holiday party, which is undoubtedly the most joyful moment of the Blue Q year.
