Member News: Quilt for Change has a New Project! "Sister Artists"

Quilt for Change has a new project!

"Sister Artists” was launched this week. The main goal of this project is to raise funds for victims of Gender Based Violence (GBV) in Mali in West Africa through an online auction of art quilts. On this project we are partnering with, The Advocacy Project , a Washington DC based non profit organization. For several years now, The Advocacy Project  has been working with Sini Sanuman, a Malian civil society organization which provides job training to survivors of Gender Based Violence Survivors. Sini Sanuman's newest venture, Sini Brodage, teaches the women to embroider.  

For this project, the women have embroidered 39 blocks depicting village life in Mali. Quilt for Change is looking for quilt artists to collaborate with these women and turn their embroidered blocks into art quilts. The quilts will be exhibited in Washington, DC in the fall of this year (venue to be determined), and then auctioned online to raise funds for Sini Brodage in Mali. Photos of the quilts will also be posted on the Quilt for Change and The Advocacy Project’s websites.

Hollis Chatelain, whose exhibit Stories of West Africa is traveling the US, has agreed to select one quilt for special recognition, and the artist of that quilt will receive a bundle of beautiful fabric from West Africa. Hollis says she will be looking for the quilt which best supports and raises up the art of the Malian women’s embroidery.

We understand it is a big ask to donate a quilt to be auctioned, but hope you will consider taking part in this project. All the details are on our website here: QuiltforChange.org and on The Advocacy Project’s website. 

There are a limited number of blocks available, and we encourage you to enter as soon as possible. Blocks will be mailed in the order the entry fee is received, so please take a look as soon as possible. 

If you would like to know more about the work of The Advocacy Project, please visit their website to see the wide range of their programs. To see how they have incorporated quilting into their mission, visit the quilting section of their website here. 

If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact us at Quilt for Change, or Karen Delaney at The Advocacy Project (kdelaney@advocacynet.org). We encourage you to share this announcement with fellow art quilters who might be interested in participating.