The Alliance for American Quilts
Offers a Unique "Place" to Belong

Louisville, Kentucky, September 13, 2004-The Alliance for American Quilts has announced a new opportunity for everyone who loves quilts to be a part of history as a Charter Member. Members of The Alliance will be active participants in ensuring that our great quilt heritage is documented, preserved and, most importantly, shared at the Center for the Quilt Online, www.centerforthequilt.org. Membership also comes with many benefits and opportunities for those who join.

The Center for the Quilt Online already shares incredible, FREE resources with everyone who cares about quilts. As Alliance President Shelly Zegart said, "The Center for the Quilt Online is the place to go for information about American quilts and quiltmakers-from our Quilters' S.O.S. - Save Our Stories oral histories, to the Quilt Index database of quilts, to web documentaries of the "Quilt Treasures" who made the quilt revival possible, to wonderful films in streaming video, to opportunities to get advice and information from quilt experts. Membership adds great value to what is already available."

For as little as $50, new Charter Members receive a handsome limited-edition Alliance pin; advance email notification of Alliance projects, plans, and activities; invitations to quilt event openings, lectures, and symposia; access to special members-only pages on the website; and website recognition for their support. For membership at higher levels, Members may receive signed books, invitations to private museum receptions and private guided tours of quilt exhibitions or museums, provided freely by the members of The Alliance's board of directors.

For example, one of the first exclusive offerings on the members-only pages is a pattern for a block designed by Alliance board member and quilt artist Yvonne Porcella. It is from The Voice of You and Me 2004, the second raffle quilt created by Yvonne and quilt artist and board member Karen Musgrave to benefit The Alliance. This year's quilt is a naïve rendition of a Baltimore Album-style quilt made with 1850s reproduction fabrics.

The Alliance for American Quilts, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, implements its projects in partnership with institutions and organizations nationally, including three regional centers-the Center for American Material Culture Studies at the University of Delaware, the Great Lakes Quilt Center at the Michigan State University Museum, and the Center for American History at the University of Texas. Other Alliance partners include the Library of Congress American Folklife Center, and MATRIX, the Center for Humane Arts, Letters and Social Sciences Online.

For information on membership, to purchase tickets for the raffle quilt and to learn more about The Alliance for American Quilts, visit the Center for the Quilt Online, www.centerforthequilt.org or contact The Alliance (502/897-3819, quiltalliance@aol.com).

For more information contact:
Robert Shaw, Executive Director
The Alliance for American Quilts
(502) 897-3819 (telephone and fax)
quiltalliance@aol.com
http://www.centerforthequilt.org