Good morning, everyone!

Here in Georgia at least this is the first week of summer vacation. Bring on ALL THE SWIMMING!

In other interesting news, our dinner Wednesday night was interrupted by pitiful meows coming from our front porch. When I went outside, I found a gorgeous little girl kitty who I would guess is about 9 months old. She's extremely friendly and too skinny. Of course, I fed her, and she hasn't left our porch since. I've taken to calling her Felicia, and one of my tasks this weekend will be taking her to the SPCA to get checked for a chip. If no chip, we may have gained the world's sweetest porch kitty. 

Today I want to share with you about a local organization here in Duluth, Georgia, The Duluth Fine Arts League. When our lovely Mayor, Nancy Harris, took office, she decided that Duluth should be a destination for the arts. As a result, we have the Duluth Public Arts Commission (DPAC) and the Duluth Fine Arts League (DFAL). 

Our President, Mary Buck, summarizes DFAL well: 

"The Duluth Fine Arts League was founded in 2009 as a grass roots organization to bring awareness of the arts toDuluth. Eight years later DFAL is 100+ members strong and is educating and engaging members in the arts. One main emphasis is to provide scholarships to high school students who are majoring or minoring in the fine arts. Since 2010 DFAL has given $40,000 in scholarships to these students."

DFAL's scholarship program is just one way that the organization emphasizes the importance of supporting the next generation of creatives. DFAL is deeply involved in local schools, especially Coleman Middle School, which is a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mechanics), and DFAL was also a major sponsor of Duluth's most recent public art installation, The Dream Keepers. On a personal note, I was delighted to speak at the last DFAL meeting about my work with Quilts for Cure. 

The City of Duluth, our fabulous mayor, the Duluth Public Arts Commission, the Duluth Fine Arts League, and the citizens of Duluth value and celebrate the arts. While I know y'all, dear readers, are scattered many places that are not Duluth, I share about DFAL for two main reasons: 

1) I'm proud of my city, proud to be a member of DFAL, proud to be promoting the arts in my community, and thankful to have many new friends at DFAL

2) I know that, as artists, it's easy to feel like we don't have much civic support. if you don't have an organization like DFAL in your town, maybe you can help start one to support your local makers and creatives as well as up and coming artists in your community. Connect your people and encourage each other!

I'll be back on Monday with Week 6 of the #MachineQuiltingBlogHop! Until then, you can find me on Instagram or Facebook @stringandstory as I sew my way through the weekend and drop of Georgia and Murmuration for the Georgia Celebrates Quilts show. If you'd like inspiring content delivered to your inbox each Saturday in time for your morning cup of coffee, sign up for my newsletter here. 

Happy art-ing!

HollyAnne