We need you – the community of co-creators and believers in The Monument Quilt, a community art project and public space for healing by and for survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence – to help preserve our archive of 600 quilts emblazoned with our stories, messages of support, and declarations of resistance. Please make a donation today to help keep these quilts protected and safe as we work to preserve the memory of our work together. Your tax-deducible donations will cover basic expenses including bins, storage unit rent, and shelving.

In 2019, The Monument Quilt made history as the first national memorial for survivors and victims of sexual and intimate partner violence. After six years of organizing with hundreds of community based organizations across the country and several national tours where the FORCE collective installed the quilt as a space for healing and of protest, we held a 3-day healing festival on the National Mall. In this 50th and final display across 1 mile of green space, 3,000 stories from survivors and their allies occupied our nation’s capital.

Since this last display of The Monument Quilt, the remaining collective members of FORCE have been hard at work to create a "dispersed" archive; we are placing the quilts in collections across the US and beyond, where they will be preserved, exhibited, and cared for. To date, we are proud to say that 150 out of 750 quilts are in permanent collections, with incredible programming and coverage about the quilts generated from each.

The remaining 600 quilts remain in storage in Baltimore, until we find an institutional home. To properly care for the quilts, which have now been in storage since June 2019, we now need to purchase new bins and shelves, and continue paying rent. The original bins that protected the quilts are now collapsing, and we need to install shelving to prevent this from happening again. But the memory of this project is more urgent now than ever, and we remain committed to continuing to care for these quilts as carriers of this special history of resistance.

This is where you come in: As the community of people who co-created The Monument Quilt, and our friends, colleagues, and extended networks who believe in the continued importance of this work, we need you to make a donation to fix these problems. A gift of any amount will help us preserve these quilts and stories until their care can be taken over by a larger and more resourced organization.

We are raised $25,000 which will cover basic material and rent costs for 4 years.

Here is an itemized list of what your donations will support:

🧶130 new bins to protect the quilts from the elements

🧶 16 rolling shelves, to ensure they are accessible for future displays and exhibitions and prevent the bins from collapsing again.

🧶4 years of rent for the storage unit

With your support, we can care for these quilts while we work to grow the impressive list of institutions who now hold sections of The Monument Quilt. That list currently includes: Baltimore Museum of Art, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, the Lewis Museum of African American History and Culture, University of North Carolina Greensboro, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, Ohio University – Women’s Center and the Kennedy Museum, Colgate University, Drew University, Towson University – Special Collections and University Archives, Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), Skidmore College, University of Delaware, Cornell University, The Robert W. Deutsch Foundation, Blue Mountain Center, and in individual collections, including Nancy Lord, Michele Beaulieux, and Geneva Murray.

Thank you for your support of The Monument Quilt.

In solidarity,
Hannah and Mora