The Arkansas Folklife Quilt: A Community Art Project

What does Arkansas culture look like? Help us stitch the answer together.

In partnership with the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Mobile Art Lab, festival participants are invited to create individual quilt squares inspired by their families, communities, traditions, memories, and visions for Arkansas’s future. Throughout the festival, people of all ages can contribute their own artistic voice to this collaborative project.

Each decorated square will become part of the inaugural Arkansas Folklife Quilt, a one-of-a-kind community artwork that captures the stories, creativity, and cultural traditions of Arkansans from across the state. Drawing on Arkansas’s rich quilting heritage, the project celebrates quilting not only as an art form, but as a tradition of storytelling, community-building, and care.

Once the festival concludes, the individual squares will be assembled and quilted into a permanent commemorative quilt, preserving the contributions of hundreds of participants in a shared work of art. Together, these pieces will create a vibrant portrait of Arkansas, stitched together by the people who call it home.

Add your square, share your story, and help create a lasting piece of Arkansas folklife history.