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The Grand National Legacy Fund
The Grand National Quilt Show was inauguarted in 2003 to encourage and showcase the work of quilters and fibre artists, both traditional and innovative, across Canada. Though, Oh! Canada was expected to be its last, the volunteer committee in its heart was determined that this fine tradition should continue. Therefore, the Committee established The Grand National Legacy Fund within the Kitchener Waterloo Community Foundation that, once the fund was able, would award annually a grant of $1000 to an organization that presents a public exhibition or event that highlights the textile arts in Canada.
What was not expected, but was welcomed, was that a group of past Grand National artists were determined to have the Grand National live on. They asked for permission to carry on the tradition and to use the name, Grand National. They wanted to build on the tradition of the shows that had taken place in Kitchener, Ontario. They held their first Grand National Exhibition, Still, in 2019 in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba.
They were letting us know that the Grand Nation, Still, lives on.
The original plan of the GN Legacy Fund was to receive applications from groups for the annual grant each year. With the continuation of the Grand National and its being a traveling exhibit, we decided the grant would go permanently to the Grand National as long as it continues.
Currently the GN is scheduled to take place in 2024 and will be a traveling exhibit that will open in
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Kootenay Gallery of Art, Castlegar, BC: June/July 2024.
. The theme is Delights. For more information click here
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Catalogues of each of the Kitchener-based GN shows can be viewed by going to Past Shows.
There was a Janome Award of Excellence given each year. To view the award-winning works go here.