Episode 305. Shelly Zegart -Founder- Cultural Nonprofits

Shelly is a community leader & an internationally recognized authority on American quilts. Check out www.shellyzegart.com for more information. She collects, curates exhibitions, writes, lectures, and appraises fine quilts. Shelly has curated many exhibits in the U.S. & abroad and lectures on all aspects of quilt history and aesthetics. She is the President of the not-for-profit Kentucky Quilt Project, Inc., the 1st of the state quilt documentation projects. Shelly is a co-founder of the Quilt Alliance & Executive Producer and Host of “Why Quilts Matter: History, Art & Politics,” a nine-part documentary featured on over 250 member PBS stations and whyquiltsmatter.org & now streaming on Kentucky Educational Television. The Art Institute of Chicago acquired her private collection of quilts. In 2013, Shelly was the catalyst for the placement of the International Honor Quilt (see Judy Chicago Through the Flower site) at the University of Louisville Hite Art Institute, & chairs the governance committee overseeing the integration & use of the Honor Quilt at the University. She has built private & corporate quilt collections around the world. In 1985, Shelly was selected for Leadership Louisville & in 2004, she was named a Woman of Distinction by the Louisville Center for Women & Families & an Associate Fellow of the International Quilt Study Center. Shelly is active in several community efforts and boards. Her most recent project is Kentucky to the World or “KTW,” a nonprofit she founded in 2013 & based in Louisville. KTW is dedicated to enhancing the intellectual reputation of Kentucky, its people & its assets through a unique combination of live events and video outreach. KTW features and promotes extraordinary individuals passionate about their Kentucky ties through a speaker series for general and student audiences, videos distributed online, through community partners & KET (KY. Educational Television). For further info, visit kentuckytotheworld.org.

Shelly holds a Bachelor of Arts in Education from the University of Michigan & resides in Louisville with her husband, Dr. Kenneth Zegart & she has 2 daughters, Terri Seltz & Amy Zegart.