Podcast Episode #155: Social Justice Sewing Academy

On today’s episode of the Craft Industry Alliance podcast we’re talking about quilting and activism with my guests Sara Trail and Juan Tapia.
We recorded this episode in person at the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts where there is an exhibit up through December 1, 2019 of the Social Justice Sewing Academy Quilts called Piecing Together Youth Voices in a 21stCentury Sewing Circle. I spent some time this morning taking it all in and it’s truly outstanding.
Sara Trail, she’s the founder and executive director of the Social Justice Sewing Academy. Sara learned to sew when she was a toddler and had a sewing career as a teenager when she wrote Sew with Sara, a book that teaches teens and tweens how to sew clothes and accessories. She also starred in nationally published DVDs called Cool Stuff to Sew with Sara, designed two fabric collections with Fabri-Quilt and a pattern collection with Simplicity. While attending UC Berkeley, Sara created a quilt in memory of Trayvon Martin and her love for sewing and passion for social justice intertwined. After graduating from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, she founded the Social Justice Sewing Academy (SJSA) to be a platform where youth create art that engages and educates communities. 
Juan Tapia is one of the students who has been a participant in the Social Justice Sewing Academy. Juan just graduated from high school and is now working for a non-profit called CURYJ, Communities United for Restorative Youth Justice, that works with formerly incarcerated. He’s a digital design associate and is hoping to become the head of the communications department at the organization.