Day 10: CHAT!

Day 10: CHAT – A true inspiration!

Taking a break from crafting, we want to take the time to recognize an organization that has contributed to supporting and promoting a variety of Hmong arts within the community. The Center for Hmong Arts & Talents (CHAT) is an incredible and inspiring non-profit organization located in St. Paul, MN. CHAT is one of the main reasons why we began this project.

CHAT’s mission: to nurture, explore and illuminate the Hmong American experience through artistic expressions. They are able to achieve this mission through their core values of creativity, community, integrity, and progress.

CHAT gave us the opportunity to step into the fashion industry with their annual fashion show: Fresh Traditions. Fresh Tradition is a fashion show that showcases the talents of emerging Hmong-American fashion designers. We were honor to be a part of the fourth annual Fresh Traditions Fashion Show as it was a wonderful learning process and a launching pad for Inspire.

One of CHAT's main goals is to build audiences for the arts by creating and producing art that significantly enhances understanding both within the Hmong community as well cross-culturally. Complimentary to this goal, and our experiences with CHAT, we were able to produce our Hmong-Inspired Christmas. We wanted to infuse our Hmong culture with the American holiday and be able to share this with the community.

CHAT offers a variety of programs and events that help foster Hmong artists of all mediums. To learn more about CHAT, please visit www.aboutchat.org.

To Inspire and to be Inspired.