Local Colors welcomes Mandela Washington Fellows from Africa

On July 9th Local Colors hosted a reception for 25 Mandela Washington Fellows participating in a six week Business and Entrepreneurship Institute at Cambridge College.  The Mandela Washington Fellowship is the flagship program of the Young African Leaders Initiative designed to build connections between rising leaders from across the African continent with individuals and communities across the United States.  The 1000 Mandela Washington Fellows participating in the program this year were selected by the State Department from over 49,000 applicants for this highly competitive program.  The Fellows visiting Local Colors are all entrepreneurs having established vibrant enterprises in a broad range of business sectors.

The Fellows were eager to engage with our artists and learn about the co-operative model used so successfully by Local Colors for over twenty five years.  The Local Colors model of working together as a community of artist entrepreneurs has catapulted several of our artists onto the national scene so successfully.  The energy and enthusiasm was palpable throughout the gallery as the artists and Fellows shared in their mutual love of creativity. One Fellow summed up as "this is incredible."