The Arts, Our ED, & Happy Bunnies

It’s our Executive Director’s birthday week, and although she is probably going to turn every embarrassing shade on the color wheel after she reads this post, we want to honor Paige Miglio for her impact on the arts here and beyond.

This letter comes from a father in North Carolina, thanking Paige for her Bunny Book series on behalf of his seven-year-old daughter. What, Paige was an illustrator?! Yup, that’s a little fun fact about the woman who now runs the heart of the arts. Here’s the letter:

Good morning Ms. Miglio!

I know it’s been many years since you illustrated the Bunny books authored by Rick Walton, but it was Fall and Christmas 2018 when my daughter first got her Bunny Christmas and Bunny School books. And honestly, we have read both of those books at least once a week since then! My daughter chimed in a few nights ago about how beautiful your drawings in the books are, and I agree. It might sound cheesy, but the Christmas morning scene inspired my daughter to request coffee cake in a Bundt pan for over a year, and I finally made it a few weeks ago.

These two books have been a weekly (sometimes nightly) source of connection for my daughter, her mother, and myself. She is now reading them on her own, which is a whole new level of exciting! While she will grow up soon enough, it has been so nice to see your work as much as I do because these books have opened up avenues of imagination for her (including wanting to do our own family tree, figuring out who’s special day at school it is each day, and what everyone is doing in the Christmas play)

When you and Rick wrote and drew these books, I was finishing college, off to save the world. Now 16 years later, I’m the father of three, reading nightly the stories of bunnies during that same time. It is incredibly sweet to see these stories so many years later. So thank you! And kudos to your service in the nonprofit world in CT. The MAC is a lovely organization with a great mission!

Thank you again for these memories with my daughter,

Nick DiColandrea, AmeriCorps Program Director

Yes, the arts are so powerful that a father of three took time to show his gratitude sixteen years after Paige’s Bunny books were first published. You never know how you might impact others through the arts. We are grateful to Nick for taking the time to show his appreciation and express how Paige’s art has been a source of connection and beautiful family memories. And while we know that Paige might be mortified by the attention, we feel sure her shades of embarrassment will show up as a perfectly artistic color palette. Happy Birthday, Paige! There are lots of happy bunnies in the world because of you.