December 2023 Newsletter

Experiences have no “Best by Date” 

To borrow from my friend  Greg Wright at Northhouse Folk School, “we live in a high-tech, low touch world and we offer high-touch and low-tech experiences.” Experiences offered at folk schools also provide the contact and interaction with others that is increasingly missing in today’s world. 

Experiences require no batteries, storage, or upkeep. And while they may lead to a new-found passion that requires investment in time and resources, the degree of personal fulfillment found in creating and sharing that with others is usually more than worth the cost. 

For millennia humans have made things, with our hands and in community with others. We are bombarded daily with research that speaks to the paradigm shift experienced over the past decade in technology that has led us to trade contact for convenience and cease to “make and create” things with our own hands. 

All of this has consequences for us individually and collectively as a community and society. We are just now beginning to discover what some of those consequences are - most not great. 

The Avon Hills Folk School, like all folk schools, are truly an answer to this shift. Maybe not “the” answer, but certainly we provide the opportunities to Discover, Learn, and Create. And to do that with others in a supportive environment of learning and discovery. The consequences of that are increasing degrees of connectedness, satisfaction, and fulfillment along with building and enriching our communities. 

Our 2024 courses and experiences, to include TimberNook experiences, will be coming out soon. Please keep an eye out and we look forward to seeing you at the folk school in 2024!

Proposed 2024 Courses

Our team is busy reaching out to, tracking down, and confirming new and existing instructors for our proposed course list for 2024. We are super excited for our goal of more than doubling our 26 courses offered in 2023 to 55 courses we hope to offer in 2024. Here is a partial list: 

• Glass Mosaic

• Felting

• Fiber Arts, multiple

• Making Snowshoes

• TimberNook experiences from April through October

• Maple Syrup Experiences; March and April

• Beekeeping Series, Intro through your first year

• Foraging for Wild Mushrooms

• Traditional Style Drum Making

• Spring Foraging

• Birch Bark weaving

• Spring Birding

• Artisan Bread Making

• Candle Making

• Ceramics, multiple

• Build a Wood Fired Oven

• Yoga

• Being in the Woods

• Paper Making

• Natural Dyes

• Soapmaking 

• Basket Weaving, multiple

• Timber Framing 

• Summer Foraging

• Pesto Making

• Youth Artists and Makers Camp- Summer

• Fall Birding

• Community Apple Pressing- bring your apples, leave with cider

• Jewelry 

• Chainsaw Safety and Maintenance

• Fire Week - a week of all things Fire

• Paddle Making

• Beadwork

• Pewter Casting

• Soups

• Macrame

• And hopefully more!

Thanks to all who reached out to suggest a course and/or offer to share their skill and passion and teach a course. We still need to connect with some of you. If you’ve got ideas, let us know. 

Watch for the courses to come out over in January and February as we firm up details. 

Grants! Support, Success and Gratitude

“This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Central MN Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.”

We are so very grateful to have received our latest grant support from the Central MN Arts Board. The Organizational Development grant of $10,000 will support hiring a part-time Program and Outreach Coordinator responsible for programming, artist, and maker recruitment and retention to deliver more diverse class offerings as well as serve as a community liaison.

The Central MN Arts Board and funding from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund have been absolutely crucial in helping to birth and grow the Avon Hills Folk School. We simply could not have delivered much of the programming, experiences and community growth over the past years without this partnership. Thank you to the CMAB and to the Voters of MN for investing in the arts and culture of our great state and the people within it. 

Minnesota Citizens for the Arts (MCA) at the Avon Hills Folk School on January 11, 2024

MCA is stopping in communities across Minnesota to hear from artists, arts organizations, community leaders, businesses, residents, and families about how Legacy Arts Funding has helped the arts flourish.  How has this funding helped with the quality of living in your community?  How does it impact your downtown?  Who benefits when your organization succeeds?

Please join in the casual conversation with MCA Executive Director Sarah Fossen, our MCA Lobbyists from Winthrop & Weinstine and members from the Central Minnesota Arts Board.  We will also be inviting local legislators to join us as well.

Calendar Year End Appeal

Finally - we humbly ask for your continued support. As you’ve heard many times, without it we’d never be in this position to reach for the next level and continue growing to meet the demand and interest. 

In the next couple days we’ll reach out in a variety of ways to ask for your financial support. We plan to more than double our course and experience offerings in 2024. This will take an investment of time and resources to realize those goals. We hope you’ll find a way to help us get there as we continue to grow the Avon Hills Folk School and the impact it has and can have upon our community.