January 2022 Newsletter
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Events Calendar
We are happy to have some fantastic events on the calendar!
Join us January 29 at 9am at Art in Motion in Holdingford for a Soap Making workshop! Stay for lunch and attend Introduction to Casting with Pewter at 1! You’re welcome to join us for either class, or make it a full day of getting creative!
We know gardeners start planning for the new season while the cold months have us cooped up, so come join us to make a Cedar Strip Garden Hod (Basket) on Saturday February 19 at Art in Motion in Holdingford!
Set your calendar for April 1 & 2 to join us for a Traditional Style Frame Drum Workshop at the Avon Hills Folk School! our classes page!
Year in Review
2021 has been one of change, growth and excitement for the Avon Hills Folk School. I thought I’d take a moment to finally sit down and send out what has turned out to be a “not so” brief update on all that has been accomplished this year and what’s to come for our young and aspiring non-profit.
2020
Like many arts organizations COVID-19 caused us to cancel all plans for classes and we made no new plans in 2020. The one exception was that we held the annual community Bouja Party, with take-out only. A bright spot in 2020 was our ability to redirect several grants and the creation of a draft Master Campus Plan and Trail Map.
With an offer from Lucius Jonett, an alum of our very first class Intro to Timber Framing, we were able to arrive at a plan for our 64 acre campus that illustrates the vision that we have for the future. In addition we were able to hire an outside contractor to assist us in the branding of the Avon Hills Folk School, resulting in our Logo and brand standards/guide.
Both of these efforts were unexpected and contribute to the foundation upon which our future growth will be built upon.
2020 ended with another increase in our annual fundraising with over #80 donors contributing $8,640 to support our work and vision. Thank You!! We could not have done what we did in 2021 without your support.
Winter 2021
We began the year with exciting news of several grants from the Central MN Arts Board (CMAB and the MN State Arts Board (MSAB) totalling over $20,000. This allowed us to bring on board Tom Wicks and Heidi Jeub, as well as to begin building a new website for the AHFS- all to build organizational capacity for the AHFS. Also included in these grant dollars was support for our first ever Youth Hand Camp. More on that later.
