What a year!
2021 has been one of change, growth and excitement for the Avon Hills Folk School (AHFS). 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.
Tom and Heidi have brought their experience, connections and passion to bear upon growing the AHFS. The theme of the work done by Tom, Heidi and other efforts were building organizational capacity.
Organizational capacity for the AHFS comes in the form of many things. It includes equipment, the purchase of a laptop, printer/scanner and tools for classes to the branding that was done for the AHFS as well as the grind it out time it takes to make connections, relationships and seek partnerships among other organizations and individuals within Central MN and beyond.
Having Tom and Heidi on board has allowed us to make and grow many of the relationships, partnerships we have sought. And in doing so raised the awareness of the AHFS to new heights - recognizing we have much yet to do to spread the word.
Spring 2021
In the spring we received our third Project Grant of $5,000 for our annual Adult Hand Camp as well as a $10,000 grant from the CMAB for organizational support. The bulk of the $10,000 went to continue to engage Tom Wicks in program development, relationship building as well as contracting with a Digital Marketer to help elevate our Social Media presence, and allow us to complete our new website.
Our first class of the year was the construction of a shelter for the evaporator for our maple syrup operation. We chose to build a Grindbygg, a Norwegian Timber Frame with Peter Henrickson from Grand Marais, MN traveling down for the one week class. As of this writing we have the roof on ( charred, and oiled basswood planks, thanks to Tom Wicks and Brian Smith).
In the process of building the Grindbygg we learned a couple Norwegian words and one that perfectly describes much of our thinking at the AHFS is Skogorod, which translates as Forest’s Advice. Simply put, if you look and listen, the forest will tell you how to build, with what is available on-site. A great guiding principle for much of what we seek to embrace at the AHFS.
Summer 2021
We kicked off summer with our first ever Youth Hand Camp. With a grant from the Central MN Arts Board and a budding partnership with The Yes Network who work with many communities of color and under-resourced, marginalized families in the St. Cloud area.They brought over 30 children to experience Art and Nature. Drumming, story telling, observational drawing, book binding and getting in the creek with a naturalist these children had an experience most had never had prior to coming to the folk school. Overall a great success.
In fact, our Youth Hand Camp was both compelling and convincing to the Central Minnesota Community Foundation. So much so that the awarded us a $7,500 grant to support the continued planning, refinement of the model - to include holding a second Youth Hand Camp this year (October 2021).
We contracted with a digital marketer, Kayse Weineke, to increase our online/digital presence and she has been a great addition. In addition we launched our new website in early August - an important tool we will be “growing” into for sometime, but grateful to have finally live and online.
Also unplanned was an opportunity to welcome over 250 elementary and middle schoolers to the AFHS in the month of August. As a result of our new relationship with Albany Area Schools (AAS) we hosted these youth from their summer programming and their summer school program. They and we had a great time! We made new friends and relationships within AAS as well as some new instructors we welcomed to the AHFS for the first time.
We wrapped up summer by appearing at the Millstream Monday Night Market in St. Joseph, MN. This event provided us the opportunity for a whole new level of exposure and awareness. We were able to share the excitement of the AHFS - all the while sporting our brand new T-Shirts with our new Logo! Let us know if you’d like one.
Fall 2021
Fall began with our 5th annual Adult Hand Camp. It was great to see many familiar faces and a few new ones. During our second week of Hand Camp we hosted Mary Hark and Henry Obeng. Mary is an internationally accomplished paper maker from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Henry is her graduate assistant from Ghana. Mary and Henry’s processes are so engaging and the products are incredibly beautiful. They created gorgeous papers all from natural fibers, much of which came from the Avon Hills. There can be no better example of what can happen at the intersection of Art and Nature.
October blessed us with generally great weather. We welcomed students from Upsala Area Schools and had our fourth annual Community Bouja Party. The 2021 Bouja was really well attended. We didn’t count but feel confident we had nearly 300 people come and share the day with us. Dozens came from the Twin Cities, Hutchinson, Willmar and other areas because they heard our interview on MPR’s Appetites with Tom Crann. Kinda cool !
We wrapped up the year with traditional, frame style drum making with Gary Barret and our 2nd Youth Hand Camp held over the fall MEA break. We built upon the success and lessons from our first Youth Hand Camp, being held both Thursday and Friday.
Our second Youth Hand Camp featured natural dyes, drumming, poetry on rice paper, book binding, observational drawing, a naturalist and plenty of time in the woods and by the creek.
All in all 2021 has been by far the most active year for the AHFS, with much growth occurring. We were awarded 12 grants received in a 12 month period totalling $59,400 - more than DOUBLE our previous year’s total budget.
Looking ahead, 2022 and beyond
From a programming perspective we plan to again double the number of classes offered, year over year. We also are pursuing a nature-based experience for youth called Timbernook, an impactful and needed opportunity for our youth in this day and age we find ourselves.
Foundational to our future and growth will be making progress on our Master Campus Plan and our Five Year Plan. Included in these plans are major physical improvements to the property from parking to access in the form of roads. In addition we seek to lay the groundwork for re-erecting the timbers from the timber framed 1889 Undersander Barn as well as remodeling of the existing Shed as workshop, classroom and intern/visiting artist living space.
All of this will require significant commitment in time and resources from everyone who believes in the Mission, Vision and, most of all, the possibility of this place and space. Please watch for your opportunity to learn more about these exciting developments as we move into 2022.
