Fine & Folk Arts Education

The renewal of rural communities must be founded upon the re-localization of economies, by creating work in local trades tailored to each community.

An educational renaissance—a rebirth of traditional forms of education, including art, craft, vocational apprenticeships and service learning—is needed to cultivate the character and skills required for the revitalization of rural communities.

We’re excited to offer art and craft classes and workshops for all ages beginning fall of 2024, and a vocational education program for high school students beginning in the fall of 2024. The heart of the initiative is the cultivation of craftsmanship, contemplative inquiry, and place-based sustainability research and action in a spirit of independence and accessibility.

Fine & FOlk Arts Education: Our Vision

Cedar Grove will develop fine & folk arts education and apprenticeship opportunities for youth and young adults. We will integrate ecological, artistic, and vocational education to foster the holistic development of human capacities and abilities, and to encourage life-long learning.

We hope to give students the knowledge and tangible skills needed to create useful, meaningful work in their rural communities. Local, holistic, integrated education will unite heart, hands, and mind, giving youth the intellectual, manual, and emotional skills needed to create dignified, fulfilling work in their communities.

Cedar Grove’s arts education offerings will include interdisciplinary instruction and practical experiences in artisan craftsmanship (textile arts, leatherwork, basketry, woodworking, etc), media production (low-power FM radio, graphic design, journalism), fine arts (painting, drawing, film photography, ceramics) and literary arts. We will offer accessible and intergenerational education and apprenticeships, involving community elders and masters in their fields as mentors and guest teachers. Apprenticeships will be rooted in sustainable community development and may include festival planning, organizing a local food network, or rural entrepreneurship. 

“It is the physicality of the crafts that pleases me: I learn through my hands and my eyes and my skin what I could never learn from my brain.”  —MC Richards, Centering

Why Arts Education?

If we want to encourage our young people to stay in their rural communities, they must find dignity and fulfillment there. They must be valued. Fine & folk arts education offers opportunities for belonging and facilitates a mastery of ideas that are relevant in today’s world. Arts education also gives students experiences of self-determination and engaged citizenship. 

Vocational education is typically understood as training in craftsmanship and problem-solving, whereas academic education is understood as building analytical skills, knowledge and critical thinking. We disagree with this dichotomy, and argue that vocational training is congruent with the development of analytical and critical thinking skills. When academic education is separated from development of heart and hands, academic excellence is negated. Work in the artistic trades brings a greater sense of agency and accomplishment, and is more intellectually engaging than work in a strictly academic field.