Beginning in 2025, MTAP works with the staff of folk schools across Michigan to build a network of these informal learning, folk and traditional arts-focused organizations. The group meets quarterly, and has presented collectively at the Wheatland Music Organization's Traditional Arts Weekend.

Folk schools derive from the 19th-century Danish informal learning concept put forward by Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig, which focused on providing educational opportunities for and related to rural life and encourage lifelong learning. Today, these community organizations often host workshops and classes in a wide range of traditional art forms with a focus on craft, music, dance, building trades, and agricultural skills. Find out more from the Folk School Alliance: https://www.folkschoolalliance.org/a-brief-history-of-folk-schools

Find a folk school near you at the linked websites below, follow them on social media, and explore their exciting offerings to engage year-round with folk and traditional arts activities, folklife skills, and cultural heritage practices!

Michigan's six folk schools registered with the Folk Education Association of America are:

Detroit Folk School (Detroit)

Detroit Folk School connects and empowers people to share meaning and build community through education and events in the city of Detroit. Dedicated to community building through sharing folk arts like music, dance, crafts, and food.

Finnish American Folk School (Hancock)

The Finnish American Folk School (FAFS) was founded in 2017 to promote Finnish folk arts and traditional skills and ensure that they thrive for generations to come. The Folk School is based in the Skyline Commons building and the Finnish American Heritage Center in Hancock, Michigan. 

Green Door Folk School (Cedar)

Enriching lives through communal, immersive, and experiential learning, to support individual fulfillment, societal resilience, and environmental sustainability. Green Door Folk School is a place where life-long-learners come together to build, grow, and explore. Rooted in the folk school tradition, we offer hands-on workshops that connect folks to passions, new or old, the land, and each other.

Kingsley Folk School (Kingsley)

The Kingsley Folk School’s mission is to bring traditional, earthen crafts & skills back to the people. While skills like growing our own food, canning, natural building and herbalism are often seen as things of the past, they are also our future. To keep these timeless skills alive we connect community members with know-how with those eager to learn by creating accessible and approachable classes and workshops like glass blowing 101, soap making, tree grafting, sauerkraut making and natural fiber spinning.

Our vision is to create community around learning and sharing skills, bringing together people from all walks of life on common grounds. We hope to create collective resiliency in the face of a changing world and strengthen our relationships with nature, ourselves and each other.

Michigan Folk School (Ann Arbor)

The Michigan Folk School is committed to creating a community engaged in authentic, hands-on experiences through the teaching and sharing of traditional folk arts, crafts, music, and skills in an inspiring natural setting and to promote the preservation of forest and farmland.

Porcupine Mountains Folk School (Ontonagon)

Inspiring creativity, lifelong learning, and appreciation of the natural environment and cultural heritage in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park. The goals of the Porcupine Mountains Folk School are to:

• Create a supportive non-competitive environment where students become lifelong learners.
• Enhance each student’s park experience and appreciation through creative expression.
• Promote and preserve traditional knowledge, arts, skills, and stories from the Lake Superior region
• Support and promote learning across generations and community building with creative and meaningful opportunities.