The Folk School awards a number of scholarships each year, providing partial or full financial support for a weeklong or weekend class.
Scholarships are awarded to folks who demonstrate financial need along with an admiration for the Folk School’s unique education model. Lifelong learners, young adults, craftspeople who have never attended the Folk School, and anyone else facing financial hurdles are encouraged to apply.
Tuition-only scholarships cover the cost of tuition, and full scholarships cover the cost of tuition, housing, and meals. Please be advised that a full scholarship does not cover the cost of class materials fees or transportation to the Folk School. The Atlanta airport shuttle can be scheduled in advance through the Folk School for an estimated fee of $130 each way.
The Folk School also offers a 25% tuition discount and guaranteed seats to residents of nine surrounding counties, along with teachers and young adults 18-25. Click here for more details. Some of our full scholarship funds require an applicant to meet set criteria. Below, you can find more information about our available scholarship funds and their qualifications.
Folk School Tuition-Only Scholarships provide financial support to those who need help covering the cost of tuition for any full-price, weekend or weeklong class at the Folk School. Tuition scholarships are awarded according to financial need and on a first-come, first-served basis.
Folk School Full Scholarships cover the cost of tuition, housing, and meals for any full-price, weekend or weeklong class. Full scholarships are intended to support individuals who are actively involved in the preservation of traditional craft, music, and dance, use craft for philanthropic purposes, are studying or teaching craft, are working towards practicing craft on a professional or semi-professional level and/or live in the Appalachian region.
Craft Education Scholarships
Windgate Foundation has generously provided scholarships covering tuition, housing, and meals for classes in the following program areas: basketry and gourds; beads; blacksmithing; book arts; broom making; chair seats; clay; dolls & bears; dyeing; enameling; felt making; glass; jewelry; kaleidoscopes; knitting & crochet; lace; leather; marbling; metalwork; mixed media; needlework & thread art; paper art; printmaking; quilting; rugs; sewing; soap making; spinning; stone, sculpture & mosaics; surface design; weaving; woodcarving; woodturning; and woodworking.
This scholarship honors a great friend and supporter of the school who also contributed to its Weaving program for many years as a beloved instructor. It covers the cost of tuition, housing, and meals to attend a weeklong or weekend weaving class.
Thanks to the Guild, residents of Virginia in need of financial assistance to participate in a clay class may apply for one of these two scholarships covering tuition, housing, and meals.
This scholarship memorializes a friend of the school who made numerous contributions to its Blacksmithing program for many years as a talented instructor. It covers the cost of tuition, housing, and meals to attend a weeklong or weekend blacksmithing class.
Two dance class scholarships have been funded by those who cared for Danny Wilson and his family. Danny worked and played (and danced!) at the Folk School for decades, and these tuition, housing, and meals scholarships honor his memory.
Provided by his many friends in memory of dance musician David Kaynor, this scholarship is dedicated to his passion for dance music and for life. It covers tuition for the school’s annual Dance Musicians Week for someone who would otherwise be unable to attend.
This scholarship celebrates the life of David Rakoff who was a student, a dear friend of the Folk School, and a member of its board of directors. In a New York Times article, David wrote about the school, “The week I spent there is as close as it gets to my idea of paradise.” The scholarship covers the cost of tuition, housing, and meals for a weekend or weeklong class.
Tuition, housing, and meals scholarship for a weekend class for black, indigenous, and artists of color.
This scholarship covers the cost of tuition, housing, and meals to attend a weeklong or weekend class for someone who would otherwise be unable to attend.
Created by her children in loving memory of Eleanor Cale Demarest, this scholarship recognizes the positive and formative experience she had as a teenager at the school in 1938. This scholarship covers the cost of tuition, housing, and meals to attend a weeklong or weekend class.
Upon taking a weekend enameling class at the Folk School, Beth Bugdaycay, Creative Director and Co-Founder of Foundrae, and Laura Freedman, Founder of Broken English, were moved to donate 10 tuition scholarships for week-long enameling classes to promote this craft to others who may otherwise be unable to attend.
This scholarship donated by Jean Fliess honors Helen Gibson, a talented Brasstown Carver and long-time Folk School Resident Artist. The scholarship covers the cost of tuition, housing, and meals to attend a weeklong or weekend woodcarving class.
This scholarship covering tuition, housing, and meals was donated to help an under-represented student with financial need attend a weeklong class. The scholarship was given in support of the Folk School’s efforts to foster a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment.
Created by Janet Davis in loving memory of her husband, Jim, to commemorate his passion for woodcarving and to foster others in the craft, these scholarships cover the cost of tuition, housing, and meals to attend a weeklong or weekend woodcarving class.
These woodcarving scholarships honor the memory of Jim Davis, who was a long-time supporter of the Folk School and a passionate woodcarver. They covers the cost of tuition, housing and meals to attend a weekend or weeklong woodcarving class.
This woodworking scholarship honors the memory of Jim Davis, who was a long-time supporter of the Folk School and a passionate woodworker. It covers the cost of tuition, housing, and meals to attend a week-long woodworking class.
Created in memory of John Neil Davidson, the son of former Folk School Executive Director Jan Davidson and former Cooking Resident Artist Nanette Davidson, this scholarship covers the cost of tuition, housing, and meals to attend a weeklong or weekend class.
This scholarship was donated by family and friends in loving memory of Joshua Shane Snyder and covers the cost of tuition, housing, and meals to attend a weeklong or weekend class for someone who would otherwise be unable to attend.
With this scholarship, Katherine Montgomery honors instructor Judith MacKenzie, who not only loves the Folk School but inspires and encourages her students to reach for new heights. This scholarship covers tuition, housing, and meals for a student in need of financial assistance in order to attend a weaving, spinning, or basketry class.
This scholarship covers the cost of tuition, housing, and meals to attend a weekend woodturning class.
Kathryn Byrd generously provided for the Folk School’s future in her will and, in her memory, this scholarship provides people who would otherwise be unable to attend the opportunity to experience all that she loved about the school. It covers the cost of tuition, housing, and meals to attend a week or weekend class.
This weaving scholarship honors the memory of the late Margaret C. Toth, an avid weaver who first learned to weave at the Folk School. It covers the cost of tuition, housing, and meals for a weekend or weeklong class.
This scholarship honors talented basket artist Mary Doornbos, recognizing her long-standing connection with the Folk School as its Craft Shop Manager, an instructor, student, and donor. This scholarship for a weekend basketry or brooms class covers tuition, housing and meals for a student in need of financial assistance in order to attend.
In support of the craft of blacksmithing and to provide educational opportunities to others, the Barrons have donated two scholarships covering the cost of tuition, housing, and meals during a weeklong or weekend blacksmithing class.
This scholarship benefits professional interpretive naturalists and environmental educators working at local/community nature centers in the US. It covers tuition, housing, and meals for any weeklong class.
Robert Trout, a talented metalsmith and long-time Folk School instructor, created this scholarship to give others the opportunity to learn metalsmithing at the Folk School. Following his death in 2020, his family and other loved ones contributed in his memory to bring the scholarship fund to fruition. This scholarship covers the cost of tuition, housing, and meals to attend a weeklong or weekend blacksmithing, coppersmithing, or tinsmithing class.
Created by master woodturner and generous friend of the Folk School, Rude Osolnik, this scholarship is available to residents of Kentucky and/or students, faculty, staff, and alumni of Berea College. It covers the cost of tuition, housing, and meals for any weeklong or weekend class.
This scholarship covers the cost of tuition, housing, and meals to attend a weeklong metals class for someone who would otherwise be unable to attend.
This scholarship was created by friends of Willard Baxter, a former Resident Artist and long-time instructor at the Folk School, to honor his memory and to promote the woodturning craft he loved. It covers tuition, housing, and meals for any weeklong class.
Each year the Folk School awards 6 work exchange scholarships for Winter Dance Week to those who would not otherwise be able to attend due to financial limitations. The work exchange program allows students the opportunity to work in exchange for a tuition waiver.
Please contact Marketing & Communications for more information.
1.800.FOLK.SCH (365-5724)
Mailing Address
One Folk School Road
Brasstown, NC 28902