is raising money to build a new Folk Art School Help us build a folk art school in Illinois! A small group of artists is raising funds to build a folk art school in Chillicothe, Illinois. Spearheading this project are three ladies we've been calling the "Second Sisters:" Jennie Hawkey, Lise Mundwiller and Joan Quigg. Last summer, the ladies toured several eastern folk art schools and presented a basic plan to the SLG Cohen Foundation executive board. To our delight, the board is every bit as excited about the idea as we are, and have generously offered to allow the school to be built within Three Sisters Park. More about the SLG Cohen Foundation. The Three Sisters Folk Art School will offer classes in traditional arts—weaving, quilting, cooking, woodworking, blacksmithing, photography, pottery, basket-making, music and more–with intense two-and five-day sessions. On-site housing will allow students to immerse themselves in learning about their chosen craft, and provide an educational alternative to standard vacation options. Visit ThreeSistersPark.com   SLG_Cohen_Foundation.htmlSLG_Cohen_Foundation.htmlhttp://www.threesisterspark.comshapeimage_5_link_0shapeimage_5_link_1shapeimage_5_link_2

Photo courtesy of Swap-O-Rama-Rama

Photo courtesy of Swap-O-Rama-Rama

Photo courtesy of Three Sisters Park

Photo courtesy of Three Sisters Park

AV-aerie is a dual purpose organization whose mission is to provide local, community based cultural, social and environmental initiatives the necessary resources to aid them in achieving their intended goals and to promote and aid similar projects already in existence through fund raising events and partnerships. Its vision is to create an environment that fosters and aids artistic and socially relevant ideas from conception to completion. To this end, AV-aerie provides an office location for projects to utilize physical resources and interact with AV-aerie associates. This includes access to a database of municipal, corporate, educational and private individuals as well as documents from the public record intended to aid in a projects completion. AV-aerie provides detailed feasibility studies, guidance and direction to projects relying on an organized network of specialists with insight into various areas of expertise. We provide access to grant writers, grant information and private and public donor lists to help with potential funding. Finally, AV-aerie organizes, hosts and promotes fund raising arts and cultural events whose revenue will go to local socially and/or environmentally focused initiatives in partnerships chosen on a bi-annual schedule. Visit AV-aerie.orghttp://www.av-aerie.orgshapeimage_9_link_0

Photo courtesy of Swap-O-Rama-Rama

Swap-O-Rama-Rama was created by activist Wendy Tremayne as a response to consumerism and its impacts on the individual, the community and the environment. By utilizing a surplus of unwanted clothing to produce new, personalized fashions, Tremayne hopes to motivate participants to become creators rather than consumers. Adding design workshops and activities to the Swap-O-Rama-Rama experience also stimulates idea-sharing, friendship-formation and community-building. Tremayne states that "Swap-O-Rama-Rama invites the discovery that the making of things is not an activity to be avoided in order to attain leisure, but rather a playful and leisurely endeavor unto itself." Spurred by her commitment to these principles, Tremayne hosted the first Swap-O-Rama-Rama in New York City in 2005, and in less than three years, it has become an international phenomenon. Visit swaporamarama.org   http://www.swaporamarama.orgshapeimage_11_link_0