By Ann Donnelly
The Adirondack Folk School, based in Lake Luzerne, has started the process of expanding its facilities by 10,000 square feet to accommodate its programs on the main campus.
Executive Director Terri Cerveny sent out Request for Proposals(RFP) to architecture and design firms and expects to award the project sometime in October. He will then have a better sense of the cost and fundraising required to complete it, he said.
The courses, events, and programs the school provides aim to “bring us back to our roots,” said Cerveny. “In the past, people had to make their own baskets, bowls, etc. We want to ensure that the next generation can continue to practice these kinds of crafts.”
The school has 22 categories of courses, including blacksmithing, canoe making, cooking, nature studies, soap making, and more.
While the pandemic was brutal for many businesses and nonprofit organizations, it brought many people to the Adirondack Folk School.
“People wanted to get out from behind their computers, use their hands, and get back to their roots,” he said. Demand for the existing courses and new courses continues to grow.
The school currently holds some courses in a storefront at the Lake George Outlets. The expansion will mean they can bring more of those courses back to the main campus. The campus also brings the school to the attention of more people and has space for larger projects, like canoe building, Sagamore chair making, and weaving.
The expansion will also add a commercial kitchen to provide more courses in Adirondack food and kitchen crafts like soap making, canning, bread making and maple syrup making.
“We would like to include more indigenous skills, as well as family and kids crafts classes,” said Cerveny.
Philanthropy is vital to the success of the school. There will be additional fundraising and grant proposals to fund the expansion, but ongoing fundraising is essential to keep the costs of courses and programs reasonable. A grant from the Adirondack Foundation’s Generous Acts Fund provides a $250 scholarship for students in need.
The school’s Hearts for the Arts Gala fundraiser is on Sept. 30 at the Hitching Post in Lake Luzerne. The event is a celebration of the arts and traditions of the Adirondacks with live music, hors d’oeurves, dinner, a silent auction stocked with hand-made crafts from the school’s patrons, donated baskets from local vendors and the presentation of the annual Patron of the Arts award.
For more information on the school or to purchase Gala tickets, visit adirondackfolkschool.org or call 518-696-2400.