The time to build the school to find our roots, to fill our spirits, and skill up is now! Help support us in the founding and building of the Olamina Folk School for Land, Memory & Craft.

The Olamina Folk School is a new educational project and arts center developed in the tradition of the Danish folk high schools, the Black Arts Movement community art schools, and the 1964 Freedom Summer Schools. Based in Tuskegee, Alabama, the Olamina Folk School will be a place where people across the global majority can come and work with their bodies, their minds and their spirits to develop skills and community on the land.

Founded by Jada G. Patterson, a multidisciplinary artist and craftsperson (traditional broommaker, basketmaker and weaver) from Milwaukee, WI and Ashby Combahee, a memory worker, musician, and folklorist from New Orleans, LA. The vision of Olamina Folk School came together in 2025 during the African American Craft Alliance's "Bridging & Bonding" collaboration with John C. Campbell Folk School. With backgrounds in arts education, traditional crafts, liberatory memory work, and popular education, our school model is designed for transformative communal education rooted in Southern Black folk tradition.

Our Values:

We are shaping the future through:

JOY Finding joy, purpose, and liberation in our labor

LAND Restoring our relationship to land and its ancestors

IMAGINATION Creating space to expand our radical imaginations

GROWTH Building a space to come back to for a life committed to growth

Our Pillars:

Craft - Understanding craft in connection to a life of joy, function, and beauty

(learners develop skilled labor through craftsmanship and an aesthetic sense through artistry)

Memory - Honoring the labor, legacy, and traditions of our ancestors

(learners develop critical literacy to read and analyze sources of information and documentation skills to preserve present memory)

Land - Working on and with the land to sustain ourselves and the planet

(learners develop environmental awareness of the local ecology, including the food systems and conservation needs)

What your donation will support:

Phase 1 (December 2026-October 2027)

Legal and Infrastructure—

Purchase of land in Tuskegee, AL

Land surveyor and parcel subdivision

Architect and building contractor

Build temporary residence buildings

Dig and build well

Land and Farming—

Soil and water testing

Landscape architecture and design

Strategic land clearing

Phase 2 (November 2027-December 2028)

Legal and Infrastructure—

Finalizing business documents

Add utility infrastructure, including roads, solar power system, septic, and water

Build permanent multi-use community space

Land and Farming—

Begin planting dye, craft and food gardens

Programmatic & External Programs—

Begin holding craft and memory community workshops

Develop learning resources and library for Black land stewardship and craft researchers

Phase 3 (January 2029 - May 2032)

Legal and Infrastructure—

Begin construction on art studios and research library

Begin construction on permanent residence spaces

Programmatic & External Programs—

Launch folk school programs in Summer 2032 in completed studios

Keep up with us at:

https://olaminafolkschool.org

**This project is in partnership with the Tuskegee Land Project