Folk Arts Education

The Settlement School's Folk Arts Education program is divided into two main components: providing a culturally relevant arts and humanities curriculum for Knott County schools and providing cultural outreach to the wider community.

 

Randy Wilson, a gifted folk artist and teacher, is the heart of the program. He provides weekly classroom instruction for 5th and 8th grade students attending five Knott County public schools and the James Still Learning Center (which houses the Settlement School’s dyslexia program). See the links to your right to sample student projects and recordings. In the broader community, Randy also works with senior citizens, nursing home residents, a rehab center, a Head Start program and a biweekly radio program.

 

In 1942, when Knott County public schools took over teaching academic subjects, the Settlement School agreed to provide teachers for manual training, domestic science, art, music and recreation. The Settlement School continued to provide extension programs in arts and recreation in cooperation with public schools until 1990. 

In 2006, an alumna of the Settlement School donated and raised the funds necessary to reinstate the Folk Arts Education program. Having grown up in Hindman, she benefited from the Settlement’s folk arts programming when she was a child and was concerned that public schools are not teaching culturally relevant arts and music.

In 2008, The Steele-Reese Foundation agreed to provide $30,000 a year for two years to help the program continue while we raise additional funds. We recently received a gift of $500,000 to establish the Marcia Smith Lawrence Folk Arts Education Fund, which will support this work in perpetuity. We are still soliciting donations to this endowed fund to ensure it can meet future needs.