Our MissionEnrich lives through communal, immersive, and experiential learning, to support individual fulfillment, societal resilience, and environmental sustainability.
What is a Folk School?Folk schools are a hands-on, community-based adult learning environment for traditional and contemporary skills. Folk schools emerged as a means for giving education back to the people. Offering hands-on, practical skill building instruction, folk schools aim to make learning a non-competitive, immersive, and engaging experience. Folk schools enrich communities, connecting people to their natural environments, their bodies, and one another. Folk schools provide an educational training ground for a more just, sustainable, and hand-made future.
Frequently Asked Questions
Our Origins
We couldn’t find local woodworking classes for beginners, so we decided to create a space for our own.
Green Door Folk School was founded in 2024 by Kristina Schnepf, who, after a 30-year corporate career, was eager to find deeper purpose in her third chapter. That purpose began with her hands—starting small with household projects and eventually growing into woodworking and furniture-building ventures. Kristina’s skills evolved through a patchwork of education, from observing friends in their workshops to countless hours spent learning from YouTube videos.
But learning online had its limitations. Without the guidance of a skilled instructor, access to the right tools, or the camaraderie of a learning community, the journey often felt isolating.
Driven by a desire to refine her craft, Kristina sought woodworking classes in the Traverse City area but couldn’t find the intensive, hands-on instruction she craved. Her search, however, introduced her to the world of folk schools—places where people gather to learn traditional skills like basketry, woodworking, and beekeeping in immersive, community-driven environments.
Intrigued and inspired, Kristina embarked on her own folk school journey, traveling across the upper Midwest to attend courses at North House Folk School, Driftless Folk School, and Duluth Folk School. Each experience left her intellectually energized and creatively fulfilled, sparking a vision: Traverse City needed a folk school of its own.
Thus, Green Door Folk School was born—a space dedicated to preserving and celebrating hands-on, traditional skills. Green Door Folk School is a low-profit, mission-driven organization (L3C) that hosts folk skill classes taught by local experts in the Northwest Michigan Region.
The name Green Door Folk School honors the vibrant green door of Kristina’s family home, a symbol of creativity, curiosity, and connection.
