Arbutus Folk School

FOUNDER’S FUND

The Arbutus Folk School Founder’s Fund was launched in 2022 to honor Stacey Waterman-Hoey and her vision for the school at its founding in 2013.

This Fund is an opportunity to secure the future of Arbutus Folk School, looking beyond daily operational needs towards our long-term stability and growth.

Your generous gift to the Founder’s Fund will help us achieve our most important financial goals as we approach our second decade: rebuilding our reserves; investing in strong, skilled leadership; and establishing an endowment to sustain our work for decades to come.

The Founder’s Fund is an opportunity to make a special gift of any size, beyond your usual annual or monthly giving to the school. It is also an excellent destination for IRA distributions, appreciated assets, and planned giving such as a bequest, because your investment will be stewarded for the greatest possible impact for years to come.

Arbutus Folk School is a 501c3 organization, and all gifts to the school are tax-deductible to the extent allowable by law. You can contribute to the Founder’s Fund today by donating here or, to avoid processing fees, by mailing a check to 120 State Ave NE #298, Olympia, WA, 98501 and indicating “Founder’s Fund” in the memo. We look forward to talking more with you – please reach out anytime at 360-350-0187 or hillary@arbutusfolkschool.org.

Arbutus Folk School Founder’s Fund: Donate Here

$15,000
1
Rebuild our Reserves
Since 2020, Covid has depleted our cash reserves significantly. The first $15,000 contributed to the Founder’s Fund will help us rebuild a minimum reserve to stabilize the organization.
$30,000
2
Invest in Leadership
As the Founder’s Fund reaches $30,000, we will invest in organizational growth through expanded staffing and competitive wages. With added staff capacity, our programs will be able to innovate and grow.
$60,000
3
Secure our Future
As the Founder’s Fund approaches $60,000, we will establish an endowment for the long-term stability of Arbutus as we mature into our second decade and look ahead to our brightest future.

$17920

RAISED

Arbutus Folk School Founder’s Fund: Donate Here

$30000

2023 GOAL

I love what Arbutus is providing for our community – hands-on arts experiences, time and space for all to create, jobs and professional development for artists, and so much more. I love the ways we have grown since our founding – adding new programs, serving new audiences, collaborating with others. We are poised to make a major impact for our community in the coming years as public support gives us room to expand and innovate. Your contribution to the Founder’s Fund will secure this bright future: more art, more artists, and more community members in our classes and studios!

Hillary TullyExecutive Director, Arbutus Folk School

“Arbutus Folk School, a 501c3 non-profit founded by Stacey Waterman-Hoey in 2014, is one of those entities that feels as if it should always have been here in our community. Arbutus has brought together beginning and expert art/craft folks to build creative communities and has given each the room to learn and share their skills and refine their creative expression.

But at six years of age, Arbutus is still a youngster of an arts organization. It needs our support now to maintain its events and programming during the fluctuations of “normal” years and, as the pandemic has illustrated, sustain its operations and outreach even through times like these when people turn to working with their hands to ease the stress in their lives. Arbutus is also interested in growing, expanding into additional craft traditions and reaching more members of the community.

Please join me in donating to Arbutus’ Founder’s Fund. Our generous donations will build a reserve to sustain and grow this important community resource.”

Mary SoltmanFounder’s Fund Donor

“Arbutus Folk School has become a well known and highly regarded institution in the greater Olympia area. Stacey Waterman-Hoey was the dreamer and founder of Arbutus. She and several highly dedicated staff members and volunteers put forth the energy that created this wonderful school in Olympia.

For six years she dreamt, planned, organized and managed the growth of Arbutus. Now that she has moved on, and our wonderful executive director, Hillary Tully has taken the reins, we seek your support to ensure our stability moving forward.”

David PaulBoard President, Arbutus Folk School

When you support Arbutus Folk School through the Founder’s Fund, you are supporting hands-on arts and cultural experiences for our community that uplift, connect, and empower.

In 2021, we offered 150 classes & workshops that engaged over 600 students in woodworking, ceramics, weaving, blacksmithing, stone carving, and more. Overwhelmingly, we heard this message from students in our classes: thank you.

When community members walk through our doors, they are entering a place where they can express their creativity, connect with others, and gain confidence in new skills. In spite of countless challenges due to Covid, we continue to expand our positive impact through the arts.

Donors to the Founder’s Fund make this work possible for years to come:

Our new scholarship program for youth with financial need to attend our classes at no cost has served twenty teens so far, with most choosing to take blacksmithing and wheelthrowing classes. Several have shared they are planning to continue with their new artistic practice. Read more

In Spanish-language ceramics classes with artist Samuel Becerra, students sculpted bird-shaped flutes from terra cotta clay, then painted the flutes after they were fired in the kiln and learned how to play them. With the disruption of the pandemic, these workshops have been the first local arts experience offered for Spanish-speaking community members in several years. Read more

Our craft group dedicated to and led by community members who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color is a time for networking, creative expression, and artistic growth. Participants have expressed they are thankful for this special time and space, the first of its kind in the Olympia community. Read more

Our workshops and classes on local folk & traditional arts bring students together with master artists and culture bearers of our region to try Ukrainian egg-dyeing, hear Quinault legends, and more. Read more

We offer employment opportunities for local artists and makers to teach with us, and we also support our local creative community through professional development opportunities and community-building.

Arbutus Folk School is proud to host the Olympia Woodworkers Guild, which includes over sixty local members. The Guild has hosted monthly educational meetings on Zoom with topics such as Yu’pik mask carving and building a Windsor chair, and how to succeed in joinery and finishing. Members have also shared their time and unique skills to collaborate on community service projects. Read more

Our Arbutus artists-in-residence support operations in the ceramics studio and woodshop while pursuing new goals through their residencies as emerging artists. Read more

Your gift to the Founder’s Fund not only sustains this work, but expands and strengthens our mission for years to come. Thank you.

“Meeting new friends, learned something new, having lots of fun!” -Student

“I was so excited to try a new craft. This was fun, easy, and re-createable at home! I can’t wait to come back for more classes.” -Student

“Enjoyed the instructor and crafting with my daughter!” -Student

“I enjoyed to do something new!” -Student

Arbutus History: Our First Space Arbutus History: Early Programs Arbutus History: Grand Opening Arbutus Friends

“These three photos are when we first rented the building next door where Oly Coffee is. This was in August of 2013. We formed the organization in May of 2013, rented the building in August, participated in ArtsWalk in October and had our Grand Opening 2 weeks later in mid October of 2013. The photo with the three tables was the woodshop!” -Stacey

2013 Woodworkers came together to help build the shop. This pre-dates when current leader Bill Cogswell joined in.

2014 Jude Fritz working on carving the Arbutus sign.

2014 Moving into the space we are in now.

2015 Photo of me with Mike Lalone, who at the time was the resident ceramic artist at John C Campbell Folk School. He came to visit and taught a class.

2015 Me with the original organizers of Hummingbird Studios. They rented the space once a week for several years to offer all-abilities, accessible art activities.

2015 Willa and I dancing by the back door of the current space during the Oly Old Time festival. Another photo looking back at the crowd.

-Stacey