Welcome to "This Folk Life"!
My Community
Projects
My biggest project-- my "baby", is Folk Camp. Together with the Kosa community I have been stewarding the Folk Camp project since its inception in 2014, and it's been the nucleus of many other projects, including the Kosa community singing, and Kosa Choir.
Since moving to a rural homestead in the Ottawa Valley I've been deeply immersed in cultivating land skills and have been involved with a network of folks doing similar work in community. One of the biggest projects to come out of that is the annual scything gathering "Meet Me in the Meadow"and my journey into teaching scything.
Folk Camp grew out of a Song Exchange Weekend with Kosa Kolektiv (TO) & Ukrainian Villages Voices (NYC) back in 2014. The following year we ran a full camp, with a program of workshops for all ages, and it's been an incredible journey ever since.
With a mission to connect folks with the land and each other, it's all about finding our common roots through connection with cultural traditions, exploring, honouring, & celebrating Ukrainian, & Eastern European music & arts.
I've worn many hats in this endeavour, and been director since 2015.
Kosa Community Singing
With the Kosa Kolektiv community I've been gathering folks to learn Slavic polyphonic songs and seasonal songs since the early 2010s in Toronto. We have mostly focused on traditional Ukrainian polyphony from central and northern Ukraine as well as Koliadky (winter carols) and Vesnianky from various parts of Ukraine. Many performance groups and side projects have grown out of this community, including Kalendar (formerly KalynDar), Blisk, Murmurosi, Rano Rano... the Kosa Koliadnyky (Carolers), Sing With Ukraine, and -- Kosa Choir!
The Kosa Choir is a Toronto based chamber folk choir dedicated to studying & performing the traditional polyphonic songs of Ukraine. It grew out of the Kosa Kolektiv's members' passion for the beauty of traditional Ukrainian polyphonic singing based in villages and in land-based rituals & practices. The choir performs in concerts and at fundraisers and festivals, and hosts singing workshops and gatherings rooted in the seasons (leading songs for Winter-- Koliada and Spring rites-- Haivky ).
We started the choir with current musical director Andrea Kuzmich in 2023, with support from Iryna Lozynska. Follow along on our journey! @kosachoir
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Kosa "Folk School"
I've been organising workshops in traditional skills and folk arts for many years, with members of Kosa Kolektiv, and other artists and folk groups. I dubbed this ongoing project of education and knowledge sharing the
"Folk School". Over the years we've held classes at St. Volodymyr Institute in Toronto (SVI), and a variety of venues across Ontario, including churches, studios, libraries, museums, folk schools, shops, and farms.
"Meet Me in the Meadow"
Following my passion for scything and sharing this ancestral skill with others, I collaborated with the Ontario Land Skills Network and Topsy Farms to host our first annual scythe camp in 2022. We "met in the meadow" on Amherst Island in 2022 and 2023, and hope to meet again in 2025!
The scything gathering is a scythe camp as well as land skills learning weekend centered around traditional skills and lore connected to cutting hay and grain, and the harvest season of Lammas (Zhnyva).
