Mini-grant applications are available three times during the 2023-2024 school year. You may apply one time during this cycle. Mini-grants must be used within a year after receiving the funding. 

Applications due by:

• November 30, 2023
• January 30, 2024
• March 30, 2024

If you have questions about your eligibility to apply for funding, please email us at [email protected] before submitting your application. We are unable to provide mini-grants to schools located outside of our 23-county service area or to folks who have received a grant from us within the past year. Learn more and apply here!

• ONLINE |

  Instructor: Stephan Martin

  $15 Non-member Adult** 

   (**Arboretum Members receive a 10% discount on all classes.)

  BRN – Elective, 1 hour | BREG – Elective, 1 hour 

  Limit: 30

  Be part of a unique virtual stargazing community as we gather online to explore the constellations, bright stars, planets and deep sky objects of the winter night sky with local astronomer Stephan Martin as our guide. All you need is a smartphone or mobile device, a free downloadable astronomy app and an internet connection to join from the warmth and safety of your own stargazing location. Steve will point out some of the celestial wonders of the night sky during this time of year and share their myths and legends.

  Stephan Martin is an astronomer and educator who taught at colleges and universities for more than 25 years. He has lectured on light pollution and its effects on the environment and has offered stargazing and introductory astronomy workshops domestically and internationally. He was formerly the supervisor of the Williams College observatory, where he participated in research expeditions around the world to study and observe solar eclipses. cosmicconversations.weebly.com

Sigal Music Museum’s current special exhibition, Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred, highlights items from the JoAnn and Frank Edwinn Collection, which hails from all over the world. Showing November 2023 – May 2024, Worlds Apart uses a diverse range of historical instruments, objects, and visuals to bring together musical narratives from seemingly disparate parts of the globe.

Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred aims to increase public access to historical instruments from around the world and improve visitors’ understanding of musical traditions at the global level. Expanding beyond the typical parameters of the Western musical canon, Worlds Apart seeks to expose audiences to musical instruments and customs that are often overlooked or exotified. The instruments and other exhibit materials will offer visitors new perspectives on global music and a chance to consider how music is used for prayer and leisure in cultures around the world. By celebrating these stories, the museum intends to further its mission to collect and preserve historical musical instruments, objects, and information, which engage and enrich people of all ages through exhibits, performances, and experiential programs.

Displaying various objects from the JoAnn and Frank Edwinn Collection, Worlds Apart: Musical Instruments from Secular to Sacred focuses on international musical instruments and cultures, celebrating rites and traditions with ancient histories and contemporary legacies. Frank Edwinn, a successful basso in the mid-20th century, studied and toured internationally, eventually settling in North Carolina, where he taught music at the University of North Carolina Asheville. Throughout his life, he purchased various objects from around the world, aiming to expose students, and himself, to the wide and wonderful world of musical instruments. This impressive collection occupies a unique position for educating audiences unfamiliar with the vast scope of global music.

And, UNCA’s Ramsey Library Special Collections is now processing the Edwinn’s papers and a few recordings that will be accessible next semester!

Mini-grant applications are available three times during the 2023-2024 school year. You may apply one time during this cycle. Mini-grants must be used within a year after receiving the funding. 

Applications due by:

• November 30, 2023
• January 30, 2024
• March 30, 2024

If you have questions about your eligibility to apply for funding, please email us at [email protected] before submitting your application. We are unable to provide mini-grants to schools located outside of our 23-county service area or to folks who have received a grant from us within the past year. Learn more and apply here!

Your child is welcome between 8-4 pm, they will need to bring their own lunch. The cost is $70 per day – only 18 spots are available – registration is open on our website!

Mini-grant applications are available three times during the 2023-2024 school year. You may apply one time during this cycle. Mini-grants must be used within a year after receiving the funding. 

Applications due by:

• November 30, 2023
• January 30, 2024
• March 30, 2024

If you have questions about your eligibility to apply for funding, please email us at [email protected] before submitting your application. We are unable to provide mini-grants to schools located outside of our 23-county service area or to folks who have received a grant from us within the past year. Learn more and apply here!

• ONSITE | Three Sessions: Wednesdays, March 6, 20 & April 3, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

  Instructor: Nina Shippen

  $145 Non-member Adult**

   (**Arboretum Members receive a 10% discount on all classes.)

  BREG – Core

  Limit: 30

  Ecological gardening is a way of thinking about the designed landscape in which gardens are no longer seen as a collection of plants, but as a community of complex interdependencies among plants, soils, environment and animals. Ecology-based methods used in design, site assessment, planning, planting and management are all covered in this comprehensive overview class. Gardeners of all levels of interest and ability will find this informative and interactive class valuable for learning ecologically-sustainable practices for adapting and applying in gardening in a variety of landscapes.

  The class is a core requirement for the Arboretum’s Blue Ridge Eco Gardener Certificate of Merit program. An asynchronous version of this class is open from March 6 through May 31 in 2024.

  Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West and Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard by Doug Tallamy are recommended texts. Available in the Arboretum’s Connections Gallery with student member discount.

  Nina Shippen practices residential landscape and garden design through her company Hidden Road Landscape Design, which focuses on coupling the principles of healing gardens with sound ecologic practices to create satisfying gardens for her clients. A graduate of the landscape design program at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies, she has lived and gardened in Transylvania County since 2005.

• ONLINE | 

  Instructor: Patrick Brannon

  $35 Non-member Adult**

   (**Arboretum Members receive a 10% discount on all classes.)

  Limit: 30

  The Southern Appalachians are one of the most biologically diverse regions in the temperate world. More species of salamanders exist in these mountains than anywhere else, and nowhere are they more abundant. This engaging online class taught by Naturalist/Educator Patrick Brannon includes a lecture focusing on the biology and ecology of salamanders, biogeography, reasons for the enormous diversity in this region, and local threats to species diversity. Following is a “lab” in which we will analyze previously collected data to examine how individual salamander species share a stream habitat. Students are encouraged to search for salamanders on their own using the local species checklist provided and various field guides.

  Patrick Brannon is a naturalist and educator at the WCU Highlands Biological Station in Highlands, NC. He holds a M.S. in Biology from Appalachian State University, and conducts research on the ecology of both salamanders and small mammals. In addition, Patrick presents a wide variety of K-12 school programs and educator workshops throughout the region.

Beginning & Intermediate youth music classes on traditional and ol’ time instruments including but not limited to, fiddle, mandolin, banjo and guitar. Students will attend 40 minutes of music enrichment, including multiple flat-footing sessions led by Alice Kexel, story-telling, visits from guest musicians, as well as learn about the heritage of the music and the region. They will have 40 minutes of group music classes, and 40 minutes of singing or JAM rehearsal.

Advanced students will have 40 minutes of group instrument lessons, followed by 30 minutes of advanced singing including harmony and shape-note singing, and finish with 50 minutes of coached, small-ensemble rehearsal.

Classes are $15/session, for a total of $210 for the first student, and a 20% discount of $168 for each additional sibling. Parents may choose to split payments when registering. Inquire with Julie Moore at [email protected] or 864-420-6407 about scholarships.

Youth Classes

Wednesdays, 4-6 pm

Join a naturalist with the ecoExplore program to learn more about plants. We’ll go on a plant walk adventure!

We’re very excited to announce these special children’s repair workshops, hosted by Buncombe Co. libraries and made possible with a grant from Culture of Repair! 

We believe that sewing is a safe and accessible repair skill that children can learn with help from experienced adults, and we believe that teaching a child to repair their stuffed animals is a great opportunity to foster a culture of repair starting at a very young age.  

These workshops are about more than just teaching skills. Focusing on tactile, accessible, hands-on skills provides an opportunity to introduce concepts of environmental sustainability that feel concrete, and immediate, as opposed to solely abstract learning.  Children have an intimate connection with their stuffed animals, and through repairing their stuffed animals, which they can then take home, children will have a daily reminder of their ability to improve their material world; a potential direct connection to positive environmental outcomes and their improved self-esteem.  

We’ll begin the workshop with a short lesson that puts the act of repair in the context of environmental and economic sustainability. Following the lesson, one of our skilled repair coaches will demonstrate a simple overhand stitch, and then we’ll break into small groups where children can learn to repair their own ripped or town stuffed animals. Each small group of children will have it’s own skilled repair coach to guide children through their own repairs. All children will go home with a stuffed animal that they have successfully repaired on their own.

Attendance is limited to 20 children for each day. Sign up following the links below:

March 6 from 4:30 to 6:00, West Asheville Public Library 

March 9 from 10:30-12:00, Pack Memorial Library

March 23 from 12:30-2:00, West Asheville Public Library

Do you have stuffed animals you’d like to donate to the program? Drop off locations are at the Pack Library children’s room and the West Asheville Library. Do you have a large lot you’d like to donate? Email Dan at [email protected] and we can arrange a pickup. 

Speaker: Tamarya Sims, a Black farmer, ecologist, land steward, and owner of Soulfull Simone Farm.

The Traditions in Agriculture series seeks to engage the community in expanding our understanding of equitable farming, food, and medicinal practices. Learn how we can create healthier communities and ecosystems for food justice.

This class is for anyone looking for approaches to decolonize the food system. We will create a deeper understanding of incorporating equity into your community, farm, garden, and everyday life to support a more just food system. We’ll also provide tools to fight food apartheid in your local community.

This program is free. Registration is not required.

Help us relaunch the Westie scene in a premier venue showcasing spacious dance floors, high ceilings, and a vintage vibe. If you are new to West Coast Swing, come check out for yourself the popular dance style that can be done to a wide variety of music, including pop, country, blues, and contemporary music! For those looking to advance their skills, the Hendersonville WCS community is excited to welcome Pro Instructor Ryan Pflumm to Continuum!

As always, the dress is casual and no partner is needed. Join us for an incredible night of connecting and dancing with our MONTHLY event every FIRST Wednesday!

PRIVATE LESSONS
If you would like to book a private lesson with Ryan for $75 per hour, please message Continuum with the following:

1. Which timeslot(s)
2. number of people attending
   Times:
   3:30-4:30pm
   4:30-5:30pm
   5:30-6:30pm
   first come, first served

CLASSES
7:00-8:00pm Intermediate w/ Ryan Pflumm!
7:00-8:00pm Beginner w/ Rachel Harris
8:00-10:00pm Social Dance

Each class is $10 and includes a pass to the social dance. The social dance is $7 without a lesson. Music will be DJ’d by Pro Instructor Ryan Pflumm.

Bring your own beer/wine. Liquor and other beverages above 16% alcohol content are strictly prohibited.

Masks are encouraged but, not required.

Cash, cards, Venmo, PayPal, and Cash app are accepted.

Mini-grant applications are available three times during the 2023-2024 school year. You may apply one time during this cycle. Mini-grants must be used within a year after receiving the funding. 

Applications due by:

• November 30, 2023
• January 30, 2024
• March 30, 2024

If you have questions about your eligibility to apply for funding, please email us at [email protected] before submitting your application. We are unable to provide mini-grants to schools located outside of our 23-county service area or to folks who have received a grant from us within the past year. Learn more and apply here!

Mini-grant applications are available three times during the 2023-2024 school year. You may apply one time during this cycle. Mini-grants must be used within a year after receiving the funding. 

Applications due by:

• November 30, 2023
• January 30, 2024
• March 30, 2024

If you have questions about your eligibility to apply for funding, please email us at [email protected] before submitting your application. We are unable to provide mini-grants to schools located outside of our 23-county service area or to folks who have received a grant from us within the past year. Learn more and apply here!

Is gardening becoming more physically challenging as time goes by? Are you concerned with keeping things easy and safe in your garden? Master Gardeners will give you a fresh look at gardening as you and your garden mature.
They’ll share some ways to modify your gardens and some ways to stay physically safe and strong as you work. They’ll discuss tools choices and show some new ergonomic and adaptive tools.
You are sure to come away with a new look at your garden and some great ideas that will keep you gardening for a lifetime.
This is a three-hour program. There will be breaks, snacks and a chance to handle the tools.

Learn about the basics of perennial and dahlia culture. What is a perennial and what makes them special in the garden? How can you get free plants from your current perennials? These questions and so much more will be covered. We will also have a demo on how to divide perennials. Presented by Isaac Wyatt, Agricultural Program Assistant with Henderson County Extension, will teach the basics of perennial and dahlia culture.

Learn the basics of home recording, with Whitney Mongé, at the LEAF ONEmic Studio. For ages 18-24. Fridays 3:30-5pm. $15 drop in class or $50 for full four-week series beginning March 8.

Americana soul musician Whitney Mongé learned to capture the power of authenticity while honing her skills as a street performer. With or without elevation of a stage, each part of her performance, from the passion of her powerful, smoky voice to the intensity of a whispered lyric, draws listeners into an embrace within each truthful moment of song. Whitney was raised with rhythm and blues in her blood, and while growing up in the Pacific Northwest, her music is heavily influenced by the alternative rock and indie folk scene of Seattle.

With three acclaimed EPs – Steadfast (2014), Stone (2017), and Carry On (2018) – under her belt, Whitney has solidified her status as a heavy-hitting, grassroots artist. She teamed up with the Grammy Award-winning Seattle Symphony to release the captivating live album Whitney Mongé Live with The Seattle Symphony (2021), showcasing her remarkable musical journey.

Whitney is currently based in Asheville and is working on releasing new music in 2024.

• ONSITE | 

  Instructor: Alexandra Holland

  $35 Adult Non-Member

   (**Arboretum Members receive a 10% discount on all classes.)

  BRN – Elective, 2 hours | BREG – Elective, 2 hours | NCEE – Criteria II, 2 hours

  Limit: 15

  Spring is here, and the natural world is waking from its winter rest! Naturalist and botanist Alexandra Holland leads this wildflower walk at the Arboretum, pointing out the array of spring wildflowers emerging and in bloom. Learn some basics of wildflower ecology and identification while taking in the beauty of spring.

  Alexandra Holland graduated from Duke University and earned her Master’s degree in botany from the University of Texas at Austin. She was in the first class of students to be certified as Blue Ridge Naturalists. Alexandra managed the UTEX Culture Collection of Algae at UT Austin and spent many hours working with education programs at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.  She has taught botany for over a decade and leads nature hikes in Western North Carolina for groups of all ages.

Bountiful Cities Community Garden Network Co-Coordinator

Potluck will immediately follow workshop

Please Register in advance for our Spring Seed Starting Workshop March 9th, from 2-3:30 at Grove Street Community Center.

In this workshop, we will focus on where to source seeds, how to preserve them through the seasons, and simple steps to determine the viability of a seed. We will explore simple solutions to the cold and ensure your plants survive the early season.

Come ready to get dirty and plant some seedlings!

Please bring seeds, gloves, pots, and hand trowels. If you’re not able to attend the workshop, Click this LINK for some reminders to help you have the most success with your seeds this year!

For the potluck please bring a dish to share and your own eating utensils. We will provide some too, just in case!