Events Calendar
Folk Dancing in the Park
Folk school friend & Birmingham dance instructor introduces circle dancing to Iron Hills Folk School! No skills or partner needed. Join us for a fun night of dance, music, and socializing!
Saturdays are for the Folks
Come join us for the last social event of Iron Hills' first term! For those not familiar: a 'darty' is a day party, commonly thrown and enjoyed by college students. Bring some drinks or food, a sunny disposition, and a darty attitude!
Envisioning Birmingham
A Birmingham metro discussion among community leaders and folk school participants.
Register here!
Iron Hills at Birmingham Folk Fest
Come hangout with us in our corner of the Birmingham Folk Fest this year! We’ll have some craft demonstrations, hands-on activities, and community empowerment offerings. Get a glimpse into what the Folk School is all about and how you can get involved.
Country Swing Dancing Workshop
Official Pending. Whether you find yourself at a wedding where the dance floor needs more energy, or you're looking to be a potential backup dancer at a concert, or cope with the awkwardness of a family reunion, join us for a fun intro to the Texas two-step and country swing dancing. Never experience the awkwardness of not knowing what to do at a social gathering. No partner or prior experience required.
ComplaintParc
Imagine a beautiful Sunday of leisure ruined by the complaints of others. You’ve had a long week. You wanted to have fun. Too bad. We’ve had a long week too.
We will whine about the things we can’t control and the things we could control but won’t. You’re going to hate it and you’ll begin complaining too. Welcome to ComplaintParc.
Bring:
Negative Mental Attitude (NMA)
Concerns about your own life that you can project onto others
Charcuterie
A Blanket
Belonging in America: A Panel Discussion
Belonging and Isolated in America: Everyone is interested in building community again. What are communities anyway? How do communities form, and how do they go wrong? With: Joseph Fridman, Anton Cebalo, and Lily Scherlis
Walking with Awareness: Guided Mindful Experience
A guided walking meditation blending breath, movement, and nature to help you slow down, ground yourself, and connect with the present moment. The hike will be hilly and a little over a mile long. Please wear shoes suitable for trails.
Saint Pat
Come celebrate St. Pat’s with Iron Hills! Enormous amounts of fun and Irish pride guaranteed.
BYO Irish food, whiskey, beer, etc.
Front Porch Talks: Sharing Stories
You’re invited to the second installment of our Front Porch series: Sharing Stories at the Folk School. Join us for an informal evening of learning from the lives, memories, and insights of our folk school family members & friends with the most years of lived experience.
One of the unfortunate results of the stratification of contemporary society is the lack of meaningful intergenerational conversation. By spending the evening both hearing from and posing fun & thoughtful questions to our more senior members and friends, it's one modest beginning in our attempt to be a place and people for restoring friendships between generations -- for the betterment of us all.
Fermentation Workshop
Join us for a workshop learning some of the basics of fermenting vegetables and take home some of your very own sauerkraut to let ferment!
Front Porch Talks: Learning from Each Other
How Societies Stay Together - Christie Caruana
How do societies hold together? What creates unity among individuals? Christie will be discussing social relationships and how institutions (think: schools, the government, families) both create and destroy social cohesion.
Is Society Making You Sick? - Lily Plowden
What does it mean to be sick? Is society making you sick? Lily will be discussing her research on how illness is not only a physical condition, but also shaped by our culture. She will lay out the history of mental illness diagnoses to demonstrate how illness is socially constructed. Trigger warning: this talk will include discussion of sexual violence.
Christie Caruana and Lily Plowden are both students in UAB’s Medical Sociology PhD program.
Pie Night
You’re invited to the Birmingham Folk School's much-anticipated first event: Pie Night! Bring a pie or a pint (beer & soda & sparkling water all welcome). Looking forward to eating pie & being happy with y'all!