About the Willowell Foundation
Founder and History
The Willowell Foundation was founded in 2001 by Matt Schlein,
now the Foundation’s Executive Director and also Director of Willowell’s co-sponsored youth program, the Walden Project. Click here to learn more about Matt Schlein.
Since its inception, Willowell has been dedicated to supporting a creative intersection of the arts, sustainability and the environment and their connection to alternative education. Our first major project was the purchase of the 230-acre Willowell Land, which we purchased through a conditional bridge loan in August 2005. We are currently fundraising to complete our purchase of the Willowell Land.
Past and present programs and projects include: Campfire Series, the Walden Project, Learning with the Land course, Summer Arts Environment and Sustainability Institute, Center for Arts Environment and Sustainability, Wildlife Monitoring, Trail Network, Walden Community Garden, Farm-to-School Program, Orchard Berry and Bee Project, Barn Restoration Initiative, Valley Clayplain Reforestation, Artist Residencies, Land Preservation, and Permaculture Design.
The Foundation is managed by a small, volunteer Board of Directors and supported by a Staff Team dedicated to the advancement of our vision.
Willowell History
From Matt Schlein:
February, 2007: Willowell was founded in October 2000 with the idea that there were active ways that we should be looking at how to bring people together through the important interlocking triumvirate of arts, education,and environment. Having spent six years prior in the public school and another three before that in institutional settings, I had a strong sense of how this might happen; envisioning Willowell as a catalyst and incubators for both myself (and the work of Walden...which was a manifestation of one project) and others out there who were interested in thoughtfully pushing the envelope. At that point, I began to feel an urgency about the imbalance between people and nature and felt that future global balance depended upon inculcating people with an appreciation for the natural world. I was also troubled by the ontology of reductionism,which sought to isolate our way of looking at problems through the lens of "Art", or "Environment" or "health care".
For me, the best solutions were interdisciplinary that built bridges between traditional barriers. For example, when youth are growing their own food, they are being educated, they are becoming aware of ecological issues, and are gaining important nutrition which fits the mandate of public health. Willowell was to be an advocate for solutions that were interdisciplinary by nature.
The first years of Willowell were run more like an advisory board for me, rather than a group that was coordinating the activities. We received a few small grants, including one from the Vergennes American Legion that helped us get the garden off the ground (bad agrarian reference unintentional), as well as supported a number of writers and artists in the area, including Michael Chorney and Karla Van Vliet. We were also the umbrella organization for the North Branch School in its first two years of operation and provided support to the Mount Abraham Union High School Tracking Club.
Five years ago when the Willowell Land came on our radar, it became clear that we could create a dynamic place where the projects might intersect with one another and reflect an ethos about place that seems crucial for our species at this juncture. At this point, the Board became more of an active entity. This was also supported through the Harmony/VISTA grant we first got in 2002.
From there, we regularly held events like poet Peter Richards’ reading and other talks. The Board began to direct policy and planning in a symbiotic way between Walden's progress and Willowell's ultimate vision. Since that time, we have raised approximately $300,000 dollars towards the Willowell Land purchase. In many ways, Willowell's best days seem like they are on the horizon, as we have steadily built and refined many of the nuts and bolts issues.
--Matt Schlein, February 2007
©2007-2008 The Willowell Foundation
PO Box 312
Bristol, VT 05443
(802) 453-6195
Website by Emily Watson-Blagden, Willowell Foundation A*VISTA 06-07
