careers

Folk Lounge is built by people who believe craft is a living language. We are looking for people to help bring back ornamental traditions, history, and community.

our timeline

  • The beginning of Embroidery Socials & ornamental traditions research in libraries by Shagho.

  • The launch of the website & events calendar, first lectures & workshops with museums.

  • The launch of weekly community classes, an annual program & curriculum.

positions

Lead

We're always looking for experienced embroidery & art practitioners who teach with genuine craft knowledge and cultural care. If you're ready to share the work, we'd love to meet you.

Fellow

A six-month fellowship for practitioners ready to go deeper. Fellows assist with weekly classes, monthly socials, and workshops in exchange for free class access and a pathway toward teaching.

FOLK LEADS

Teach where craft meets the wider world. Folk Lounge works at the cultural layer, bringing textile and embroidery traditions into museums, nonprofits, gardens and green spaces, and neighborhood communities across Los Angeles and online. Our programs connect people to nature, to living folk traditions, and to each other, one stitch and one gathering at a time.

Support Lead

Learn to teach by teaching, right beside us. You'll spend your evenings in a room full of makers, see how a Folk Lounge class comes together from first thread to final piece, and leave each session with new skills, new friends, and real teaching experience you can build on.

You're at the start of your craft or teaching path, and you love being around people who make things. You don't need a portfolio. You need curiosity, warmth, steady hands, and the kind of attention that notices when a student is stuck before they say so.

You'll help set up the room and materials, guide students one-on-one during class, and help keep the evening calm and welcoming. Over time, you'll take on more of the room as you're ready. Many of our Workshop Leads start right here.

Workshop Lead

Lead your own workshops with everything you need already in your hands. Folk Lounge provides the materials, the lesson structure, and the community; you bring your craft and your presence, and spend your time doing what you love most: teaching.

You're an experienced crafter, designer, or artist with an intermediate understanding of people, materials, and facilitation. You know how to read a room, explain a technique more than one way, and help a nervous beginner finish something they're proud of.

You'll run workshops on your own using Folk Lounge materials and lesson plans, at our studios, online, and with our partner institutions. You'll shape the experience in the room and share what you learn after each session, helping our programs get better every season.

Creative Lead

Build programs that carry your name and your thinking. As a Creative Lead, you'll take an idea all the way from first sketch to finished experience, working with museums, cultural institutions, and communities that care about craft as deeply as you do.

You're an experienced programmer, curator, or facilitator with a portfolio of programs you've built end to end: from material sourcing and lesson design to running the workshop and documenting what participants made and took away.

You'll develop new programs with us, source and prepare materials, lead and staff workshops, and create the documentation that lets each program live on after the last session. Your work becomes part of the Folk Lounge archive and helps shape what we offer next.

Advance At Folk Lounge

Teachers at every level are welcome to apply to the Folk Lounge Fellowship, a six-month cohort for deepening your practice, your teaching, and your place in our community. Interested in teaching with us? Tell us a little about yourself and which path fits you best. We'll be in touch as opportunities open.

Next Steps

Email hello@folklounge.com your portfolio (or samples of work) & resume representative of the level you are interested to practice with your availability to schedule a meet & great time. We are excited to meet you!

FOLK FELLOWS

Duration: 6 months
Spots: 2 per cohort
Location: In-Person & Online
Compensation: Free classes

Folk Lounge welcomes two Folk Fellows per cohort on a bi-annual basis — a role designed for someone who wants to go deeper into textile practice, cultural programming, and creative community while contributing meaningfully to the work we build together.

What You Contribute

  • Assist weekly Wednesday embroidery classes — setup, breakdown, and in-room support, 3h

  • Attend and help hold monthly Embroidery Socials in parks in Los Angeles, 3h

  • Chat facilitation during monthly Material Salon virtual speaker calls, 2h

  • Support 2 workshops over the fellowship period, 3-5h

What You Receive

  • Free weekly Pattern Keepers Class 1h - 6m on embroidery fundamentals & technique

  • Free weekly Working Lore Class 1h - 6m on ornamental traditions & symbolism

  • Embroidery Social community time 2h - 6m

  • Material Salon guest speaker series 1h - 6m

  • 2 Workshop facilitation experience 3-5h

  • Folk Fellows Alumni

Benefits are extended to Fellows who complete the full six-month fellowship. Folk Lounge reserves the right to end the fellowship early if the arrangement is not a mutual fit. All terms are outlined in the fellowship agreement signed at the start of the program.

The Role

As a Folk Fellow you'll assist with our weekly Wednesday embroidery classes, help moderate our Material Salon virtual speaker series, hold space at our monthly embroidery socials, and support select workshops throughout your fellowship. You'll be in the room as the practice unfolds — fielding questions, welcoming newcomers, and learning the rhythms of a living craft organization from the inside.

This is a practitioner-in-community role. You're not here to learn a career — you're here to deepen a practice and steward a space.

Who We're Looking For

Someone who shows up with curiosity, reliability, and genuine love for the craft. You don't need to be an embroiderer, we do require that you are versed in intermidiate sewing, art & craft.

Folk Fellows Alumni

Upon completing your fellowship you graduate into the Folk Fellows Alumni — our trusted circle of trained practitioners. Alumni are the first we call when workshops need support, and the first considered when instructor opportunities arise.

  • First-ask for workshop support and teaching opportunities

  • Invitation to seasonal member celebrations — renewed every six months for Alumni who remain active in the community

Next Steps

  1. Email hello@folklounge.com: 5 images of your embroidery, sewing, textile, or art work. Include your current resume with a short paragraph on how this fellowship would support your growth.