Shoebox Arts: Folk Lounge And Finding Your People

Photo by Jazmin Quaynor on Unsplash

Kristine Schomaker knows what it's like to build authentic creative community—she's been connecting artists through Shoebox Arts (website | instagram) for over 15 years, helping 500+ artists transform their careers. When she invited Folk Lounge founder Shagane Barsegian into one of her community conversations, we thought we'd discuss intergenerational craft circles and community building. Instead, they unraveled everything about creative shame, what happens when ancestral calls disrupt your tech career, and why loving yourself when you're not useful to capitalism might be the most revolutionary practice of all. The conversation covers unemployment as spiritual boot camp, the brutal UX of government systems, dance as healing for parts therapy can't reach, and why the ceiling of your genius depends on how low you're willing to go. If you've ever been ashamed of your messy, non-linear creative process, this conversation is medicine.

Listen to the full podcast →

 
See All

Events

Ready to dive deeper? Join our community of master artisans, cultural stewards, and creative practitioners exploring the intersection of traditional craft and contemporary life. Classes, intensives, and ceremonial gatherings across LA and online for artists, designers, crafters, illustrators, and makers of all backgrounds and levels. Our programs unite ancient wisdom with contemporary practice, cultivating living heritage through embodied craft, storytelling through making, communion with nature, cultural preservation, meditative practice, and the celebration of life's luminous beauty.

Folk Lounge

Folk Lounge is redefining what cultural preservation looks like in the 21st century—not as museum work, but as urgent community infrastructure. Founded by multidisciplinary artist and design leader Shagho, this LA-based craft collective transforms public parks into contemplative making spaces where traditional ornamental practices become direct responses to nature deficit, digital overwhelm, and the breakdown of intergenerational knowledge transmission. With partnerships spanning institutions like the Wende Museum and Pasadena Heritage to LA Design Weekend and corporate retreats, Folk Lounge is bridging scholarly rigor with grassroots cultural stewardship—proving that the antidote to our contemporary crises might just be gathering to make beauty with our hands.

Previous
Previous

Invisible Networks & Creative Ecology For The Flow Of Life

Next
Next

From Owen Jones To OpenAI: Finding The Mudo In Times Of Accelerated Change