Food Artisan Immersion Program Participant

Taliesin Preservation of Spring Green, WI, is looking for Food Artisan Immersion Program Participants to join our 2022 seasonal work-study culinary program. The program features a kitchen garden and supporting curriculum that surveys the cultivation, craft, and community of regionally reliant foodways in southwest Wisconsin's Driftless region.

Would you like to experience seed-to-compost learning while staying on the Taliesin estate, Frank Lloyd Wright's Wisconsin home? Shared housing, weekly community meals, and tuition-free classes are provided. (There is a $2,000.00 up-front fee to cover program expenses. Participants who complete the program will be refunded $500.00 of the fee ***financial assistance may be available) Participants have an opportunity to earn $9.00 per hour working in roles that support our programming. If this sounds like the right work-study program for you, apply today!

ABOUT TALIESIN PRESERVATION

As stewards of the Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center, our dual mission is to preserve the cultural, built, and natural environments that comprise the Taliesin property and conduct educational and cultural programs that provide a greater understanding of his architecture and ideas. Unlike other historic sites, Taliesin remains filled with life, and participants become part of this community.

For over a century, Taliesin and the surrounding Driftless hills and valleys have served as a laboratory for living. There is an energy here that captures and engages people. Without exception, the staff comprises creative people who care passionately about their work and are full of ideas. We are a small organization. As such, we offer a lot of flexibility and opportunity for people to develop within their areas of interest--and we are invested in their success!

The Food Artisan Immersion Program builds naturally on this by using an approach to food that integrates ecology, art, craft, community, and region.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A FOOD ARTISAN IMMERSION PROGRAM PARTICIPANT

As a Food Artisan Immersion Program Participant, you are part of a program that draws its inspiration from Wright's organic vision that art, community, agriculture, and learning are integrally connected with the land. You share rural housing on the Taliesin Estate, grow your own food, and partake in communal meals--immersing yourself in the experience. We call this foodways: the intersection of food in culture, traditions, community, and history.

Participants have access to compensated part-time hourly employment in the Cafe and throughout our visitor program. Additionally, students help shape and conduct Taliesin's ecology-based Landscape tour.

Taliesin's Riverview Terrace Cafe menus feature seasonal ingredients--mainly sourced from the surrounding Driftless region. While working at the cafe, you survey product origin, kitchen fundamentals, proper food handling, read and create recipes, food cost analysis, menu planning, service systems, and vendor relationships.

Besides your paid work, you participate in hands-on learning through curriculum activities around the region with field trips to area farms and restaurants. On-site Curriculum activities include cultivating a kitchen garden on the estate, lectures, guest speaker sessions, book discussions, and art projects.

This instruction is designed to build skills and confidence in the basics of food service and hospitality, gardening, sustainable agriculture systems, and community advocacy towards a greater appreciation and understanding of regional foodways.

QUALIFICATIONS FOR A FOOD ARTISAN IMMERSION PROGRAM PARTICIPANT

• Keen interest in learning by doing
• Commitment to participate in both the paid work and free educational activities
• Ability to stand for extended periods of time, bend, and lift at least 50 lbs
• Open to working with all foods, including all types of meat
• Passion for preparing local, sustainable foods and being an ambassador for a seed-to-table curriculum
• Must be over 18

Do you have a strong work ethic and a love for learning? Are you interested in food sources and how to compliment and highlight each ingredient's unique characteristics? Do you possess the curiosity for creative experimentation? Can you take direction and work well with others with varying skill sets? Do you like to interact with new and diverse people? If this sounds like you, you might be perfect as a Food Artisan Immersion Program Participant!

CULINARY WORK-STUDY SCHEDULE

Participants will work cafe and visitor center employment hours. Cafe menus will range from simple grab and stay to full restaurant service. Our commitment throughout is to maintain our principles of regional sourcing and creative seasonality.

The 27-Week whole immersion session goes from late April through October and allows time for spring planting, cultivating, and end-of-season putting-by.

READY TO JOIN OUR WORK-STUDY IMMERSION PROGRAM?

If this program sounds right for you, fill out our initial 3-minute, mobile-friendly application. We look forward to meeting you!