Anni Zylstra (them/they) is a multidisciplinary folk artist based in the traditional homelands of the Oceti Sakowin and Ho-chunk in SW so-called Wisconsin.   Some of the realms their work encompasses include traditional willow basketry, agroforestry, polyphonic singing, arts organizing, directing, and  teaching.  All of Anni's work is rooted in both deep reverence for the nonhuman world, as well as visions of radical inclusion and reimagining who is welcome in the the rural folkscape -- a space with heteropatriarchal, racist, and colonial legacies, and yet, so much to offer our collective verdant futures. 

 

Anni's facilitation is rooted in anticapitalist values, play, a queer nature-based lens, and more than a decade of community leadership. They currently weave their days on a little mixed prairie woodland resting on the West Fork of the Kickapoo River, where they grow basketry willow, tend perennial food crops, raise ducks, host basketry students, and lead Ember, a community choir that sings Balkan, Georgian, and polyphonic English music in La Farge, WI.