Kosa Folk Arts is an organisation connecting people to the folk arts & traditions of Ukraine & Eastern Europe, in the Canadian context.

We are a collective of artists, cultural activists and diaspora community members exploring, reclaiming and celebrating Ukrainian and Eastern European folk traditions, and sharing these with the public!

Mostly Toronto based, we are also spread across Turtle Island, with strong Slavic roots tying back to Ukraine and neighbouring lands.

The birth of “Kosa” began in 2010 with a group of 4 women in Toronto, with mixed Ukrainian heritage, who came together with the purpose of exploring tradition and culture creatively through community action, and collective art-making. They crafted, sang songs, cooked, planted gardens, brewed tea, and put on workshops and gatherings to popularize the values of traditional village / peasant life among members of the Ukrainian diaspora, and broader Toronto community.  They called themselves the Kosa Kolektiv.

In a short time, the group connected with many other musicians, folk artists, community activators, and passionate people, interested in similar ideas and actions, with whom they joined in an urban folk revitalization. Many of these original collaborators have remained good friends and partners as we have grown into a community arts organisation, with many branches, including Folk Camp!

Folk Camp Canada was started by the Kosa Kolektiv community in 2015 and obtained its not-for-profit status a year later. We began expanding our ongoing educational programs (workshops) through Folk School, as well as coordinating several folk music and dance events throughout the year. We connected folk artists and artisans with schools, community organizations, and festivals, in addition to hosting our Summer Folk Camp, a week-long program of workshops and activities. The camp was a natural extension of the group’s work in the community, reviving folk traditions and engaging people in artistic and creative practices that promoted healthy, vibrant, joyful living.

After 15 years, the Kosa community continues to expand, facilitating programs that focus on education in traditional forms of music, singing, dance, and crafts from Ukraine, Eastern Europe and beyond, with the purpose of building community bonds, preserving heritage traditions, and promoting healthy relationships cross-culturally, and inter-generationally. In 2025, we renamed our organisation Kosa Folk Arts, to better reflect the myriad of activities that continue in the Kosa lineage, and the Slavic flavour of it all!

We continue to welcome people of all identities and backgrounds, and to collaborate with other community groups with shared values and alignment. You don’t need to have Eastern European heritage to join!

Our aim is to help connect people with the land and with their (our) common roots!