Join us for the 2026 Free Skool Santa Cruz Spring/Summer Session by participating in a class or activity! A radically different approach to living and learning, Free Skool Santa Cruz is a grassroots educational project beyond institutional control. It is an opportunity to learn from each other and share what we know, to foster communities based on mutual support and autonomy (do-it-yourself-together!).

Thanks for hanging out with us for the 2025 session! We typically take the winter off from the project and will return in the spring for our summer session – which will be from May Day/Beltane to the autumn equinox. And until then we utilize our social media (info below) to publicize other happenings going on. So we encourage you to still come up with classes/experiences to offer and reach to https://www.instagram.com/subrosa_space about the possibility of things happening there.

We look forward to seeing your class proposals in April and sharing and learning and experiencing together next summer (yeah, the “summer session” dips into spring and autumn but to call it the part-of-spring-all-of-summer-and-a-bit-of-autumn session is too cumbersome!).

Here’s information about classes that happened in the 2025 session – https://freeskoolsantacruz.org/ Our calendar kicked off on May Day/Beltane on Thursday May 1st and went until the Autumn Equinox on Monday September 22nd.

What skills would you like to share? What types of classes would help grow more vibrant, self-reliant and mutually supportive communities?

What is Free Skool Santa Cruz?

Free Skool Santa Cruz is a grassroots educational project that provides an opportunity for us all to learn from each other and share what we know, to foster communities of mutual support and autonomy (do-it-yourself-together). The project first existed year-round from 2005 – 2014. In 2021, Free Skool Santa Cruz was brought back by members of the SubRosa collective to be a seasonal project. And now here we are in 2025!

What does the “free” in Free Skool mean? 

Free as in free expression, free thought, and liberation. We try to keep Free Skool firmly fixed in a gift economy and outside the stream of commerce. While some teachers may ask for a donation to cover materials, no one is turned away for lack of funds. 

More about Free Skool Santa Cruz!

We see Free Skool Santa Cruz as a direct challenge to dominant institutions and hierarchical relationships. The project strives to blur the lines between teacher, learner, and organizer. Free Skool is decentralized, with classes held in social spaces and parks.

Part of creating a new world is resistance to the old one. Through this project, we want to contribute to changing the ways we learn and the ways we relate to each other.

Please email questions to: freeskoolsantacruz@gmail.com and more info about Free Skool Santa Cruz is at https://freeskoolsantacruz.org/home/ 

We look forward to enjoying and learning/experiencing together in the time to come.

     -Free Skool Santa Cruz collective members 

Information for Teachers (for current and future sessions)

Scheduling & Commitment: The Summer 2026 Free Skool session goes from May Day/Beltane on May 1st to Autumn Equinox. You choose how often you want to teach your classes and what days fit your schedule. If you schedule a class, we ask you to commit to it. While we very much appreciate your excitement to offer a class, perhaps multiple class sessions, we highly discourage weekly classes for a variety of reasons. Contact us if you would like to discuss this more. 

If you wish to schedule a class at SubRosa Community Space, we encourage you to work directly with a member of the SubRosa collective to host your class there if possible. We can help with communication.

Teacher Responsibilities:  Free Skool is a decentralized, non-institutional project.  In other words, you and I make it happen. Therefore, you have certain responsibilities as a teacher including considering accessibility needs of people that come to your class.  Also, promote your class through word-of-mouth, fliering, community outreach, and online.  Work with other Free Skoolers to post calendars and fliers and share about each other’s classes.  Be prompt and reliable. Take good care of the spaces who graciously host your class. Help create a culture of greater caring, sharing, and balance with the earth without money and hierarchy. And let’s enjoy each other’s company and the summer!

Please email questions to: freeskoolsantacruz@gmail.com  

Share or follow on social media! https://instagram.com/freeskoolsantacruz and https://m.facebook.com/freeskoolsantacruz/

***Members of the SubRosa collective are involved in this revived and not entirely new, not all too different version of Free Skool Santa Cruz  – a project in mutual aid learning and sharing. And SubRosa/the Hub is a site of a significant amount of classes (although not all!). More info about SubRosa at http://www.subrosaproject.org/ and the Hub at http://www.santacruzhub.org/