The Free School movement of the 1960s is seeing a resurgence in Athens. Athens Free School, founded by a group of University of Georgia students and recent graduates, “is a learning community by and for the community,” says one of the founders, Courtney McCracken. The first classes—a discussion of free schools and radical alternative education, and a fabric-dyeing class led by Zipporah Thompson—were held at the Lamar Dodd School of Art during McCracken’s first solo art show, “Knot for Sale.”

Born out of an education reform movement in the 1960s and ’70s, free schools are typically small and grow out of a community desire to learn and share information free from government intervention. The schools lack formal teachers or leadership, with hierarchies carefully avoided. The curriculum is whatever people are interested in.

At AFS, class choices are extensively varied, including but not limited to short-story circles, mosquito combat, tiny houses, throat singing, knot tying, juicing, craft swaps, pupusa making, crocheting, copyrights, Spanish immersion, self-advocacy, yoga, grant writing, cyanotypes, meditation, painting, mask making and cooking with anything from yeast to yucca.

The founders—who also include Logan Shirah and Lulu Lacy—had played around with the idea of creating a free school, and by a serendipitous meeting through the Bombs Away Collective, a local anarchist group, they were able to bring their ideas together. Shirah had been a member of the Atlanta Free School, and McCracken says that “was a huge help and motivator.”

In a free school, McCracken says, you aren’t defined by your job or your place in the economy. “It’s about empowerment and teaching people to have empowerment and autonomy,” she says.

The founders have embraced free-school proponent Jonathan Kozol’s idea of living off the surpluses of universities, which are “incredibly wasteful,” McCracken says.

“UGA does have a very growth-centered mindset, getting bigger more than getting better,” Shirah says, but he thinks it’s a good place for AFS to step in. “There is a narrative around town that it’s becoming a nuisance. There’s a tension AFS can resolve a little by using their resources. And the more we can use those resources in a mutually beneficial way, the better.”

Finding creative ways to obtain materials for classes is key for AFS, since, after all, “free” is in the name. “Free skill sharing, free information sharing, that’s what it’s all about,” McCracken says. That isn’t to say money isn’t something they’re interested in, though never by means of charging for classes. “To make people pay would be against the philosophy,” Shirah says.

One way they’re pursuing funding is by applying for a grant from UGA. The money would be directed to online resources, materials for classes and possibly some compensation to those who spend time doing organizational things for the school.

“Already I’m having to do a lot less work than in the beginning,” Shirah says, because the students become the teachers. Anyone can teach a class, whether they have expertise or not. McCracken, who received her master’s degree in fine arts from UGA, teaches what she’s aptly named “The Handy Ma’am Series,” in which she uses her sculpture expertise to teach students how to use basic tools and do simple home maintenance and improvements.

Shirah uses his art degree to teach a painting class, but stresses the importance of teaching everything and anything, not just things you get a degree in. Recognizing skills you didn’t know you had is important in the school, he says. “When people teach, they may be a rookie, but they’re doing it for themselves just as much as for other people.”

The organic nature of allowing people the autonomy to develop a class on their own is important. However, Shirah and McCracken do have a wish list of classes they’d like to see, personally: bookbinding, computer cleaning, lamp wiring, car maintenance “beyond oil changing,” farming and paper making, among others.

One class that exemplifies a core concept of free schools is the Anarchism 101 class taught by one of the founders of the Bombs Away Collective. Political education is key, and the AFS founders firmly believe in its importance. “Sharing information freely is a political act. Instead of capitalizing on knowledge and skills, we give them freely out of mutual support and solidarity,” McCracken says. “Free education is political. Gift economy, solidarity—it is all political.”

But they do understand that having a balance of accessible and approachable classes is important. “When it comes down to it, all of the classes are rooted in compassion, autonomy and play. Empowerment belongs somewhere in there I think, as well,” McCracken says.

The school has been growing, in terms of teachers, students and number of classes, through word of mouth, flyers and social media. (The Facebook page is facebook.com/athensfreeschool.) But the founders are wary of growing too fast. “I don’t want to judge the success by enrollment,” McCracken says. Shirah agrees: “It’s hard to measure influence. And growth isn’t the goal. We’re not interested in growing big and burning out.”

That is a danger with free schools. Part of the reason the Atlanta Free School, which Shirah was a part of and was the model for the AFS, is not up and running right now is because it grew too big, he says, and the school being spread out across the city made it difficult for students to attend.

What they do want is to bridge racial and social divides. While AFS was heavy on art school grad students in the beginning, it’s now becoming more diverse. “There are these racial divides” in Athens, Shirah says. “It’s a way to repair damaged relationships and bring people together.”

McCracken echoes his sentiment, and is excited about the future of the school. “Athens is the perfect ecosystem to develop what a free school should be,” she says.