Contributed photo

New York Mills and Menahga students hosted the Finnish folk ensemble Kardemimmit last week as part of a digital residency. The program was part of Folkefest, a program of Minneapolis-based Arts Midwest. The digital residency was presented in partnership with the NY Mills Regional Cultural Center, who was selected to participate in Arts Midwest’s 2020 Folkefest program before touring plans were derailed by COVID-19. In addition to working with students through virtual formats, each school was gifted two Finnish kanteles to use in their classrooms, with music teachers taking part in a virtual workshop with Kardemimmit to learn about kantele use and care.