Call For Artmonks

Are you an Artmonk? Join us!

Thank you, to all of the beautiful applicants who submitted before the April 15th deadline. We’ll be getting back to you very shortly.

But the Art Monastery Project is continuing to accept applications on a rolling basis, looking for professional artists, community organizers, and spiritual seekers, with the skills and passion for the following positions:

Chef
Playwright
Instrumentalists (esp. Percussionist and a String Player
Dramaturg
Production Manager
Community Manager

Dates and cost:
8 weeks, August 9th to October 5th, 2015
Artmonks pay for their own travel to and from the summer program. The Art Monastery Project covers all food and housing costs.
Artmonks are encouraged to seek individual grants, private contributions, or frequent flyer mile donations to help.

Where: Abruzzo, Italy (2-3 hours east of Rome)
Location map: https://goo.gl/maps/LI1jJ
In an ancient monastery, surrounded by one of Italy’s largest national parks, a 15 minute walk from the center of Caramanico Terme, less than an hour drive down the mountain to Pescara and the beaches of the Adriatic.

CLICK HERE to download the application.

CLICK HERE for more info about the thematic source material of the show we’ll create.

With questions, or to submit your completed application, please email Caramanico@ArtMonastery.org
But first, please carefully read the rest of the program description below.

---

From August 9th to October 5, we will gather together as a community of 15 Artmonks, living together together in Abruzzo, Italy, in a small mountain town called Caramanico.

For 8 weeks, we will share modest accommodations, 2-3 people to a room. We will share cleaning responsibilities, both daily and weekly chores, to care for the beautifully renovated monastery and surrounding area. Under the guidance of our resident Culinary-Artist / Chef-Monk, we will cook together and have 2-3 group meals a day.

The Art Monastery Project is built on the three pillars of Community, Contemplation and Creativity. We will explore the intersection of these 3 concepts, building our show and our community from an authentic place of questioning, openness, and respect. All participants should be actively lit up by all three of these AMP pillars (Community, Contemplation, Creativity).

On Community:
Artmonks live together, share rooms, clean, cook and share meals together. We build contemplative practice together, train our bodies and minds together and create together.  While each individual will be on his/her own path, with his/her own experiences, the Summer Laboratory is a time of intense interconnectedness. We believe that by committing to each other so fully, we learn about ourselves, our shared human experience, and our capacity for compassion. During the seven weeks, we will see each other radiant, thoughtful and strong, and we will see eachother struggling, triggered and unskillful. By helping each other, practicing patience, and unfolding of the relationships, we grow together.
Logistically, most of that shared life is navigated using consensus-based decision making. There is a real learning curve to living within consensus-based decision making, but that process of communication is a beautiful teacher in and of itself–and taking that kind of care to cultivate peace within our community is a central focus of the program.

On Contemplation:
Artmonks strive for a spirituality and ritual life that flows from creative expression to awakening compassion for our fellow beings. As a community and as individuals, we will draw on different religious and non-religious traditions to explore our minds and spirits. Some examples include chant, meditation, contemplative dancing, writing, and ritual. Each day will include time set aside for contemplative practice and exploration. The experiment is to explore how these foundational practices influence our creative and community life.
The Art Monastery Project is a secular organization. We carry no fixed dogma, just shared interest in engaging with these questions. The particular spiritual traditions of the 2015 summer program will be drawn directly from the experience and interest of our particular summer community.

On Creativity:
During the 7-week residency, the team of artists will create an evening length, original interdisciplinary theater piece. We will work collaboratively under the direction of Director Neva Cockrell to devise the new show: an ensemble performance, featuring singers, dancers, actors, and musicians. Through daily morning training in dance, theater, and music, the performers will develop a shared vocabulary. The afternoons will be devoted to rehearsals, where the creative artistic team will work together to explore the thematic material of the piece and set new material.
Our time together will culminate in public performances at the monastery, and other tour locations in Italy.
CLICK HERE for more about the thematic jumping-off-point of our creative work this summer.

---

 

With these three Pillars in mind, the summer Artmonks will engage in a daily balance between process and product, work and play, individual time, collaborative artmaking, and community engagement. The daily schedule is intended to help us build steadily towards our creative goals, while nurturing ourselves and our community.

Example Schedule from 2014:
7-8 Morning Contemplative Practice
8-9 Breakfast
9:30 Check-in
10-12:30 Artistic Training
1-2 Shared Lunch
2-3 Break
3-6:30 Afternoon Rehearsal
6:30-8 Break
8 Shared Dinner

Weekly Production Outline
Week 1: Introductions, skills share, open brainstorms
Week 2: Research, table work, initial artistic explorations
Week 3: Creation of new material
Week 4: Choosing and setting material
Week 5: Finalizing material, rehearsing
Week 6: Opening Performances
Week 7: Touring Performances, closing ceremonies