With the hope that we will extend UnMon in Matera I would like to begin the process of thinking through opening up the UnMon to more collaborators. Although we still have to confirm the timeline and funding, discussing the best approach to integrating new unMonks could begin now, in anticipation.
Based on our experiences and some discussions over the last months it seems that the project would benefit significantly from having more people from Matera/Basilicata living and working at UnMon. Initial thoughts on the best mix are that 3 locals and 3 non-locals might be the right balance for this next phase.
We are planning an event on May 3rd to bring together people curious about what we are doing and that might consider joining us. We could present a short overview of our goals, and how we are currently living and working together. This will be an opportunity to discuss what conditions, such as time commitment, stipends and living arrangements would make joining UnMon possible for those who are interested, and introduce our ideas for how we plan to bring on more people, so that we can get the feedback we need to further refine our approach.
At this event we are thinking it would be good to: communicate what kind of projects and collaborations are in process share some ideas about what would fit in well with the projects and processes we have initiated encourage new projects from potential unMonks that align with our goals We can also introduce 3 different ways to participate: co-working space- to work on own project co-working and unmonking- to work on unmon projects co-working, unmonking and co-living at unmon (sign your life over to unmonastery) After that, as a first step, we could ask people to send a short email explaining why they would like to join unMon and what they would like to do.
Feedback on these initial thoughts and first steps? Ideas for the next steps?