Again, local community
Just read this comment on Edgeryders facebook page by
Francesco Foschino: Thanks. In Matera that’s what we need, and what we have been looking for decades.
A bunch of people coming to my town “troubleshooting” our problems by raising tomatoes and potatoes in our gardens and by learning how to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Veeery patronizing.
K below probably had a point when she said we need to find out ways to embed this in Matera…
Aw, even i got mentionned 
But my EFR has been shat upon :,(
Forgetting about usability while
designing a process of social change will be repeating the mistake of many orgs and institutions, thats right.
Co-design takes a bit more time.
Without though colaborative design we will end up with McDonald’s of ideas and projects.
Local governments and supranational institutions might not yet fully realise that a ready to eat solutions are obsolete.
And yes, there us such an entity as people of Matera: it includes everyone who lives in Matera or used to live there, and have some emotions concerning this city.
There is such an entity at least because there is the opposite: thise who dont have a clue about the city or have guesses and assuptions. And this is the majority of ERs as far as I know.
It is a very broad entity though, but if we want the unMonastery to be a useful co-working space of change, the ideas should be suggested and explored by the most matera-savvy people and at least those who intend to live there for more then one month. They can be as self selected as we are, whatever. Ideas ERs all had before we even knew abt matera are better to be weaved into projects designed locally. Otherwise it is another waste of energy and money.
There were (and are) various kinds of monasteries. I suppose there is also a room for various types of unMonasteries.
It is rather hard to incorporate introvertic book writers into a community of hectic social reformers. Perhaps it’s better to give them a choice whether they want to stay together, or to form their own communities.
Original concept of unMonastery looks a bit like a “white man’s burden” to me. You may certainly expect that kind of reception in some places.
Participation is the key. Being invited by the people is a result of several meetings, building reputation and trust. Places that experience social problems usually also face tensions between dwellers and authorities. If the unMonastery is arranged with the authorities, your initial position in local community will be harder.
And again, I can imagine some unMonasteries being funded on public (authorities’) funds, some other - on people’s resources.
There are many areas where we shall see more than one solution. My suggestion is to allow more flexibility and variety in the concept and focus on ‘resilience through participation’ - creating mechanisms rather than preset solutions.
Hard to disagree
Hey (Petros?), thanks for sharing this. Well. it’s hard to disagree with what you say: one size fits all is almost never a good idea. I guess in this post I had a specific instantiation of the unMonastery concept: a prototype with a six month lifespan; 15-20 people living under the same roof; and a one month minimum duration for the individual residency.
Two comments to your comment:
The White Man’s Burden
Just to make sure we are on the same ground: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Man%27s_Burden
And I am refering to the original concept of unMonastery, which has been already commented (also by - supposedly - some Matera residents) as patronising. It’s just another nuance, that may add up to positive (or negative) reception from the local community.
As for the diversity, it all depends how you define “a lot”. There are various roles within the community, which require various personalities. However, if the variety goes too far, you will get rather wobbly and inconsistent community. It’s more an art, than a science. 
Hmmm
Ok, I got it. No, no one so far has commented the UM as patronizing. We are flying under the radar, and talking to “scouts” in the community to make sure we DON’T do come across as patronizing. The consensus seems to be that we need to get the most active and creative local people behind the idea that interacting with nonlocal people is a good idea. This should not be too hard: I go back a while in Matera, and we have successfully fought this fight before.
As for the diversity: we are in agreement.
Petros, a how-to note: if you want to reply to my comment, I recommend you click on the “reply” link in the comment itself (bottom right), which is what I did to write this. This makes is easier to decode the conversation for newcomers.
Patronising…
I got completely lost, looking for a link at the bottom right. But perhaps a bottom left one will do.
Ah, speaking od patronisation:
seamlessness
Hmmm, indeed. As someone who might show up as a playwright / writer in need of many hours working alone (that’s the nature of the beast), I can only rely on some earlier experiences. I have been to the Ragdale Foundation in Lake Forest, Illinois, a half-dozen times for residences. It is a historic house located on the edge of parkland in a upper-upper-middle-class town, the veritable suburban Parioli of Chicago. In Lake Forest, the artists and writers are accepted (sort of) because, in the United States, artists and writers have no economic or political power. So it’s a bunch of fairly harmless eccentrics (with the occasional best-selling novelist) living in some historic houses among captains of industry and the One Percent. In Spain, I was at Can Serrat, in Bruc, at the edge of Barcelona. Again, mainly painters and artists, although the people who run Can Serrat tended to be better integrated into the community of Bruc. (Their children were in the local schools, for instance.)
All that written, my point is that Matera is in Italy, where writers and artists have been working successfully for centuries. Why, even back to the Samnites and Greeks. So the people of Matera undoubtedly know what they would like in becoming sponsors of such an institution. It is a matter of having them say so. Further, because the arts are firmly entrenched in Italian culture, the question becomes: What can artists do to benefit Materia meaningfully? A gallery show? A talk? Help with translating the information about those amazing cisterns? (A yearly sacrifice of an artist to the gods who live in the cistern? Hmmmm, that may be a viable option.)
I have never had much difficulty among Italians with people making it clear what they want in such situations. I’m sure that the people of Matera, too, have no “pelle sulla lingua.”
All that written, I am aware that Alberto’s charge is to consider socio-economic value of the arts. So the question may turn on best economic integration: Single building (to “restrutturare”)? Dispersed residences? Designated community-based projects from people who want to interact with the community? Or is the best use just giving artists, writers, activists time and space among the people of Matera?
Use the Force, Don
I would not worry too much. The value to the community of the unMonastery done right is greater than the value of the people that populate it showing up. Once bright people like you are on board, they will recruit each other into doing interesting stuff; and the community will be given ample permission to interact, involve and seduce. I am pretty sure it will work itself out. If, that is, we manage to make it happen at all!
Nonne italiane
All that you require is a Comitato di Nonne Mataresi. They will tell everyone what to do and make sure that the work gets done. (And that we all wear clean clothes and have good haircuts.) I keep in mind one of the bellezze di Torino, the Latteria Bruna Bera, run by Bruna (in her eighties) and her sister Romola (a bit older). Unstoppable. They could / should rule the world.