Executive Summary

The Art Monastery Project, an Italian non-profit association, was founded to convert an historic Italian building into an international art production center in a mutually beneficial exchange with the community that hosts it.  In order to reap the benefits of creating a comparable local institution (like an opera house, theatre, or museum), a community would normally have to spend millions to pay local artisans, staff, and artists.

Yet by attracting international artists who are inspired to work in a beautiful Italian location and drastically reducing expenses through collective living, the high quality of work and high rate of cultural return will attract state and international investment to fund the project and benefit the community.

Benefits to a Community

The community that offers its historic ædifice to The Art Monastery Project                                                      

will reap the following benefits:

A.  Direct benefits of the presence of an world-class arts institution and the international artists themselves, include

1. 1.Joy that a cherished building has been lovingly restored and is being fully used in away that benefits the whole community
   

2. 2.Improved sense of civic pride through art that respects and celebrates their history and traditions
   

3. 3.Enriched lives, festivals, and worship of the citizens, through a level and frequency  of art and performances that would be otherwise unaffordable
   

4. 4.Cosmopolitan experience for the citizens and educational opportunity for their children through interaction with the international artists
   

   B.  Enhanced fame and visibility as a host of such an institution bring:

         1.  Capital and Employment through

                   a.  attracting tourism

                   b.  producing art festivals

                   c.  offering new and enhancing existing workshops

                   d.  stimulating local real estate value

         2.  Investment in Public Works and Community Projects

                   a.  by providing a competitive edge over other similar communities in

                        attracting state funding

                   b. by attracting the attention of private sponsors internationally

Uniqueness of the Proposition

To gain the benefits mentioned, a small-mid-sized opera house with 40 full-time employees that produces a handful of productions a year requires an annual operating budget of several million euros. Yet the bulk of the budget goes to salaries for the artists and staff… and the bulk of this salary leaves the artists in the form of rent and other living expenses.

The Art Monastery, however, would learn from historic models of communal living to collectivize and minimize living expenses (e.g., growing our own food).  Thus we can insure that every euro invested goes directly to support the artists and the art-making process: creating several million euros-worth of culture annually at a fraction of the cost.

Even more importantly, we will also provide an ideal environment for the creation of excellent work: not only is the artist freed from the concerns of daily life to focus purely upon art-making, but she is also working within a stimulating community of artists and staff that maximize the impact of their work.  In addition to deep collaborative development through long-term collaboration, the artist will also be stimulated by regular influxes of visiting artists and special projects.

Thus, not only would this be a superlative place to work as a long-term or visiting artist or scholar, but it would also create an extraordinary environment to be around as a member of the host community or as a visiting sponsor.  The opportunity for benefactors to visit and experience the fruits of their donations, coupled with the efficiency of the model, make this a truly unique and inspiring affair.

How the Model Works

The basic business plan leverages three groups of shareholders into a mutually-beneficial, currently under-exploited relationship that offers significantly higher yields of investment to each group than competing forms. The three shareholders are:

1. 1.Italian communities with an historic property that they would like to see gloriously restored and used for a purpose that both benefits them directly and brings honor and investment to their community.
   

2. 2.International artists, artisans, and staff who will happily work on idealistic projects in an  inspiring Italian location in exchange for merely room and board.
   

3. 3.US, EU, and Italian public arts funding and private philanthropy that will support arts production that offers an excellent quality and efficiency (plus, many private donors just like to be associated with or visit such a beautiful project in Italy).
   

Thus the economic efficiency of the model, when operating, would allow it to produce several million euros-worth of culture (comparable to a small-mid-sized European opera house) yet for an annual operating budget of half a million euros. Once established, the additional fundraising that will become possible, can raise the production level even higher and make the cultural return on investment even richer.  To achieve the efficient model, it would require the following, quite plausible resources:

1. 1.An inspiring, ecologically efficient, æsthetically well renovated historic site with communal feeding and rehearsal capacity and private single and double bedrooms for 40 long-term residents (with capacity to swell to 60 people during festivals) with access to performance and exhibition venues.  Any connections and collaborations with local artists, institutions, and venues will benefit everyone and attract further state investment (as well as tourism) to the community.
   

2. 2.A resident community of 30 artists, staff, and administrators. Plus room for  approximately 10 more visiting artists and scholars. The precise mix of disciplines and ratios of artists to staff will be tailored to maximize the nature of the space and the heritage and will of the community.
   

3. 3.Once the site and long-term community is established, then an annual budget of approximately 500,000€ would cover all operating expenses (food prepared in house, utilities, and a small budget for staff salaries and ongoing projects).  Additional fundraising acquired by staff grant-writers and income from external performances or publications would augment this baseline and increase the number and level of artists and projects that it could support.
   

Timeline

Beginning in January 2008, The Art Monastery Project could achieve the economically efficient model described above within two years.  The speed to efficiency will depend upon the amount of restoration/decoration/furnishing necessary as well as the presence of a few hundred thousand of extra initial investment in the first two years, for the following two necessary steps:

1. 1.Extraordinary & Efficient Restoration We have excellent human resources in the form of enthusiastic, professional artisans ready to volunteer to decorate and furnish the site.  Thus any capital invested in renovations will be magnified into the type of   extraordinary craftsmanship and commitment to detail executed by people with a stake in the project… which would otherwise be prohibitively expensive.  Our marketing director has already successfully created a comparable program on an Italian archæological site. The work will be done by both professionals (who will work in exchange for room & board) and many amateurs (who will actually pay in exchange for learning Italian language and design history and techniques, and then putting it into practice restoring structures and artworks, planting gardens, building furniture, and painting frescoes).
   

2. 2.International Search for Long-Term Members The first two years of artistic  projects and residencies will serve as “auditions” for the long-term community so that we can attract not only superlative individuals, but also construct the appropriate social alchemy for a functioning art production organization.  Unfortunately, short-term projects and residencies are more expensive as they require payment of travel costs and occasionally salaries (since the participants are not yet expenseless residents). So although this phase will still be more economically efficient than any other opera house in Europe, it will not produce the incredible rate of return on investment that the final model will achieve.  This model requires several hundred thousand euros more during the first two years.
   

Contact:  Info (at) ArtMonastery (dot) org