Posted by admin on 30 June 2010.
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Posted by lizziemax on 22 June 2010.
Our dear friends Jim Stewart & John Zderic visited us last week in the former monastery Colle di Costa in Labro and wrote this lovely blog about their experience in Italy. Check out their photo gallery at http://web.me.com/jimrstewart/Site/Italia.html. Thanks Jim & John!!
Ciao Amici!
We’re just back from our trip. To say it was great time would be the understatement of our lifetimes.
We are in love with the village of Labro, the site of the Art Monastery Project and home to our many of our new friends. Labro is an excellent place to spend a few days and from which to make day trips to the beautiful villages in Umbira or Lazio. The Art Monastery is an exciting project managed by some of the most talented, energetic and friendly people on the planet. We had a taste of their efforts on our first night (go ahead, ask us anything you want about castrate, the humors of the body or the sexy side of singing courtisans!). The lodgings at the monastery are provided by Colle di Costa and are in one of the most striking renovated monasteries you could imagine. 
Best of all is the attached restaurant (Ristorante Pizzeria Ulisse) where each meal was a masterpiece. Visit these places soon before they are over-booked: www.artmonastery.org; info@colledicosta.it and 0746.636295 for Ristorante Ulisse.
We bookend-ed our visit to the countryside by a few days in Rome. The Hotel San Anselmo (www.aventinohotels.com) was the perfect place to escape the craziness of central Rome (even though it was just a few short blocks from the sights). Book this hotel via Tablet Hotels for the best deals (www.tablethotels.com).
Everywhere we went the food and wine was excellent, the people friendly and helpful and it was warm and sunny. Did we mention the food & wine??!!!
For a little peek at our travels, visit our new site: http://web.me.com/jimrstewart/Site/Italia.html
We can’t wait to return and if you’re interested in making a trip to Italy we have plenty of good stories and more recommendations.
Addio!
Jim & John
Posted by lizziemax on 17 June 2010.
Posted by admin on 31 May 2010.
Click to read:
Api: festa nazionale a Labro dal 2 al 5 settembre
Labro (Rieti), 17 mag. – (Adnkronos) – Si terra’ nel borgo medievale di Labro, arroccato su una collina nella provincia di Rieti, la festa nazionale di Alleanza per l’Italia, in programma dal 2 al 5 settembre con il titolo ‘Alleanza per il futuro’. L’evento e’ stato illustrato oggi dal presidente del movimento Francesco Rutelli che ha sottolineato il carattere simbolico della ‘location’: “Labro si trova -ha ricordato- nel centro geografico d’Italia, anche se sappiamo che sull’argomento Rieti ‘duella’ con Foligno per aggiudicarsi il titolo”. “Il momento in cui il paese si divide, qui vediamo ancora il cuore sano e vivo del paese in un borgo incantato che ispira una sensibilita’ importante in un momento di lacerazione del Paese”, ha aggiunto. Il programma prevede quattro appuntamenti quotidiani, con un autorevole speaker che prendera’ la parola al mattino, con un intervento particolarmente mirato sui giovani, mentre nel primo pomeriggio tocchera’ agli ospiti politici e successivamente e’ previsto un incontro con delle personalita’ di rilievo nazionale. Concludera’ ogni serata uno spettacolo, di cui si e’ gia’ avuto sentore in questo ‘sopralluogo’, che ha visto la visita del leader di Api accompagnata, tra le mura medievali della rocca che si affaccia sul lago di Piediluco, dalle note di un singer americano, di nome Charles, dell’associazione Art monastery project, fra gli esponenti artistici che popolano la numerosa colonia straniera di Labro.
(Fan/Zn/Adnkronos)
Last but not least:
Posted by admin on 19 May 2010.
We performed a vespers in the church in Labro, then the audience came to the monastery and had aperitivi in the courtyard while our musicians jammed. We then led them into theater, where co-founders Christopher & Betsy made a brief introduction to the Project, showed a video of what we’ve done the past, the mayor and few other dignitaries spoke, and we gave a sampling of the marvelous talents of the team: everything from strait-jacket escape accompanied by Shakespeare in Italian to an aerialist accompanied by live Hildegarde.
May 22nd, Click to expand
Between the courses at Cena Art Monastica (Art Monastic Dinner), we performed English madrigals, Gregorian chant, and jazz. Loads of people came, had a great time, and everyone seems to love us! We are inundated with invitations to perform at local festivals and private parties. There were two glowing substantial articles with photos in Rieti newspapers and, as a result, more people want to see a sampling of our talents again!
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Not in Italy but still want to go to an Art Monastery event?
A Benefit for Molly Freedenberg and the Art Monastery Project
Thursday, May 20, 2010
8pm-2am, $5-$50 donation
Bollyhood
3372 19th St, San Francisco, CA
www.bollyhoodcafe.com
www.mollytheism.wordpress.com
Summary: Mischievous monks and unconventional nuns are invited to a night of art, music, performance, and irreverence to benefit Molly Freedenberg’s upcoming stay on an art monastery in Italy. Performances include live bluesy rock by Wally Cutthroat Duo, funktastic beats by DJ , live painting by Nicole Schach, blasphemous burlesque, and sultry surprises. Costumes encouraged.
Background: The Art Monastery Project, the brainchild of two San Francisco artists and their community, is transforming an old Italian monastery into an international arts production house. Now in its fourth year, the project seeks to join artists and creatives with a variety of expertise and experience to apply the disciplined, contemplative, sustainable monastic way of living to the creative process.
Molly has been invited to join this year’s residents to share and explore a variety of talents and interests, including event production, choreography, dance/movement, writing, singing, and piano. Her (ambitious, but not impossible) goal is to raise at least $1000 by June 1, and $2000 by the end of the summer.
For more info, contact Molly at missmollydiane@gmail.com or (805) 216-6550, or visit her blog about this process at www.mollytheism.wordpress.com.
And finally, Molly’s SECOND event:
May 27th at Bollyhood in SF
8pm-2am,
$10 suggested donation,
dance, live music!
Stay tuned to www.mollytheism.wordpress.com to learn about this AND next week’s benefit!
Posted by Nathan on 16 May 2010.
Posted by Nathan on 14 May 2010.
Among the artmonks-in-residence in Labro this summer are Andrew Pulkrabek, a fantastic bassist & beatboxer, and Naomi Hummel, a fabulous dancer & aerialist. They’ll be sharing their adventures over at their new blog. Read their first post here:
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Hello friends! We have survived our first week at the Art Monastery, and boy, has it been an adventure.
Where to start…
First, our home. We had seen a few pictures prior to our arrival, but nothing could have prepared us for this. We are out in the middle of beautiful nowhere in the mountain village of Labro, which was founded around 900 AD and strongly resembles Minas Tirith from the Lord of the Rings movies. We live across the valley from this medieval wonderland in the Colle di Costa, a 14th-century monastery that has been partially converted into a hotel. Most of the original structure and adjacent church have been preserved, and the contemporary additions give the place a very cool feel. The modern additions include conference rooms, a restaurant and a small theater that has housed most of our creative endeavors. It’s so quiet that the neighborhood birds form a thunderous morning chorus, and the view from the belltower is breathtaking.
Our days begin at 8:00 AM with a chilly jog across the valley to Labro, where Naomi leads the assembled Artmonks in a rigorous physical training regimen. Such things are far less common in Italy and the locals who have wandered by regard us with a mixture of confusion and amusement. We then retire to the hotel restaurant for breakfast, which in Italy means coffee, juice, cake and six kinds of cookies. Not just tea biscuits, mind you, but cookies specifically designed and advertised for breakfast consumption. Needless to say, this is a little challenging for a health-conscious vegetarian/gluten intolerant pair like ourselves, but we’ve found some delicious ways around this little hitch. Lunch is at 1:00, followed by individual training and projects until dinner at 8:00. After dinner we gather in the monastery’s church to do a compline service, a twenty-minute segment of Gregorian chant and meditation that winds us down at the close of the day. The rest of our schedule will be in flux for the rest of the summer, but here’s a brief overview of our recent activities
For the last week we have spent our mornings doing a Gregorian chant intensive and are now in full-on Artmonk mode. Our instructor is a jolly old Belgian man named Eugeen (pronounced OY-gen), who we simply refer to as “The Boss.” He has been studying Gregorian chant for over twenty years and is a very knowledgeable (albeit demanding) authority on this esoteric subject. Despite the fact that this music is sung in unison over a range of less than an octave, it turns out that Gregorian chant is very hard to do. It is even harder to learn, as it is written using an archaic notation system that implies no meter and delineates a variety of almost-imperceptibly different dynamics and articulations using one of about twenty kinds of squiggles. Virtually every rule has multiple contextual exceptions, melody lines change without notation or textual warning and most melodies must be constantly modified to fit lyrics which never repeat and are written independently from the actual music. Did we mention that this is all done in Latin?
We’ve also done several performances for the folks of Labro, including a grand debut/presentation of the Art Monastery Project to the community. Andrew melted faces with beatboxing, jazz and a straitjacket escape, while Naomi blew Italian minds with a smoking aerial silks act and several sultry vocal numbers.
We’ve done several Gregorian chant performances this weekend. One was performed with an actual Bishop (!) in the beautiful town of Orvieto. If you are not aware (We weren’t), Orvieto is the home of a beautiful cathedral, the Duomo, that was built to house the bloody altar cloth miracle thingie of Corpus Christie (something something Christian important something…) and has a stunningly ornate exterior. We didn’t go inside cause it cost three Euros. But we strolled around the lovely, if very touristy town, tried four different flavors of gelato, and threw a paper airplane off a cliff.
This next week brings us an experimental music project in which we will start to pull apart our chant work and reassemble it to produce a number of new pieces. With luck we’ll have some recordings to play for you shortly, so stay posted!
Ciao!
~Naomi & Andrew
Posted by admin on 6 May 2010.
We moved into a monastery! Now we live in Labro! Here’s our blog about it.
Posted by admin on 22 April 2010.
L’Art Monastery Project risiede da Aprile 2010 all’interno di questo monastero e albergo affascinante. Dopo un lungo lavoro di restauro e di ricostruzione la struttura conventuale, ridotta già dai primi decenni del secolo scorso alla consistenza delle sole mura perimetrali, riprende vita ospitando un centro che riproduce al suo interno la vita sociale e culturale di un monastero, con le sua attivita’ culturali e di comunita’. La struttura comprende infatti una foresteria, uno spazio espositivo, una sala musica e convegni per 150 persone organizzata su due livelli, luoghi per seminari ed incontri gastronomici, uno spazio bar e relax.
Una perfetta location per L’Art Monastery che anima lo spazio con performance, musica e stage artistici durante l’anno. La visione, infatti, viene realizzata, creando una comunita’ di artisti dentro un monastero, mentre la possibilita’, fornita da Colle di Costa, di ospitare piu’ gente in modo accogliente porta L’Art Monastery al essere non soltanto una casa di produzione ma un vero e proprio ritiro. Gli ospiti hanno il vantaggio della presenza dell’Art Monastery, con la possiblita’ di studiare con uno degli artisti oppure di frequentare i performance offerti dal gruppo.
Tuttosommato, la collaborazione tra Colle di Costa e L’Art Monastery promette una futura ricca di arte ed ispirazione in una location splendida, ricca di storia e pieno di comfort.
Posted by Betsy on 12 April 2010.
Art Monastery Project Looking to Fill Two Roles
We are looking for energetic, hardworking musicians, artists, craftspeople, and stage managers to trade work for a shared room (low season) or private tent (high season) at our beautiful monastery in Labro, the headquarters of our intentional art community.
In addition to an unforgettable work experience, there are many pleasures awaiting everyone who comes to stay with us. Participate, if you wish, in daily meditations and meals with inspiring visionaries. There will be time to enjoy wifi, excursions, performances, and all that the Italian countryside has to offer. Check out the Calendar to see which workshops, symposia, exhibitions, performances and artist residencies will be going on during your stay. We pride ourselves in our exceptional Italian and world cuisine, and we are happy to offer vegetarian options. Please let us know of your other special dietary needs.
If your heart goes aflutter when you imagine living amongst artists and intentional, contemplative thinkers, please contact info@artmonastery.org.
Arts Administration & Marketing Intern, Presidential Assistant
We are offering a unique opportunity for marketing and arts administration experience for an enthusiastic student or recent grad. Assist the President of the organization in administrative and translation work, adding valuable experience to your resume.
Responsibilities: assisting the President of the Art Monastery, making phone calls in Italian, translations, helping with marketing initiatives, curating, press/PR, writing copy, event production and installation assistance. As with all of our community members, there are also opportunities to do gardening, cooking, cleaning, driving shuttle, welcoming guests, maintenance of buildings and grounds, etc. Knowledge of Italian geography and culture and art history a plus but not required.
We are accepting applications for internships immediately. We offer a beautiful shared room in the monastery, a comprehensive meal plan that includes local, organic food and an amazing international work experience to qualified individuals at cost, which is €1000 per month. Ideally, we desire individuals who are want an internship of one month or more. Please send a short (1-2 paragraph) statement of interest including biographical info, why you are interested in the position, and what you would like to get out of your experience with the Art Monastery to
Betsy McCall, Presidente dell’Associazione ~ betsy@artmonastery.org
Work-Trade Helpers
We are looking for energetic dreamers to trade part-time work for a shared room in the monastery in the low season or your own tent in the high season.
We are seeking 2 to 3 workers to trade behind-the-scenes support of our art projects (theatrical performances, concerts in a wide range of musical styles, art installations, and more!) in the roles of stage manager, lighting technician, administrative assistant, marketing assistant, and assistant chef. If you have artistic and building skills, please send us your portfolio — we would love help creating intricate hand-painted signs, a shade structure, bookshelves, and art installations. If you have musical or theater skills, send us samples of your work and we will consider your participation in performances from time to time.
Options:
After your work each day, you are free to explore the countryside, make a day trip to Rome, Rieti, Assisi, or Spoleto, hike, hang out with the artists & other volunteers, or develop your art projects.
You can share a room in our lovely monastery or pitch your tent on the grounds. We ask that you stay with us for one week, with the option to extend your stay after you’ve been with us and gotten a feel for the place.
To see if we have space available for work-trade helpers, please contact Betsy McCall at volunteers@artmonastery.org or +39 333.153.7353.
