The chef position for Summer 2012 has been filled.
The vision of the Art Monastery is to cultivate personal awakening and cultural transformation through art, contemplation, and community. Does something deep in your heart respond to that call? You might be an artmonk!
We’re looking for a full-time fellow creative spirit to be the chef for our 90-day summer intensive art production retreat (June 1-August 31, 2012). The offer is that you join the Art Monastery team on the same terms as the rest of us, which is full-time work in exchange for full board (and the time of your life!). We work really hard toward this dream of ours, we laugh a lot in the process, and we get a lot of satisfaction from the resulting magic.
Chef responsibilities
Your responsibilities as chef would be to plan the meals, shop, and cook (with the help of two volunteers per meal) lunch & dinner 6 days/week. You don’t do any clean up afterward. Other people take care of breakfast (hard-boiled eggs & homemade yogurt). Meals can be extremely simple. You’ll be cooking for 9 to 15 artmonks, volunteers, and interns. Since none of these people are paying guests, there will be no reason to make fancy or complicated dishes, just simple & healthy on a slim budget. There are always a few vegetarians and possibly a couple of vegans and/or gluten-intolerants.
Living Arrangements
The 4-person long-term team, plus 3 temporary artmonks-in-residence live in an apartment down the hill from the monastery. Right next to the apartment, two more artmonks-in-residence live in yurts; the chef and two volunteers live in tents.
We look forward with great anticipation to the day that we have our own monastery where we can offer each community member their own room. This reality is not yet upon us. We are figuring it out as we go, functioning at high occupancy and high spirits.
Kitchen
It is this apartment kitchen that is our temple to food. It is absolutely essential that you have an unwavering, unflappable sense of humor about this. The residential kitchen has a single sink, four gas burners, and a fridge. We are working on acquiring an oven. We have a BBQ outside. We plan to plant a garden this spring, as well as maintaining a compost.
The one thing that this project guarantees is that fascinating wonderful people will be around all the time and that those people will celebrate and appreciate the food and nourishment you provide.
Etc.
We are a non-dogmatic organization. The team members have a wide range of religious backgrounds and current spiritual practices. One system practiced to which newcomers are invited is daily meditation. It’s an opportunity and there’s no pressure to participate in that unless you’re psyched to.
Please take a look at the rest of our website to get a feel for our vision. Keep in mind that this is our public face. I will personally be as honest as possible with you: be warned that we are a start-up organization. If you have an appetite for adventure, can handle whirlwind and rollercoaster, are delighted by the navigation of cultural differences, find value in AMAPFALAP (As Much As Possible From As Little As Possible) as a monastic principle to live by, find satisfaction in the sometimes heavenly, sometimes hellish experience of living in community, are looking to reach deeply into your own being to offer beauty and light to the world that surrounds you, are searching for ways to open your heart and mind, wish to know yourself more and more deeply, can find the stillness within the chaos, and appreciate live music and other artforms, then you just might be an artmonk. It’s a huge bonus if you speak Italian and even bigger bonus if you enjoy the beauty and occasional inconvenience of living in the Italian countryside.
Please understand that the Art Monastery Project is not for everyone. If you are psyched and inspired by the ideas and challenges described above, then you are probably one of those unique souls who will love this place. In that case: AWESOME!
