Untitled Cooperative Residence for Artists
Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
- Updated on: Oct 23, 2024 (about 3 months ago)
- Created on: Jan 18, 2019 (about 6 years ago)
Mission Statement
The community focus is real life, pragmatism, people, idealism, being there for each other, soothing tensions, reducing reliance on empire, inspiring fresh new solutions, and making creative living into a comfortable reality that spreads egalitarian principles.
Community Description
NOTE: Please note that IC requires a mailing address; Dakota land (Minnesota) is the location of that mailing address. It is not the location of the Sedona-based concept.
WHY THIS COMMUNITY? Artistic and creative spaces for play are critical but so expensive and exclusive. Most artists I know cannot afford to live in the "art spaces" set up for them or do not want to pour their capital into those institutions. We need something beautiful but accessible. We want to be part of the good struggle within dominant culture to abandon bad ways such as taking Earth's resources for granted, being stuck in "rent" (serfdom) or conventional "ownership" (which is renting from banks); banks, governments and institutions based on greed, sexism, racism and things that impact and re-traumatize everyone. (We are explicitly setting out to create anti-racist, anti-sexist and anti-white supremacist community, just in case our favor for the words equality and diversity are not clear enough.)
Let's make a place everyone can:
- save money by sharing resources
- communicate with each other without controlling each other
- have easier access to real food & medicine (Earth sourced)
- pay low rent
WHO? Anybody should be able to apply. You don't have to consider yourself an artist.
LOCATION We found a location in the Sedona area, because it’s artistic, relaxing, stimulating, it has an international traveler community, clean air, nice weather, wholesome recreation, alternative transportation options (lots of walking and bicycle trails), and the beauty naturally inspires and convinces people of Earth's wonder. We’ll have a long term goal of partnering with (or starting) other locations over time so that people who don't want to be in one place year round don't have to and any responsibilities they have can be covered while they are gone.
MODEL Here are some co-operative rules we might consider:
Open Membership. A co-op does not discriminate. Any color, gender, sex, orientation, age (must be an adult though), political beliefs, religious beliefs, hair style, etc. may join. Humans need to try to get along with each other, which is hard work but very good work. This might be considered a “Rainbow Residence” in the old sense: inclusiveness for all, not just LGBTQIAA+ exclusivity (preferring all forms of diversity, not just sexual diversity.) Basically "fair housing" laws, but with the co-op caveat of having some choice of fitness of membership.
Democratic Control. The co-op is owned and operated by its members. We make agreements together. (Let’s not meet so often that it drives us nuts but enough to communicate, succeed and learn.)
Limited Return on Capital. A co-op is not intended to be a money-making enterprise for its members. In the case of housing together, the simplest way is “no equity” (no $ returned). But paying a fair low rent together (like $300 per person per month) allows us all to save more in our personal finances or dramatically divest from capitalism, as per each individual’s prerogative. We can always choose to develop a cottage industry to work on together like East Wind and Twin Oaks have.
Honest Operational Practices. Cooperatives deal openly, honestly, and honorably with their members and the general public. It sounds like that includes some measure of politeness. There is such a thing as too much “honesty” without being very kind.
Ultimate aim is to advance the Common Good. The ultimate aim of all cooperatives should be to aid in the participatory definition and the advancement of the common good. (Not too much focus on cronyism or making a “gang” of the co-op. Just see and treat each other as human beings worthy of respect). The two values we gotta have in this case are: treat all life with the reverence it deserves, and by extension respect yourself and be the best You.
After that,
- Not a hassle. Co-ops are expected to educate their members and anyone interested in how the place works. Nobody doesn’t know the rules. Everyone decides the rules. Easy to join and easy to leave. We try to be patient and good listeners and teachers for each other. (We could aim for sociocracy but let’s focus on the important stuff and not assume a set of agreements will fix all life's little struggles).
CONCLUSION So in conclusion, we are healthy, connected, individually mighty, united even stronger, and we have reduced expenses by doing it together. As a result, we have more free time to work on our individual goals and our positive collaborations, whatever those may be (since one-size-fits-all religion is not identified). And we live in an attractive place that could help us "market" egalitarian values, heal, and hopefully metabolize trauma instead of sinking under its weight.
- Status: Forming
- Started Planning: 2019
- Started Living Together: 2024
- Visitors Accepted: Yes
- Open to New Members: Yes
- Please read the details in Membership below before contacting this community.Send Message
- Website: https://artcooperative.weebly.com/
- Contact Name: Maxeem
FIC Membership
Location
About
- Type(s):
- Ecovillage (organized around ecology and sustainability)
- Shared Housing, Cohouseholding, or Coliving (multiple individuals sharing a dwelling)
- Student Housing or Student Co-Op
- Unspecified or Other
- Programs & Activities:
- Transition Town (post-petroleum and off-grid communities.)
- Neighborhood, Community Housing, or Homeowner's Association
- Ethical Business, Investment Group, or Alternative Currency
- Organization, Resource, or Network
- WWOOF'ing, Guest Farming
- Festivals, Conferences, Events
- Artist residencies
- Location: Small Town or Village
Housing
- Status: We do not have land
- Area: 0
- Planned Number of Residences: 10
- Planned Residence Types:
- Room(s) in a house or building
- Whatever seems right to the group
- Housing Provided:
- Rental
- Work-exchange
- Land Owned By: The entire community membership
- Additional Comments: We may have to start by renting space(s) together and then seeing if we can move on to getting property. The goal is to make it so that everyone collectively owns the building so we only have to pay the tax man and upkeep expenses and no other middle manager.
Membership
- Adult Members: 3
- Child Members: 0
- Non-Member Residents: 0
- Percent Women: 50%
- Percent Non-Binary: 50%
- Visitors Accepted: Yes
- Visitor Process: Since we don't have a space, you have to reach out to me. Let's meet over phone or online and discuss what we want to do.
- Open to New Members: Yes
- Membership Process: Just be a good friend to people. We like people. Pay the rent. Communicate about your needs. Don't panic. Enjoy and protect one of the loveliest places on the face of the Earth.
- Additional Comments: I have visited a lot of communities. The main thing that makes them function isn't the model (corporation, co-op, commune, land trust) but dedication to working with what you have to make space for the good things about humanity. If everyone does that most of the time, it's not a struggle to avoid trauma the times people's triggers show up.
Government
- Decision Making: Anarchy
- Identified Leader: No
- Leadership Core Group: No
- Additional Comments: Our community is based on friendship. The ultimate goal is to have anarchy just plain work, but members of all societies on this continent have experienced a great deal of trauma so that's probably not realistic right now. So our community will operate on Modified Consensus before aiming to train ourselves in Sociocracy 3.0 and go from there. The main thing is to not let ourselves get torn apart by triggering each other. People first, not models. Yes, it makes things move slow. But you know what? Maybe that's a good thing.
Economics
- Dues, Fees, or Shared Expenses: Yes
- Monthly Fees($): 300
- Shared Income: Partial Sharing of Income
- Required Weekly Labor Contribution: 2
- Open to Members with Existing Debt: Yes
- Additional Comments: The reality of this multinational population on Turtle Island (aka Canada, the USA et al) is that we are all using money to just survive. So we need to have a basic rent and a damage deposit, but it's not for profit. It's just to afford taxes together and upkeep and pay back start up loans and then start saving so we can liberate more property from the man and spread the model.
Sustainability Practices
- Energy Infrastructure: We use both systems.
- Current Renewable Energy Generation: 50-75%
- Energy Sources:
- Solar
- Wind
- Planned Renewable Energy Generation: 100%
- Current Food Produced: 0%, or close to 0%
- Planned Food Produced: Almost All, around 90%
- Food Produced Locally: Up to 25%
Lifestyle
- Common Facilities:
- Common House
- Garden(s)
- Library
- Workshop
- Large Scale Kitchen
- Stage or Auditorium
- Fire pit
- Internet
- Sheltered work space for indoor arts like architecture/animation/crafts etc.
- Internet Available: Yes, community provides it
- Internet Fast?: Yes, exceptionally.
- Cellphone Service: Good for most people.
- Shared Meals: Rarely
- Dietary Practices:
- Omnivorous (plants and animals)
- Paleo (no grains, dairy, processed foods, or legumes)
- Local
- Organic (no pesticides or synthetic fertilizers)
- GMO Free (only non-genetically modified organisms)
- Opportunivore (dumpster diving, nature harvesting, etc.)
- Dairy-Free
- Gluten-Free
- Dietary Choice or Restrictions: No - people may eat however they wish.
- Special Diets OK: Yes
- Alcohol Use: Yes, used seldomly, or ceremoniously.
- Tobacco Use: No, this community does not permit tobacco use.
- Additional Diet Comments: Preference will not be to substances but to those sensitive to their direct and social effects. We want to be a community that is drug free and enjoys cleaner air by default. Eating together is awesome but not going to impose that on anyone. We could establish a supper club and whomever is interested shows up. Hopefully everyone!
- Common Spiritual Practice(s):
- Eclectic (integrates multiple religious or spiritual beliefs)
- Not a particularly spiritual or religious community
- All anti-racist beliefs welcome
- Spiritual Practice Expected?: No
- Education Style(s): Up to each family or individual
- Expected Healthcare Practices: Please don't bring any substance abuse of any kind.
- Healthcare Options: Up to each family, household, or individual
Community Network or Organization Affiliations
NASCO (North American Students for Cooperation), WWOOF (Working Worldwide On Organic Farms), aspiring association to SWICA (South-West Intentional Community Alliance)
Community Affiliations
The Students' Co-operative, Inc. (Minneapolis, MN)
Fair Housing Laws
This community acknowledges that their listing does not include any potential violations of the Fair Housing Law, or that they do not provide housing. For any questions about this topic please see our Content Policies and contact FIC with any questions or concerns: directory@ic.org.
Keywords
cooperative, communitarian, artist, art, creative, green