Chip (complimenta -> c.h.a.m.p.s)

• Enfield (Ithaca), NY
• 2008-2021
• Property: Chip's grandpa gave her the property. Grants + fundraising for additions.
• Finances: See below (inheritance, grants, donations, in-kind, too much sweat equity)
• De-centering the metropolis: Chip felt same way as me.
• Recent years: See below

• Other leads: See below

• Graduated undergrad in 2008, inherited house in bad condition on 1 acre. Have been in and out since then.

• 2012: solicited in-kind donations + Kickstarter to expand compound - was full-time for 3 years. Had an accountant who led them down path of non-profit arts organization. Elliot (partner) was living in NYC

• Year 3 (~2015?) - closed, both went back to grad school. Complimenta -> c.h.a.m.p.s

• Conflict: the mission is to serve local Enfield/Ithaca needs, but community was trans kids (?) + international artists (friends of friends, not through an open application)

• RESOURCES/OWNERSHIP: must be sustainable. Chip looked into collective ownership, but at end of day, was responsible for everything (sounds like Soft Surplus) - got in way of embodying values of collectivity. Older folks (70s hippies) warned against splitting it up, as it posed challenges in the 70s when people got families, etc. But it is 21st century, and we can come up with smarter contracts/forms of collective ownership. Different attitude.

• Solicited food donations (for 3 meals/day) - from local farms. Asked invited artists to chip in for a $250 port-a-potty, etc

• 2020: finished grad school, Chip moved back up to Ithaca, worked on local farm. Ascetic, solo (with some romantic partners here and there)

• ACTIVATION RESIDENCY: Seb shares this mission with Chip, and Farming Futurity is looking for land. Could this be a match?

• ITHACA/ENFIELD: farming agriculture is great, there's an indie bookstore, college town (Cornell, etc). But NOT a satellite of NYC like the Catskills are. Very white ("Get Out" vibes). Chip is mixed-race and often feels uncomfortable.

OTHER LEADS:
1) Soulfire Farm - obv great, but hard to imagine in Ithaca because of its whiteness
2) Many like-minded friends went down non-profit route ex: Shondakin Project (was acquired by Storm King?)
3) New Lebanon - poets
4) Ponderosa - Stephanie Marr, dancer in Berlin (Chip almost went to go live with her)

CHIP NEXT STEPS
- Applying to undergrad teaching jobs at Bard, Sarah Lawrence. Feel more community in a city. But still interested to keep c.h.a.m.p.s spirit alive - with property funds.

Laura C.

• Friend in Hawaii making backyard water cisterns for crops
• Tepotzlan, Mexico: working on publication documenting local environmental group creating maps/non-linear land studies
• MIT "Future Commons" with Rafi Segal for Venice Biennale
• "Bootlegs and Bastards" book with Marisa Jahn (Studio REV)
• "CAREHAUS" (Rafi Segal) - Baltimore + Buffalo Bayou (Texas) - co-living for caregivers, experimental ownership
• Argentinian designer (Mercedes XXX) - online platform for public housing residents' informal economies - trading labor, experimental assignments of value to commodities
• Berkshires, Center for New Economics - Laura spoke with them on CLTs

Breaking away from inheritance models of land ownership, inheritance determined by who is putting in the work/care

Sculptor creating sculptures of charred earth, to buy back land that was taken/charred

Zak

Nader Khalili (earthbags)
Earthships

Discord: "Inexact Sciences"

• Geodesic domes: Pacific Domes require no skilled labor. 3 people, 6 hours, 24K = 1024 sqft. interior. Cost-effective with debt financing. With revenue from retreats / AirBnB, could finance part-time community in 3-5 years
• Florida: low taxes for individuals and "businesses" (could be legal wrapper for community)
• Young people moving together to small town: run for local politics, try out radical ideas. Fund and hire people working for the "County" (?)
• DAO (Distributed Autonomous Organization) principles applied to land ownership.. Amount of work you put in = amount of land ownership/equity.. "pay" dues, issues legal ownership month by month -- REIT-ish. Mechanism for transfer of ownership, for longevity of community/passing the torch
• Vermont/Wyoming Example - BBLLC - legal wrapper for business whose ownership/governance is represented in public blockchain to program rules - taxes paid normally.
• Regular business model: profits are paid out through discounted rental
• Upstate NY Counties: some with lower taxes, along metro-north

MILLENNIAL COMMUNE COOKBOOK

• Rural internet: Starlink (SpaceX) or Althea Networks (rural mesh)

TRANSPORTATION + LODGING COST

1,370
SOUTH: 2 weeks = $420 car rental + 5 nights Hotels (400) + Food (550)
1,570
NORTH: 2 weeks = $200 flight + $420 car rental + 5 nights hotel (400) + Food (550)

----CAR----

unlimited miles
Pick + Return in Charleston, SC

KAYAK 1 MONTH
1 month Sedan - $750
1 month SUV - $950

KAYAK 2 WEEKS
2 Weeks Sedan - $400
2 Weeks SUV - $420

TURO
Cost-prohibitive

---PLANE---

CHS <-> NYC
Round Trip - $200

ALEX - STE ASSIGNMENT FINAL REPORT
January 30, 2021

Seb: what % of the literature out there have you covered and what is left, and where would you search?
Alex: Alliance for Artist Communities all seem to qualify for criteria - are non-profits largely, well organized. Only scratched the surface of this directory. Center for Intentional Communities are more hippie-ish.

Seb: For artist residencies, do people live there permanently?
Alex: Rare for permanent residence - more retreat-like. More like institutions than homes. Most of the artist residencies have Staff + a Board.

Seb: Could you flag any entries that are most aligned with what I'm looking for? Homesteading, residency, POC, social justice, rural? Hybrids.
Alex: None of them really check every single box. They each have strengths, no Cinderella. But maybe there is a Cinderella out there.