To end the hauntings of an expired economic model, we must initiate as many free creative spaces as possible. Idea, The idea manifested at the start of the new year, as many good ideas do. A few friends came to town and wanted to stay a while, they didn’t mind contributing for a space to do their work, from which to observe and reflect, to MAKE and participate. So we got to thinking… You see, inspired people of all kinds are often scrambling for a PLACE in our beloved Santiniketan, we could go on and on about why this is... but practically speaking, they seek something with good light and a reasonable landlord. A center from which to observe. Although, here and across the world, simple spaces for the right price are less and less common. Having bought into a false system, property owners and developers can be real snakes. They presume the desires of outsiders, students at the university, and other city folks, and fail to recognize what’s at the core of their attraction. ----> THE CORE: <---- An authentic livable land, somewhere to cultivate! So in our once was rural-cosmopolitan paradise, the poets best kept secret, there are many new-builds with air conditioning, sometimes even western toilets far-from-home, designed to meet the interests of confused urbanites. Sounds familiar? Our community stood (stands) to withstand this. We just needed somewhere safe and still.. Before settling the space, we surveyed our people to evaluate interest and potential. We distributed fliers and collected names, The feedback was awesome, we gathered over 70 interested local contacts. Spring was coming, and in Santi this means a thousand new collaborations and new beginnings. It was no small feat to secure the site for our project. We spent weeks cruising town and nearby villages to find the perfect place, asking around for what was empty. Finally arriving at one lonely mud house on the edge of a village called Taltor, the place of many trees. There slumped a two story traditional family-home crumbling into a pile of memory. It needed our protecting and we needed it’s truth. Story continued... Place-hood >> "The House" |