Residence

Our space is open to like minded collaborators who want to join us for projects or as residents.

TL;DR: We are Estate of Mind, an intentional community centered around creative collaboration, based in the historic Whitin-Lassel Manor complex in Whitinsville, MA. We are looking for new est8mates (pronounced “estate-mates”; this is our term for roommates or flatmates who share an estate). 

Your monthly rent includes the costs of all utilities, wifi, basic household supplies (like toilet paper, dish soap, laundry detergent), parking, and more. We also expect our members to contribute to making this community great. That can mean a lot of things. Often it means that something breaks and we have to be prepared to roll up our sleeves fix it ourselves. While we welcome folks of all sorts, we are an intentional community built for artists/makers/creators, resilient folks with previous warehouse or co-living experience tend to thrive here, and right now there is much construction and renovation to be done so relevant skills are most appreciated.

Apply to Become a Resident

The best way to join our community is to introduce yourself and get involved. Here's how.

1) Join our Discord and introduce yourself in our #introductions channel.

2) Reach out about volunteering. In your introduction, post about the types of contributions you'd like to make, and when you're available to come by and collaborate with us. This is the best way for us to get to know each other, to see if you like working with us, and to learn about what our growing community needs. Part of our culture is bonding over recreational logistics. (Since we are a community of volunteers, if you don't hear back from us, don't take it as rejection, just ping us again, we were probably just distracted with cool projects away from our computers)

3) Come visit! Reach out if you're from out of town and want to book overnight accommodations as our guest, while you visit and get to know us.

4) Come to an upcoming event and introduce yourself IRL.

5) Meet us remotely, if you must. If you can't make it here in person, you can reach out about setting up a time to meet by video chat. Try us on Discord first, but if you have a hard time getting our attention there, you could also try emailing ideas@est8ofmind.com

6) Make a friend who's part of our extended community and see if they're excited enough about you joining that they'd be willing to vouch for or sponsor your community onboarding. A referral from someone already here goes a long way in helping your application stand out.

7) Plan a project with someone here. As a community centered around creative collaboration, we give extra weight to candidates who are planning on creating together here.

8) Fill out our new resident application form: https://bit.ly/live-at-the-est8


Visit as a guest

Short term guest accommodations are available for creative collaborators, such as those who want to make art or music or sawdust with us.

CREATOR COMMUNITY PLAN

Intro

Sparr and Victoria have a 25-acre 42-bedroom estate in eastern Massachusetts to serve as a home and home base for themselves, some friends, and some creative and collaborative friends of friends. This document describes Sparr’s plan for how to organize the community that he hopes to develop through this endeavor, as well as various practical details of the property and location.

TL;DR

25-35 artists, makers, musicians, performers, event organizers, and other creative types living in long-term community on a historic estate, using common spaces, workshops, and other amenities to build things, engage in artistic endeavors, host events and guests and artists in residence, and otherwise pursue their passions. A five minute walk from small town amenities, one hour west of Boston Logan airport by car or two hours by occasional transit.

Organization

Mission

Provide a space for creative people to live together and pursue their creative passions.

Ethos

noun - A Greek word meaning "character" that is used to describe the guiding beliefs or ideals that characterize a community, nation, or ideology. The Greeks also used this word to refer to the power of music to influence emotions, behaviors, and even morals.

Priorities

Norms

Many norms of the community will develop and change over time. The list here represents Sparr’s expectations of the community he is building. Further experience and the specific people who become involved could affect these norms.

Use of the Space

We do much more than just sleep and store our stuff here.

We leave common spaces almost as clean as we found them, or better. [see “Chores”]

We maintain a relatively (~80th percentile) clean and organized house and workshop.

Communication

We communicate openly and honestly.

We share our grievances directly with each other, except about actions which would warrant someone’s removal from the community which might be reported indirectly.

We avoid exaggeration, hyperbole, and dishonesty when saying something negative about another person.

Intimacy

We welcome nudity in common spaces not visible from off the property, with reasonable hygiene precautions, with exceptions for certain events and times.

We welcome displays of affection in common spaces.

We avoid sexual or BDSM activity in common spaces, with exceptions for explicitly defined spaces or events for which significant notice and/or signage has been given.

We treat loud sex and other intimate noises like any other noise, and ask for quiet in similar tone, demeanor, and circumstances as asking someone to turn down loud music or postpone using loud tools.

We apply an objective standard of intimate and physical consent when considering the behavior of our residents and guests, based on what a reasonable person could perceive in the given situation. We eschew reliance on unknowable states of mind and the typical unwritten unspoken “except when my judgement disagrees”.

TODO: Discuss and establish community expectations regarding one or both parties being inebriated or altered for a first intimate activity.

Governance

Residents are welcome to use and change the spaces and amenities as they see fit (do-ocracy), other than physical changes that are either time consuming or costly to undo or that are forbidden by historical preservation, zoning, or other laws, as long as they announce and document substantial changes (treat the space like a wiki). Behaviors and norms and plans will be discussed if someone objects, with decisions about most such things being made by residents interested in the topic in question (democracy with no quorum). Sparr reserves veto authority and anticipates using it for a small fraction of such decisions (benevolent dictator). Residents failing to uphold the ethos and priorities of the community, abide by community decisions, or who regularly make poor or inconsiderate decisions that significantly hamper the productivity and enjoyment of the other residents will be asked to leave.

Chores

After reaching critical mass (20+ residents) we will employ staff for cleaning and other recurring necessary tasks, very tentatively estimated at 10-20 hours per week for each of house cleaning, house maintenance, shop cleaning, shop maintenance, and outdoor maintenance. Residents will be prioritized in filling these roles. Residents and visitors will be expected to clean up their own significant messes, but will not usually be responsible for the general cleanliness and orderliness of the space. “Leave spaces almost as clean as you found them”

This strategy may change over time if a significant number of residents believe, and later demonstrate, that they can successfully adhere to some community-designed chore system that maintains the cleanliness and usefulness of the common spaces and amenities.

Amenities

In addition to the buildings and other spaces, this community will endeavor to coordinate or provide other shared communal amenities that benefit from an economy of scale or sharing. Likely such things include:

Meal Plan

We aim to have a resident cook, and have a tentative plan for communal groceries (~$100-150 per month per person) which will be used to prepare dinner and an earlier meal on weekdays, possibly with a brunch on the weekend.

Children

We are considering experimenting with part time presence of humans between the age of 1 and 18 in our community. Making this work will depend on dedicated efforts on the part of multiple people with regards to planning, coordination, communication, safety, legal implications, etc. It is unlikely that we will move toward having children live here full time.

Pets

We are dedicating the 4-bedroom house to indoor pet owners. There will certainly be indoor cats and possibly indoor or indoor/outdoor dogs. We will likely cap the number somewhere between one per bedroom (4) and one per person (up to 8). Prospective new pets will need to have audition play dates with the current resident pets to check for compatibility, similar to humans interviewing with other humans.

Pets who frequently make biological messes other than in designated places (litter box, outside, etc) will not be welcome, nor will humans who fail to clean up their pets’ such messes in short order. Ditto pets that repeatedly damage the house or people’s belongings. Humans with pets will be responsible for preventing pet hair and messes from making their way into other spaces, particularly the dorm common rooms. Pet owners are expected to brush and otherwise responsibly groom their hairy pets on a regular basis.


COMING SOON

Details coming soon about guest policy (for guests of residents), meetings, participation, member voting, etc.