US volunteer opportunity: Sacred art production

Cool Works
Apr 25, 2014

Odiyan Retreat Center – One thousand gorgeous acres on the California coast

Help Wanted Now – Gardening, Landscaping, Cooking, Construction

” Being at Odiyan is like going to school and taking a class in ‘how to do everything’.

James, current volunteer

                                                                                         

Digital Monastery Project, fundraising campaign

Click to go to a FundAnything page (a crowd sourcing site) for the Digital Monastery Project. The project’s goal is to fund “annual training opportunities for monastic treasure caretakers. […] Our international team includes experienced professional conservators, security experts and digital inventory specialists who have decades of experience in related projects.”

“[C]ontributions will provide for:

– Travel, tuition, and living expenses for monastic treasure caretakers of sacred art treasures to attend this month of training.

–  Digital Documentation equipment: computers, tablets and cameras. Some remote monasteries have neither.

–  Travel and living expenses for international specialists, all of whom are donating all or part of their professional expertise.

–  Administration costs, salaries for facilitators, translators, and assistants.

–  Travel costs for follow-up visits by experts to participating monasteries.

Please, consider supporting the effort by donating and by forwarding this to your colleagues and friends. All contributions go to a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization (Milarepa Childrens), and tax receipts will be issued.”

Monastic Treasure Caretaker Training in Digital Documentation and Preservation

Art theft from Himalayan Buddhist monasteries is increasing every year, and monastic caretakers are asking for training in security and documentation. There is a particular need for inventories that include integrated video/audio interviews with the elder monastics who carried the treasures from distant monasteries and who still carry the knowledge of the objects’ history and significance.

After decades of fieldwork and fifteen years building toward this specific effort, Digital Monastery Project is ready to pilot a training opportunity for monastic treasure caretakers to be held in the Himalayan region. Our international team includes experienced professional conservators, security experts and digital inventory specialists who have decades of experience in related projects.

Each year’s training consists of two segments:

• · Instructional Residency
  • The goal is to train monk/nun participants (20-25 at a time) from monasteries and nunneries across the Himalayan region, including all lineages. The participants serve as caretakers for their home monasteries’ treasures. In February 2014, the participants will arrive for 3-4 weeks of instruction in digital documentation, basic preservation and disaster management planning.
  • The training program is augmented by visits to the studios of Master sculptors, weavers, dyers, tailors, thangka painters, and other traditional disciplines. Site visits to local monasteries will provide hands-on, working situation documentation experience.
• On-Site Follow-up
  • Each monk/nun participant returns to his or her monastery to develop their collection care and preservation plan and begin digital documentation of the treasures of the home monastery. Members of the teaching team will visit monk/nun participants to work side-by side with them in their treasuries, ensuring knowledge and skills acquired are being well applied.

Please help us by sharing this message with colleagues and friends. Your donation, large or small, will have a real impact in safeguarding this precious resource. All contributions go to a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization (Milarepa Childrens), and tax receipts will be issued.

Website: www.digitalmonasteryproject.com
FB: Digital Monastery Project

Thank you for your support!
Ann Shaftel MA, MS
FAIC, FIIC, CAPC
digitalmonastery@icloud.com