What’s a summer commune?

It’s a diverse & temporary intentional community.  It’s like summer camp but with more potlucks and no curfew. It’s a utopian social experiment.

Summer Commune will bring an assortment of people to a small town where participants will record their next album, write their novel, develop their website, grow their own produce, practice yoga, finish their dissertation… whatever they want to do! The Summer Commune will provide you with an audience, the time to do it, and potential collaborators. 

The project lasts three months, so it’s not like you have to quit your job. Perhaps you already freelance from home or maybe a sympathetic boss will let you work remotely for the summer (telecommuting can even save the company money). We’ll be moving somewhere with strong broadband connectivity. And the talent in the community we build might help you to create the next stellar web start-up, or serve as a social network for finding new jobs in the future.   

Who should come to Summer Commune?

Academics. Architects. Bakers. Bloggers. Chefs. Designers. DJs. Farmers. Gardeners. Inventors. Musicians. Organizers. Painters. Potters. Philosophers. Poets. Producers. Radicals. Spiritualists. Students. Teachers. Travelers. Technologists. Visual Artists. Writers. Etc, etc, and everyone else.

It’ll probably be more fun if you like to meet new people and come to Summer Commune for the awesome community.

Where is Summer Commune?

Moscow, ID

How long will Summer Commune last?

About 2 months… roughly June 1 - mid-August. 

Can I come for a week, a weekend, or just a month?

Yes! We understand that not everyone can make a commitment to the full summer, so we’re looking at ways to accommodate weekend guests and long-term visitors! The longer you can stay the better! 

Where will we all live?

The Summer Commune is not a compound in Utah. Participants will find  housing on their own via Craigslist. We’ll help provide resources for wannabe communards. We’ll also be fundraising to subsidize a main house that will serve as the epicenter for Summer Commune meet ups and visitors.  

What will we do all summer?

Like anywhere else, the summer will be what you make of it. We’ll definitely be planning potlucks, parties, sporting events, skill exchanges, time banks, salons, happenings, readings, concerts, field trips, and fun times.

There is no official time commitment to the Commune. Many people will spend their days as they might at home (where your rent is so, so high)—writing, interneting, studying, painting. Come with a project to occupy your days and Summer Commune will provide you with a social life.  We’ll have weekly meetings to discuss community issues & to plan fun times. (Have you ever been a camp counselor? Maybe you can plan some of those fun activities that your campers liked!)

How can I get involved with organizing?

E-mail us at summercommune[at]ymail.com

Why are we doing this?

We are over the idea of starving for our art, but deep down we know living in the scene sort of keeps us going. We are over being alienated from nature and each other. We want to live in communities where our friends live, but we’re priced out of neighborhoods that gentrify in 10 seconds, and gentrification makes us feel weird, anyhow.  We want to live somewhere cool that we can also afford; our plan is to go somewhere new, together, and to make cool happen wherever we are.  (See: This still sounds like gentrification.)

What are your politics?

None really. We love personal freedom but we’re a lot more Abbie Hoffman than Ayn Rand. 

Why would I want to leave Bushwick/Echo Park/The Mission/East Van/Hackney? 

“The rent is too damn high!” in The Mission, Capitol Hill, or wherever you’re paying a premium to live.

Outrageous rents are the result of a system that rewards greed over people. When our privileged community gets priced out of previously-undesirable-turned-trendy neighborhoods and moves into cheaper, currently less desirable ones, the process often displaces poorer communities of color who already live there. Underground dive bars pave the way for gourmet cupcake shops that turn into Starbucks franchises.

We are following the national migration trend of moving back to the center of the country because it costs less to live there, but we’re not expecting anyone to make a permanent change. Let’s sublet our apartments and together we can celebrate the summer somewhere more affordable!

This still sounds like gentrification.

Summer Commune isn’t gentrification, it’s only temporary! We will only stay for 3 months. Our impermanence will not leave a lasting physical footprint in this locality (though we hope our ideas will linger). Our goal is to integrate with good will into the community that exists, not to impose ourselves upon it.

Is this a cult?

Yes, but its better than the one that makes you have to work too hard to be able to afford to live around the corner from your friends.