The Onyx Jazz Club is a cultural association founded in 1985 with the aim of promoting and disseminating the jazz music culture in Matera and the local region.
During all of its years of existence, our association has been prominent on a regional and national level in the organization of concerts, seminars, conferences, exhibitions and other event formats. We often develop and participate in these types of events in collaboration with various public and private partners.
Check out here the link to the European Youth Portal to apply to this vacancy:
https://europa.eu/youth/solidarity/placement/18227_en
If you dont know well what is EVS please read here: https://mtv2019.wordpress.com/what-is-evs/
The Onyx Jazz Club’s activities are now numerous and classified into various fields. For instance, the association’s structure provides for several “areas or sectors of interest”, such as Environmental Concerns, Traditions and Regional Tourism (organizing tours for 20 consecutive years of Basilicata’s hidden corners and exploring the region’s history).
Our other areas of interest and projects include the photography sector with the photo contest Fotogezziamoci, a music school that organizes courses of music and basic music education and implements music-related projects with local schools. Since 2017, the Onyx Jazz Club has also been managing the Onyx Book club, which is the city’s leading book club.
Thanks to the varied activities throughout the years, the association has developed its capacitiy to organize artistic events and to attract artists creating in every sphere of the arts. Over time, we have established partnerships with various regional, national and international organizations, such as Legambiente, the Teatro dei Sassi, Non Solo Bianco, Taranto’s Friends of Music, the Thelonious Monk Institute of New Orleans, the Italian Society for the Study of Afro-American Music – SISMA, the National Association of Jazz Musicians (AMJ), the Siena Jazz Association and the ISMEZ, the New York Jazz University and many other organizations.
Furthermore, in addition to a record label that has won important national awards (such as the Tenco Award), our main project, which embodies the spirit of the Onyx Jazz Club, is Basilicata’s Jazz Festival “Gezziamoci”, which has had its 30th anniversary in 2017. “Gezziamoci”‘s thirty editions have helped the festival achieve a prominent status on our national festival scene and to attract artists of reputable national and international fame.
During the “Matera 2019” year, the Onyx Jazz Club hosted their first two European volunteers who were part of the project “Suoni del Futuro Remoto” (“Sounds of the Remote Future”), which was supported by the Universities of Basilicata and Hannover, the Saluzzo High School and an association of Norwegian musicians, in addition to its institutional partners. This project is aimed at young Europeans who want to experience organizing events and keeping pace with recent technologies by sampling the sounds collected from the city itself.
The activities that the association carries out regularly are:
– Organization of the Jazz Festival of Basilicata Gezziamoci;
– Organization of the Onyx Walks Environment in the Lucanian and Apulian territory;
– Music educational workshops;
– Environmental Education in the schools of Matera and the province;
– Management of the cultural sites of the city (Casa Cava);
– Information campaigns on programs and awareness of the territory;
– Photocontact Contest;
– Presidium of the book with presentation of books and seminars with the authors;
– Support actions for young students;
– Actions to promote active citizenship (recovery, reuse and enhancement of abandoned urban areas and spaces);
– Local initiatives (debates, film forums, workshops, meetings) on various topics, also organized with other organizations;
– Discographic production of young local bands, with their own independent label.
The activities that the volunteers will be called upon to perform are therefore summarized as follows:
1. participate in the organization and implementation of local and international events;
2. document the activities and update the website and other information tools (social media, press releases, press reviews);
3. participate in the organization and implementation of information campaigns and meetings with young people on cultural issues and comparison with Europe (providing direct testimonies and enhancing peer learning);
4. collaborate in all activities aimed at young people in support of artistic and cultural initiatives organized by the association;
5. to support the guides of the association for the realization of new itineraries for the enhancement of the territory;
6. plan and realize a personal project within the lines of the hosting organization;
The organization will provide the technical means and human resources to accompany the volunteer service, identifying in particular:
– a project tutor: a person within the organization who knows the organizational dynamics and can support the volunteer in learning and integration within the organization (methods and times of work, objectives, strategies);
– a mentor, external to the organization, not directly involved in the execution of the project activities, which represents a reference for the volunteer regarding its integration within the local community.
What does it mean to be a long-term volunteer in Onyx? Read here some articles of Joseph and Zoe who joined Onyx during year 2019.
Within this framework of ongoing activities, volunteers will be called upon to contribute to all initiatives, providing European added value and without replacing wage labor. The volunteers will be involved in the activities through a gradual process and always with the support of a member of the organization with proven experience. Volunteers will have room to express their point of view and their talent and to realize their personal project.
In terms of learning, the volunteer will be able to acquire a series of skills ranging from working in a team and relating to other subjects operating in the Lucanian territory (young people, associations, local authorities, schools, etc.), to project management (from the idea to the final evaluation, passing through all the phases of the project cycle). It will improve its skills also with respect to the capacity for cultural expression and interpersonal and interpersonal skills.
Hosting conditions
Volunteers do life in double rooms, inside a flat shared with other volunteers in Matera. The flats are between 5 and 10 min walking distance from the city center, and between 5 and 15 min to the hosting organization. The apartments are self-managed by the persons who life inside (cleaning, shopping, cooking) and everyone needs to follow basic rules.
Every volunteer hosted within ESC program receive on a monthly basis:
– pocket money (5€ per day, about 150 euro);
– food money (160 euro);
Matera is a city of about 65.000 inhabitants, in the beautiful southern Region of Basilicata in Italy. It is the capital of the province of Matera. The town just in front of a small canyon carved out by the Gravina. Known as the city of the Sassi, its historical center, famous for the Park of the Rupestrian Churches, which has made Matera considered as World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1993.
On 17 October 2014, Matera was declared Italian host of European Capital of Culture for 2019. See on the official website on what happened that year: https://www.matera-basilicata2019.it/it/
Read on the blog of Human Capital 2019 project what happened in that amazing year, but also in general, what volunteers do during their experience in Matera: http://humancapital2019.wordpress.com
Dates: 01/12/20 – 01/09/21 9 months
We search for: Artists, musicians and enthusiasts and lovers of technology, photography and multimedia who wish to meet other people, especially collaborate with Italian artists as well as internationally renowned musicians. Young people who do have good English language with possibly some little Italian skills, who are flexible and creative. These are the profiles of volunteers we seek to enrich the association’s experience and to embolden them with our organizational skills.
Application: candidates can apply through European Solidarity Corps portal or sending an email – subject Onyx – with the ESC reference nr., CV and motivation letter to: materahumancapital@gmail.com
Applicants from EU ONLY
DEADLINE: 01/08/2020
ESC Matera 