UNTITLED BOOK CLUB -
How much does bias influence understanding? Every other Tuesday we read and/or discuss texts that have been stripped of their context/author/etc to see if they stand on their own merits. Then we discuss them and also try to use contextual clues to determine the author. It's fun if you like that sort of thing. RSVP here.
THE WALL ON THE WALL -
Every Wednesday we have a double feature on the back wall. Free to members, $10 for strangers. BYOB or we have popcorn, drinks, etc for sale. Cheap movies with good people in a big room. Members get to choose films at our monthly meetings. Upcoming titles can be found here.
ALL THE YOUNG NUDES (GR) -
Bi-weekly life drawing workshop for all skill levels. Every other Thursday. $10 for members, $15 for strangers. Paper and pencils/charcoal provided, or bring your own. Drinks and snacks for sale, or BYOB. Informal and unpretentious, but also occasionally led by a certified instructor. Foundational art skills can also be enjoyable and social. RSVP here.
ST. ARTURO'S ART WARREN -
We rent art studios to people who make art of all kinds. Four sizes. 5x10, 7x10, 10x10, and 14x10. $100, $200, $300, and $400 per month, respectively. Includes membership. Shared project space and quarterly gallery shows included. Not bad. Not bad at all.
CERBERO BREATHWORKS -
Join Cerbero (sir-bay-dough) Breathwork for powerful and creative healing. They mix a simple 3-part breathing pattern with tarot, loud contemporary music, gentle touch, and a whole array of self-care practices and principles. First Saturday of every month at DO NOT START. Sign up through their site.
GR PSYCHEDELIC SOCIETY -
Monthly discussion group for the mycologically and psychologically inclined. It's good to get out of the house and possibly your mind prison every now and again. First Sunday of the month. Free to members.
UNTITLED THEATRE CLUB -
A bi-weekly Thursday gathering for Grand Rapids performance artists & theatre kids. A group designed for us to discuss our ideas, find collaborators, host classes or workshops, do scene studies and exercises, and ideally, devise original work to perform in a not-for-profit artistic home. Whatever we want it to be, can be. With 14,000 square feet of untapped potential, there is ample opportunity to create plays, workshops, run rehearsals, and build out a spot for whatever funky little dream show you want to see come into reality. RSVP here.
MEATCRAFT: THE ART OF BEING PEOPLE -
Monthly discussion / activity group for human beings to discuss the difficulties of remembering what that means in the modern world. We are trying to use our thinking to get rid of our sickness, fear, unhappiness, and failure. We will try to get a clear understanding of how to use thinking to see and heal the world as it is. "Thinking is my fighting" as Virginia Woolf said. RSVP here.
works in progress:
SCREEN PRINTING CLASSES -
One of our members bought a screen printing machine for the warehouse, and another happens to be a professional screen printer, so once we finish building a spray-out booth and acquiring the necessary inks/screens Cameron will be teaching any interested parties how to screenprint at monthly workshops. We will list availability and price when we are fully set up to make t-shirts, etc. We're all excited about this.
SPEED D(EB)ATING SESSIONS -
A monthly workshop where we pick topics or hypotheticals and pairs of strangers join up to talk them through from arbitrarily assigned viewpoints. Can you successfully navigate critical discourse and overcome internal biases to make valid points or discover nuance? Can you find the rational path through binary thinking? Do you find dialectical thinking kind of hot? Have we got the debate club for you. Coming in February to a DO NOT START near you.
DO NOT START LENDING LIBRARY -
James is in the process of making a database for the books in the warehouse so that we can lend them out to members. They are (mostly) catalogued. Soon we'll have a system in place to track them and we're in business (the business of lending out books, which is free to members, so not much of a business model). Donations of reading materials are welcome and appreciated. We don't have room for everything, but if you have copies of good stuff lying around or titles you think would benefit from wider readership we will happily add them to the collection.
BAD MOVIE THEME PARTIES - Aren't you tired of watching two good movies every Wednesday on our giant wall? Wouldn't you like a different day of the week with a different kind of experience? Think costumes and bean bag chairs, etc. Everyone lying on astroturf drinking cheap beer and wine, extolling the virtues of '60s exploitation films or Hot Frosty, maybe They Live or Wrestlemania III (not a movie, but a cinematic experience nonetheless). We are tired of quality cinema made by respected craftsmen! We want hot garbage that can be enjoyed for enjoyment's sake! Stay tuned for showtimes and let us know if you have any good (bad) suggestions.