DO NOT START is an autonomous space for adults. It is also a membership-funded collective for artists, intellectuals, and nonconformists to pursue their endeavours free from judgment and groupthink. To talk and work and create openly, in the ways that make sense to them as individuals, and to have extra hands when necessary to help bring those projects to fruition. It is apolitical, genuinely inclusive, and designed to combat the anomie, defeatism, and echo chambers that define the modern American experience. "The YMCA for weirdos" is how we like to think of it.
If you are one of those people who needs permission or consensus to be yourself, then it will not be for you. If you want to tell people how to live or think, then please stay out. It isn't for everyone, nor is it trying to be. It is not corporate, not developer-funded, nor is it a for-profit entity (it is in fact in the process of becoming a non-profit as soon as the paperwork arrives). It is not a rave space nor specifically an events space, although we do have events when everyone agrees on them. It is a members-only collective that decides on its own future. It is a community center in the classic sense, not in the hashtag sense. A place for people to come together in real life and see what kind of things we can come up with in the actual human world. For the people who want a genuine community of open-minded individuals, with all their differences of appearance and opinion, worldviews and walks of life, this is not only enjoyable but necessary.
We are a "live and let live" group of people, making the type of space we want to see and be a part of. If you are too, then it's $40 a month to cover the bills and keep the coffee stocked. That is not a lot. It's the cost of a burger and two beers at any bar in town. And for that $40 you get 30 days of freedom and positive reinforcement in a warm and frankly gigantic space full of like-minded people doing interesting shit.
We have woodworkers, screenprinters, magicians, librarians, forgery investigators, artists, musicians, chefs, office workers, theatre people, audio engineers, community leaders, total shut-ins, and who knows what else, all leaving their baggage at the door and doing what inspires them, or at least helping others to get their individual things off the ground. We also have about 20 varying-sized art studios for rent, which helps keep creative types in the mix.
We know that it's great, and sorely lacking in the modern milieu. Hopefully you do too. If so, talk to one of the current members about how to become a member, then come make art or build tables or just hang out and chat whenever you're bored. Come live a little, is what we're hoping.
Because if you aren't you're just surviving, and that is not enough.