Looking to start DIY community space/music venue collective

[boomkattack]

So as the title of the thread states, I wanna start a DIY collective space/workers co-op. You know, one that caters to the community and gives back. During the day it functions as a creative/art space where people can host events, workshops, classes, etc and at night, it's a music venue for up and coming local bands. All ages for the most part and hopefully it can function as a live/work space for the founding members. Is anyone interested in starting this up or working on a similar project? I currently live in the Midwest and wanna move back to the West coast but I'm certainly willing to move almost anywhere in the country if the opportunity is available and is perfect for me. As long as I have a place to rest my head, I'm good.

Contact me if you wanna brainstorm!

 

[wombatt]

Awesome possum. Sounds like you are trying to establish a dream many of us have had at one point. Where in the Midwest are you?

 

[boomkattack]

I'm in Ohio, ugh. I honestly can't stand the midwest, it's not my type of place at all. I'm much more of an east or west coaster

 

[Deleted member 20]

I think its a noble dream to have. I myself have been trying to start a catholic worker movement hospitality house & have visited hundreds of intentional communities, collectives,communes over the years through out the US/CA. My biggest problem is since I strive to be pennyless & embrace intentional poverty it is really hard to convince someone to legally use their property for such a use. I do work but also have a family to provide for who are not exactly on board with my dream plan. It may all happen if I keep working at it, or perhaps I will attach myself on to another existing project, who knows.

I dream to have a communal space that serves daily meals to hungry guests & offers an ear to listen to the worlds problems but not preach to anyone. I want a large collection of clean donated clothing, bedding, housewares & food for those in need. I want a meeting space during the day to serve meals & hold substance abuse meetings & community meetings. I have my eyes on a former church that has a stage & is around 7k sqare. I too plan to hold punk shows & other performances on the stage as well once in awhile & use the basement for living quarters. My dream is to have a sober space, part drop in center, shelter & feeding program & part community activism workshop space & offer shelter for those in need & some who show interest in becoming longterm volunteers to give back to guests. A garden, workshop with tools to repair anything from bikes-cars or build things like art projects or other stuff like converting buses or building mobile micro dwellings. I have been to lots of communal living situations where people are members to simply save money in expensive high rent areas. Most have their own agendas & causes that they champion individually while obtaining help on different projects from the members of their house or from other houses. I like that but also want to have a dedicated mission. I want everyone to be a participant to living a life of selfless service to others, practicing nonviolence being sober & improving the lives of all who come in contact with, including themselves.

Since any such project should be long term in nature I think its best to go the legal route on getting a property. Successful longterm squatting with legal ownership is plagued with challenges & pitfalls. Knowing this I think the most viable option any of us have at such a project is by buying a property outright in an auction.

You may find this website helpful as I have over the years. I have seen houses sell in these auctions for $1 before. This website links to real govt auctions with few middle men involved. This is all public information so never pay for any of those services that provide info obtained for free. The USDA has lots of affordable, single family, multi family & farm properties, most in livable or near livable condition in the $5k-$50k range & as a new searchable map (that i dont care for) & the other sites also have plenty of properties for cheap.

http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/topics/homes_for_sale

These websites are also a great tool to find temporary squats if that is your interest as well. For me who plans to welcome the homeless, hungry, travelers, drug addicted & alcoholics what ever space I put this much effort in will require either a really longterm lease or outright ownership so that the neighbors, police & government cant shut us down once we set up shop.

 

[Tude]

You have a great heart @highwayman <hugs>

AND - it sounds like a great idea @boomkattack! Good luck with that project.

 

[creature]

interesting that kevin mentions these things, in detail & at length..

sometimes that is the nature of dreams, & oddly,
dreams only become true when we are awake...

i've laid down a lot of effort & more goddamned fucking hard fucking cash than my heart can fucking bear to actually contemplate, on ventures of this kind... they are never, ever, ever easy, no matter how well the beginnings appear..

i will tell you one thing, in a practical sense, before all else, if this is really the desire of your heart"

make sure that whatever land you are upon is truly, legally & soundly *yours* (& that includes whomever you begin your venture with..)

the second thing is to not tolerate schwills..

people need to Get The Fuck Up & Do Their Fucking Jobs/Chores before they can Get The Fuck Out..

make sure the land is yours & that you filter posers early, & you will be fine..
otherwise the land & everything you have sunk into it will be lost & destroyed, with *maybe* enough left for you to continue to eke out an existence that allows you to ruminate over the smoldering ruins of your aspirations & wonder how the universe can be so Beautifull & Unjust, all in the same moments that you have tried to love her with..

that error is survivable, but not unless you learn why it has come to pass...

there is nothing we love that we will not work for..

we may not *have* to, but if we *need* to, we will...


it may be pneumonia stalking us after a sudden rain on a winter's trek in the desert..

it may be crouched against a bulkhead, & dogs barking along the track across from you, or a bull shining a light & banging with an iron bar..

it may be wondering if your engine is going to explode & leave you & the little you posses no more than an instance of junk to be towed away, with the only question before you to be whether it is worth trying to salvage what little value it holds, from those whom would hostage it against your needs and your ability to let it go..

it may be having your pack stolen, & yet still being kind to strangers..

whatever we love, we will work for...

it may be a winter in -50 temperatures, saving enough to share with those whom love what we also love..

it may be days of ache & dirt, walking a yard, only to help, if not a community, a friend or two whom have set out upon the idea of being strong enough to have enough to offer *something* to those whom also wish to have no more than merely enough...

make sure the land is yours & throw the shitheads into the fucking snow.

they fucking need it..

nobody can convincingly pretend, unless there is real knowledge in them.

the only thing that defines whether that knowledge is a directive of existence
is if we work for it..

slackers & armchair advisers are not worth the moisture in their breath..
beware of them, because they are like a disease..
the longer they are tolerated, the more difficult they become to extinguish..
they will hold on as long as possible, & not leave their host, until it is dead...

one of the first signs of this is the assertion that their opinion is so valuable that the opinion itself is justified as work.

ain't *nobody* that valuable, & as soon as a talker says something, takes up a project & drops it, only to go about giving their enlightenment and advice on *another* project ***KICK THEIR FUCKING ASS OUT INTO THE FUCKING SNOW***

it will be good for them, if they truly love what they know.
if they do not, then they will fend as they must, believe me...

the first 2 points cannot be driven in solidly enough, until the spike & the bedrock are one & the same..

-----
make sure your space is yours
& do not tolerate pretenders.
-----

experience will yield strategies, but assuming i've ranted that message hard enough for you to question anything else i may say, i will continue..

if you cannot come across the resources you need to begin what you would ideally create, search for those whom are near where you desire.

the best houses are built of stone, & to have your place within a wall is a hugely usefull existence..

if your creativity & desire to love will only be satisfied by being as you would direct it, do not set your sight much further than the immediate instant...

do not lwt what you have built, or desire to build, become more important than what you have yearned to build it *for*..

you may never find a community..

as beautifull & just & true & real & reasonable as such a hope & dream may be,
it may only be what you can offer with what is in your hand..

i do not say this because of disbelief, at all,
but because belief must be stronger than what happens..

i dunno when the Ocean will take me, but..

hit me up, because i know some folks still trying...

peace, Sis,


jn