About us
Welcome to the club for people with tabs open.
Maybe yours are about a new museum show, a suspiciously elaborate escape room, a lecture on urban coyotes, a repertory screening, and an architectural style you learned about yesterday. Excellent. Bring them.
You don’t need to be an expert. Enthusiasm beats expertise around here. Know everything about Bauhaus typography? Great. Just learned Bauhaus isn’t a hardware store? Also great.
👥 30–55, intentionally: Curiosity is ageless; this particular social circle isn’t. We’re building friendships among people in roughly the same chapter of adulthood, so this group is specifically for folks 30–55.
What things might we do?
A lot, deliberately.
- 🎨 Art, museums, architecture, theater and experimental performances.
- 🔭 Science talks, planetariums, history, oddball tours and opportunities to learn something extremely specific for no practical reason.
- 🎬 Indie films, cult classics, comedy, games, workshops, immersive experiences, festivals and assorted Denver weirdness.
- 🥂 Actual socializing: We’ll often add a drink, snack, or hang before or after. The rabbit hole deserves a debrief.
The social experiment
Meetup is very good at giving you people to do something with on Thursday. We’re aiming for people you eventually text on your own.
No networking. No collecting strangers you once went to Meow Wolf with. Familiar faces, repeat hangs, and enough shared weirdness for friendship to hopefully maybe actually occur.
🪑 Small on purpose: Most events will be capped around 6–10 people. Big enough for new chemistry, small enough that you can actually learn someone’s name. We’re building a community, not managing a crowd.
How to be excellent here
- 📸 Use your real name and a clear photo. Friendship (and safety) is easier when nobody has to wonder whether “DragonSlayer8472” with a cartoon portrait is meeting us outside the theatre. Profiles without these things will not be approved.
- 🧠 Bring curiosity, not credentials. Ask questions, share what you know, and nobody needs to win the conversation.
- 🫶 Help make the room work. Introduce yourself. Notice who’s new. Pull someone in. Being interesting is lovely; being interested is better.
- 💬 Keep it light and kind. Interesting conversation is the point, and disagreeing about the art/movie/idea is half the fun. But a night out with new friends isn’t the place for politics, hot-button debates, trauma dumping, or dominating the conversation. Stay warm, playful, curious, and aware of the room.
- 🎟️ RSVP responsibly. Showing up when you said you would is part of being a good member of the room. If plans change, let the host know so your absence doesn’t pull attention away from the people who are actually there. Two no-shows, or a pattern of flaking or significant lateness, may result in removal from the group.
Finally, support keeps us going: Artistry/Nerdistry is a labor of love! Did you know Meetup organizers pay $360/year out of pocket to host? If you’re able, we suggest $5 per event or $20/year to help keep the adventures coming. Just send a Venmo/Paypal to me @mandirao (or ask me for Zelle). Couldn't do it without you! 💖
Upcoming events
3
🎃 S. Broadway Holiday Parade
Landmark's Mayan Theatre, 110 N Broadway, Denver, CO 80203, USA, Denver, CO, USGet ready for a S. Broadway fever dream of hearses and hot rods, marching bands, dancers, giant skeletons, homemade floats, costumed humans and dogs, candy being hurled toward the curb, and whatever else Broadway has decided counts as civic participation this year. Expect a couple hours of loud, handmade, mildly chaotic Halloween spectacle. Official site here
- 📍 Meetup Plan: Meet at 5:00p at the NE corner of 1st & Broadway so we can grab a decent spot together before the 6:00p parade. It can run well past 8, but nobody will be held hostage by a skeleton float.
- 🪑 Bring: A camp chair if you have one. Also a snack/sandwich/burrito and drink if you want fuel beyond thrown candy. Costumes encouraged! Full commitment, half-assed witch, or normal clothes with plausible deniability are all acceptable.
- 🍸 Afterward: Optional drinks if we can find a spot along Broadway once we’ve had our fill of floats, candy, and municipal Halloween chaos.
- 🎟️ Cost: Free. No ticket required.
Q: What's the RSVP policy? 🚫
A: RSVP etiquette is crucial! No-shows can throw off the vibe of the event, so we kindly ask that you shoot the host a message or un-RSVP before the event starts if you can't make it. Two no-shows may result in removal from the group.Q: How can I support? 💌
A: Did you know that your humble organizers pay about $360 a year to bring events to you on Meetup? A tiny annual donation from you is all it takes to keep the events coming. Suggested donation is $5/event or $20 for unlimited events. Just send a Venmo/Paypal to me @mandirao (or ask me for Zelle). Couldn't do it without you! 💓6 attendees
🍄🌸 Tour of Murderous Plants & Other Garden Art @Botanic Gardens
Denver Botanic Gardens, 1007 York St, Denver, CO 80206, USA, Denver, CO, USMemory, decay, symbiosis, and plants behaving badly! Let's take the guided art tour through the Freyer–Newman Center, where the current shows span 1) Daisy Patton’s altered found photographs, 2) botanical art devoted to fungi, parasites and carnivores, and 3) Izumi Yokoyama’s intricate ink drawings and sculpture.
🔥 Only 8 tickets left. Sellout likely. Don't sleep on it! Link below to get yours. 🔥
- 📍 Meetup Plan: Meet in the Freyer–Newman Center lobby around 1:45 PM for the 2–3 PM tour. Bring your booking confirmation. Gardens admission is included, so we can wander afterward if we feel like extending Sunday culture.
- 🎟️ Buy the Sunday, Nov. 8 at 2 PM tour directly from Denver Botanic Gardens. $20 general / $12 DBG member.
Q: What's the RSVP policy? 🚫
A: RSVP etiquette is crucial! No-shows can throw off the vibe of the event, so we kindly ask that you shoot the host a message or un-RSVP before the event starts if you can't make it. Two no-shows may result in removal from the group.Q: How can I support? 💌
A: Did you know that your humble organizers pay about $360 a year to bring events to you on Meetup? A tiny annual donation from you is all it takes to keep the events coming. Suggested donation is $5/event or $20 for unlimited events. Just send a Venmo/Paypal to me @mandirao (or ask me for Zelle). Couldn't do it without you! 💓8 attendees
🏛️ FREE: How Do You Design a Museum for Art?
Denver Art Museum, 100 W 14th Ave Pkwy, Denver, CO 80204, USA, Denver, CO, USThis year's CAP Lecture & Exhibition Series is asking how architecture gets shaped by circumstance. Guest Annabelle Selldorf's work includes the Frick Collection and London’s National Gallery. She'll be joined by Daniel Merritt, Chief Curator of the Aspen Art Museum.
CU Denver’s CAP series is celebrating 100 years of built-environment education in Colorado, and this is the final Mark Outman Memorial Lecture.
To sum up: architecture, museums, restraint, old buildings meeting new interventions, and probably some very good slides. 🤓
- 📍 Meetup Plan: Meet us inside the Denver Art Museum at the CAP reception at 6 PM. Look for the Annabelle Selldorf / CU Denver lecture crowd near the Lewis I. Sharp Auditorium. Lecture begins at 6:30p.
- 🎟️ Free and open to the public, but registration required: Register with CU Denver, and RSVP here. Two systems must be appeased.
- 🍺 Afterward: We'll head to Pints Pub to keep talking buildings/museums/whatever rabbit hole emerges over a drink.
Q: What's the RSVP policy? 🚫
A: RSVP etiquette is crucial! No-shows can throw off the vibe of the event, so we kindly ask that you shoot the host a message or un-RSVP before the event starts if you can't make it. Two no-shows may result in removal from the group.Q: How can I support? 💌
A: Did you know that your humble organizers pay about $360 a year to bring events to you on Meetup? A tiny annual donation from you is all it takes to keep the events coming. Suggested donation is $5/event or $20 for unlimited events. Just send a Venmo/Paypal to me @mandirao (or ask me for Zelle). Couldn't do it without you! 💓1 attendee
Past events
3
