Right in the heart of Boston’s South End, surrounded by Berklee, NEC, and Northeastern, Make Shift Boston is fighting for all things good, socially just, progressive, and weird. Since 2011, the cooperative workspace and community center has been home to journalists and activists working to topple the prison industrial complex, nonprofits like Fight for the Future and Jewish Voices for Peace, all-night safe-space dance parties like Break the Chains, and our very own Monday night Hassle/Compass meetings.

All of this happens in a light-filled two-story loft on Columbus Ave. With kitchen and couches and long tables to foster conversation and collaboration, the space is the perfect union of a focused work environment and the cozy-yet-classy living room you wish you had. Make Shift makes it easy to become part of the community: you can apply here to become a member (for a small monthly fee), work in the space 24/7, and host your awesome events in the space.

Make Shift is also hosting the Hassle’s new Independent and Experimental film screenings. Each month, you’ll be able to see mind-stretching, beautiful, under-sung films, meet the quality independent filmmakers who make them, and be part of good community and good art. Come hang on Friday, April 8th and watch a new short film by NYC-based filmmaker Gina Telaroli, Silk Tatters, which combines old footage from Judy Garland films and psychedelic textures, and her film A Little Death, a gorgeous look at solitude and rituals and Nantucket in the winter. The night will also feature the ambient, experimental sounds of Retribution Body.

Next time you are wandering through the South End, drop in through Makeshift’s open doors into diverse, welcoming community of makers, practical dreamers, radical hearts, and good human beings.
—-By John Shakespear