Best of Cleveland 2014: Creative Space

Creative space

In the interest of not judging a book by its cover, we got past the diminutive sidewalk view of Guide to Kulchur to find a bookstore-turned-cooperative printing facility, nonprofit and performance space. Co-founders R.A. Washington and Lyz Bly, who opened the store in summer 2013, also offer a membership program to create a more cooperative space. For $100 a year, members have access to $1 book days once a month as well as unlimited access to the zine printing and binding tools in the basement. "Cooperatives are a way for a group of people to get started in a way they wouldn't be able to individually," says Washington. The space itself is an open forum for music, poetry slams and readings, and serves as an outpost for Cleveland's Books to Prisoners program, which sends reading material to inmates in Ohio. "We're creating an incubator for new ideas," he says. 1386 W. 65th St., Cleveland, 216-314-4644, guidetokulchurcleveland.com