CWA Blog Archive-Projecting Anti-Racism A Case Study Of GP81 And Try-Hard Crew

Projecting Anti-Racism A Case Study Of GP81 And Try-Hard Crew

Pdf Summary

This installment of the CWA's Projecting Anti-Racism series is a case study of a Brooklyn bouldering gym, GP81, and a local grassroots group, Try-Hard Crew, exploring how to build community in 2020. GP81 is a no-frills climbing gym in Brooklyn, and Try-Hard Crew hosts monthly meetups, creates programming, and models ways of being in community to inspire more joy and empathy in climbing culture for women and gender nonconforming people. The article traces GP81's origins through founder Cliff Simanski, who had a clear vision: a gym serving climbers who really just wanted a space to climb, train, and be together, no birthday parties, no frills. With partner Julian Acevedo, the gym was embraced by the community. Simanski's vision came from experience, he'd worked in basically every other gym in New York City before establishing his own, and watched the prices of those gyms start high and keep climbing. His reaction: he just wanted to go someplace and rock climb, would rather pay less and skip the fancy sauna. Because his gym doesn't aim for the same considerable margins, he's been able to maintain lower prices, an accessibility choice rooted in his no-frills philosophy. The throughline is that building anti-racist, inclusive climbing community can be advanced through both accessible business models and intentional grassroots programming, as GP81 and Try-Hard Crew demonstrate.

Asset Caption

This Projecting Anti-Racism case study pairs Brooklyn's no-frills GP81 gym with grassroots group Try-Hard Crew. Founder Cliff Simanski built GP81 affordable and unpretentious after watching NYC gym prices soar, while Try-Hard Crew creates welcoming programming for women and gender nonconforming climbers, showing inclusion advances through both accessible pricing and intentional grassroots community-building.