I used to run a "recreational computer programming" meetup once a month, (back when I lived in a large city with a nice hackerspace attended by people who weren

I used to run a "recreational computer programming" meetup once a month, (back when I lived in a large city with a nice hackerspace attended by people who weren't laser-focused on some sort of "startup mania") which was quite rewarding. I tried to steer away from the sort of "computer science" aspects and more towards the "art project" aspects, as this suited my own interests more, and I think the audience as well (a more computer-science-centric approach was tried before with poorer results, ymmv). Once this COVID nightmare is past, or managed, I may try to start something like this again, for now, it seems impossible, or at best pointless, as the best part of it was meeting with people.