Austin Rope Slingers
A peer education group started in 2015 that is run by volunteers and funded by donations. It meets every Monday for a rope lab with a 101-level class, lends rope and safety gear, and holds a social event about every two months. In February 2026 it celebrated ten years since its first party.
Austin Rope Slingers (ARS) calls itself a rope social and peer education group. A ShibariNews profile says it began in spring 2015 in a small apartment as a weekly space for people interested in rope, has met every week since, and held its first party in 2016. The same profile says the group has grown to bring in national and international educators. It is run by volunteers and funded by donations, and its website says the organizers are listed on the group’s FetLife account rather than on the site.
The core of the group is the Monday rope lab. Labs move between venues that community members offer in north and south Austin, and the group’s ticketing page lists Round Rock, Central Austin and South Austin. No partner or prior knowledge is needed: each week includes a 101-level class for newcomers. More advanced classes and intensives are taught when members ask for them and someone is able to teach. Members can borrow rope for floor work, safety shears, straps, rope books and reference guides for negotiation, and community members often bring suspension rigs to labs.
The social side has two other formats. Shindigs are rope-focused play parties held about every other month, and munches are low-key public meetups for meeting people. ShibariNews describes the group’s teaching as covering all levels and methods, with rope safety as a central priority, along with the psychological side of bondage, bottoming and suspension.
The group describes itself as open to all skill levels, abilities and identities. Its rules, as summarized by ShibariNews, ask members to get clear verbal permission before touching another person or their belongings, rope and phones included. Photography is treated as a kink activity, so everyone visible in a photo has to agree to it. The website also links a form for reporting consent incidents and a general feedback form, and points to a public Google Calendar for upcoming dates.
ARS has served as an entry point to the wider Austin scene: Trouble-Cat, who now co-runs BightBound, names it as their own start in Austin rope, and BightBound hosted a four-part ARS residency in autumn 2024.