It’s Monday night and the Beat is packed—and not because of some secret DJ set or Elijah Wood spotting. The Downtown coffee shop has been like this most Mondays for the past five years, bringing in local poets, musicians and community members for an open-mic night called the Human Experience.

Tonight marks the Experience’s final night inside the Beat, however, so attendees preface poems and songs with warm farewells to its longtime home. By the time you read this, the open mic will have already debuted at its new digs—inside the Center. Co-host Misty Reign says the LGBTQ hub was chosen partly because it can accommodate more guests. “The Beat was the absolute perfect place for us when we first started, but the crowd has grown so much,” she explains.

Besides the addition of an actual stage, the move also means Human Experience will be 18-and-over, rather than 21-plus, moving forward. “We’ll be able to grow even more as a community, because we’ll be able to include so many other people,” Reign says. Otherwise, she says, Human Experience will remain largely the same, providing a safe, creative space for artists to share their work without judgment (part of the “respect the mic” philosophy). “It was the only place I really felt comfortable being myself,” says Reign, who began attending the Experience in its earliest stages. “I met people who pushed me to be a better artist. I was attracted to this environment, and I’ve been there ever since.”

Human Experience Mondays, 7-11:30 p.m. (sign-ups at 6:30 p.m.), free. The Center, 702-733-9800.