I wouldn’t do color though. B&W is super-simple. Need more gear for printing blowups obviously. Stating with color is probably a recipe for frustration. Back in the film day pretty much no one started out with color.
No one started with color - and most people kept it that way! Color is a real pain in the ass to work with in a traditional dark room setting. Having started my photography career in an actual dark room, I understand why newbies are interested in the process and there should definitely be community resources available where they can learn the ropes of film and paper photography. But then they need to move on. Yes, I fondly remember my days working in the dark room. No, I don't want to go back to working in the dark room and always smelling like fixer afterward. Hmmm...thiosulfate smells good! NOT!!!
Personally I don’t disagree but I’m also not going to tell people what they can and cannot do. But other than processing a roll or two of B&W film, much more than that gets pretty frustrating in the absence of a properly kitted-out darkroom. It’s not something I’d make a personal investment and I doubt anyone doing this has the spare room at home.
I’d probably start by trying to find a local camera club that probably has some camera gear to loan/rent.
That's why I was thinking a community resource would be nice. A fully kitted-out darkroom available to lease out in 2 hour chunks. Lessons available for new people. I do think everybody should do it a few times. Also there's a few times I'd want to use an actual darkroom for some projects, but like you say, I'm not dedicating the space and funding to a darkroom. But I'd gladly pay, say $50, to use a darkroom for a couple hours. Heck, I'd pay to lease out some cameras. It's been a long time since I've used a Hasselblad medium format!
