VG Kids hopes to provide affordable creative space with new venture

Not satisfied with the relative lack of affordable creative space in the area, VG Kids Printing founder James Marks and a subset of the crew at his independent screen printing shop in Ypsilanti are making an attempt to remedy the situation. Their solution? SPUR Studios.

"We are trying to make a great place for artists by providing them with a building they can make into their own, drawing inspiration from that, and [from] each other's ideas," said Steve Emschwiller. Steve is part of James' screen printing crew and is the main contact for the music community over at SPUR. "Basically, its a grassroots, DIY type of project. We are starting with no funding, no outside money whatsoever, and we're building from there."

A do-it-yourself theme seems to flow through in the process of leasing each individual space as well. Save for a basic set of ground rules, tenants are welcome (and encouraged) to paint, rip up carpet, and do what they want to each individual space. "We want the building to come together by each tenant's own personality," Steve said.

The building they settled on is two floors; the street-level floor is reserved for visual artists, and the lower level is reserved for musicians, and according to their website, the prices are meant to be affordable, ranging from about $125 - $375 a month, and come in quite an assortment of shapes and sizes. There are 30 spaces available in the building, and the building contains a shared kitchen area that James and company hope to be able to improve with some basic essentials, such as a refrigerator and microwave in order to make the place a bit more hospitable for the tenants-to-be.

SPUR plans to hold a series of fundraisers and events featuring the tenants' musical and visual works, in hopes of providing an opportunity to showcase work and to help SPUR be able to invest a bit more in some of the common areas of the space. Unfortunately, unlike the Russell Industrial Center in Detroit, SPUR Studios' building is not zoned to host large-scale crowds; therefore, James and Steve are looking for outside venues to partner with in hosting these events.

Thanks to our depressed economy, much commercial space is currently up for grabs and in my mind, it was only a while until something like this happened. I'm heartened to see the original vision of VG Kids extended at the same time in this process. The original beginnings of VG Kids came out of James' original vegan food store-record store-screen printing shop-show space concept in Pontiac in the early 2000's and SPUR Studios seems to be the direct extension of a want to be able to provide affordable creative space locally for the burgeoning independent do-it-yourself artistic scene our area has cultivated. I've always liked the idea of art communities such as this, and I'm quite interested in how this goes here in our own backyard.

Jeremy Peters covers what he likes to call the Underbelly of the Local Arts and Music Scene as a community blogger for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at 734-217-4570 or jeremyjohnpeters@gmail.com.