Unfortunately the opening of The Chop Shop has recently faced some hurdles, including a stop work notice being placed at the entrance just two days before the launch. We caught up with co-founder Sancho to find out more about this exciting new venue, and the latest news on the current situation.

What is The Chop Shop?

The Chop Shop is a venue to celebrate all forms of art from the fringe. The aim is to showcase the creative community that gives our city character.

Here to enliven Canberra’s street culture, The Chop Shop will be taking over an abandoned warehouse in the heart of Braddon for a period of 4 months, a total of 22 weekends of events running up to the New Year, including live art parties, art exhibitions, workshops, skate jams, indie music festivals, fashion shows, book launches and custom bike shows, just to name a few.

With an estimated capacity of over 200 people and an outdoor alley-way; the crew are here to provide Canberra with a real interactive space the likes of which has never been seen before. 

Where did the idea come from?

Well, I’d been running my independent t-shirt shop ‘Sancho’s Dirty Laundry’ for about 8 months. I made the decision to expand and sell graff/street art supplies due to the lack of variety in Canberra and I wanted to make them affordable. I’d get a lot of artists from varied disciplines coming in and asking me if I knew of any opportunities coming up, whether it be from commission work to exhibition opportunities. Most of these creatives were (for the lack of a better word), engaging in more ‘low-brow’ practices, so think street/graff, tattoo, bike and car custom culture, pinstripers, skate deck graphics, etc. So I thought it would be rad to have a creative space that would embrace this art from the fringe. The original plan was to have a gallery in my shop, but when Nik (the building owner) offered me the warehouse, it was perfect!

Earlier in the year, Pat had approached me with the proposal of perhaps starting up a bar that could support this, so we thought the warehouse was the perfect opportunity to test pilot our idea. Having the bar allows us to generate revenue to pay our overheads so that we don’t charge the artists rent or take commissions. Running the space as a pop-up for four months meant that it was low-risk, and having a venue that was zoned for demolition was even more exciting because that would allow us to not have to be so precious with the premises. Also, we could really encourage the artists to use the space directly (so spraying the walls and applying paste-ups) – rather than a traditional upscale gallery where everything has to be framed.

Sancho admiring artwork by JRB

Is there a story behind the name?

A little bit, I think. So, the business that was previously located in the warehouse space was the Braddon Mechanics. We agreed something that played on this would be fitting, and so Pat came up with ‘The Chop Shop’. It rolls nicely, and also, a Chop Shop is a place or business which disassembles stolen automobiles for the purpose of selling them as parts or building up something new out of those parts. So we thought that was appropriate, as our vision for the Chop Shop would be this melting pot of cultures from the fringe, a bit more grungy than your average. 

How did you [Sancho and Pat] meet each other?

I met Pat when I’d organised a live-paint event at the Lonsdale Street Traders, ‘Up Your Alley’ in November, 2013. It was like a mega chill micro street party, and that day I met so many like-minded creatives who were keen to get involved in future events of the same nature. It was rad! Pat dug it and asked if I’d like to get involved in his tee label (Coy) launch house party bonanza. I’m always keen for collaborating with people, so I was like ‘Hell Yeah’. I’ve worked and collaborated with a few individuals in the past, but working with Pat was next level, mainly because I never had to really chase things up or prompt him. This was the first person in a while who matched my OCD levels of getting shit done! So yeah, his tee launch was ace, it attracted a large number of artists who essentially used the house (inside and out) as a canvas. It was such a rad night of creative collaboration, ego-free zones and we were both like, ‘Man, I wish this could happen more regularly’.

Artwork by Goodie

What are some of the different types of events you have planned for the next few months?

We’ve locked in a jam-packed four months of events, ranging from charity fundraisers, skate jams, art exhibitions, live paint events, documentary screenings, tee label launches, art installations, gory next level Halloween party, bike custom ‘show n shine’ rockabilly festival and many more. Without saying too much, we’re hoping to launch the calendar when the venue finally opens it golden doors. The calendar of events will lead up to our epic NYE party which will see us throw one last hurrah before the building gets demolished. 

How can local artists get involved?

We’re always keen to hear from people interested in getting involved, the best way is to drop us a line via email: chop-shop@outlook.com. We’ve already had such an overwhelming response and the calendar is virtually booked out already! 

What can we expect from the launch party?

The crux of the launch party is to take a dive into the Canberra creative pool, and we’re not talking about dipping our toes in to test the water – full on cannonball! There’ll be live painting in the alley-walls from some familiar and fresh Canberra based street artists/graffers (as well as a few interstate wild cards), along with a jam packed line-up of bands and Dj’s, skate demo’s on the ramp from some nationally sponsored skaters and product launches!

Tell us about the Kickstarter campaign?

The Kickstarter campaign was actually Pat’s idea. I was quiet skeptical that it would work. In the early stages of planning, Pat did the costings of what this would actually involve to get the project off the ground, looking at licensing, rent, insurance, materials and staff to name a few. In addition to sinking our savings in and unpaid time, we were still considerably short, so I researched some art grants and funding programs and Pat researched some crowd-funding platforms. The unfortunate thing about arts funding programs is they can be quite exclusive, plus proposal submissions are often offered in rounds and the timing of our project occurred when most were closed.

Artwork by Keo from Meal Ticket Studio

The Chop Shop was issued with a ‘Stop Work’ notice 2 days before the launch, can you tell us about the current situation of the Chop Shop?

So, it’s been a roller-coaster of a couple of weeks – the kind that moves forward before you’ve even strapped yourself in! Following an anonymous complaint, we were issued with a ‘Stop Work’ notice from ACTPLA and have been unable to continue movements towards opening up our doors to the public. It’s put a dent into our calendar of events and the business interruption has put a strain on all staff involved.

We’ve been so lucky to have assistance from Minister Gary Rake, who has assembled a project management team, some of which consist of an architect, certifier and fire engineer who have been working closely with us to strategise a temporary solution that will hopefully satisfy ACTPLA’s excessive concern for safety to the public. We’ll be proposing this temporary solution to ACTPLA and the decision for the future of the Chop Shop will be left up to the Director. We’ve had some positive discussions and will hopefully have some answers this week.

It’s a shame, as the ACT are notorious for having these excessive requirements which I feel can be quite stifling to the creative process. With all the development going on in the ACT, activating these dead spaces and nurturing creative small business is fantastic! There should be some kind of temporary legislation that takes into consideration pop-up incentives. Take a look at the Renew Australia program which started out in Newcastle. Renew Australia is a national social enterprise designed to catalyse community renewal, economic development, the arts and creative industries across Australia. It works with communities and property owners to take otherwise empty shops, offices, commercial and public buildings and make them available to incubate short term use by artists, creative projects and community initiatives.

A sticking point for me – I’ve realised that Canberra is boring because there are too many rules and regulations that many creative individuals do not have the time or resources to take on, so they simply pack up their suitcase of ideas and take them elsewhere.

If you would like to see the Chop Shop go ahead, check out the online petition and drop in your 2 cents at Change.org

This article was first published on www.gooddesignclub.com