A downtown Winnipeg art depot, temporarily closed because of smoke and water damage sustained earlier this month, is hoping to reopen soon.
ArtsJunktion at 594 Main Street was damaged when fire broke out at an adjacent building on March 8.
That building has been declared a total loss, but the take-what-you-need, pay-what-you-can arts depot has been left cleaning up the mess that remains.
“There was a substantial amount of water that was used to put out the fire, and a lot of that did go to our basement, so being next door there, our basement was completely flooded out,” ArtsJunktion board chair Hafiz Jatto told CBC News on Friday.
“We’ve lost our materials and tools in that space.”
The water that flooded the basement was nearly a metre deep, he said.
Between that and smoke damage, much of the depot’s inventory has been damaged. As well, the building has been broken into several times since the fire.
ArtsJunktion collects and gives out reclaimed and donated art supplies, and provides a place for people to practise their art. Its temporary closure will leave a hole in the arts community.
Staff had just finished fully setting up a few weeks earlier after moving into the space on Main Street a year ago.
“A big part of what we do in logistic connection to arts is the mental wellness that comes from … providing a space for folks to come to. A lot of our volunteers, they rely on that schedule, on that ability to have the safe space where they can give back to the community, where they can get out of their houses and deal with some stress,” Jatto said.
“So it’s been really destabilizing.”
Anna-Marie Janzen, a tailor whose business, Reclaim Mending, specializes in clothing repair, has worked with ArtsJunktion and was last there just a few weeks ago.
“I’ve done several workshops with ArtsJunktion, and I always love doing it. It’s a great fit for me because my whole business is about making clothing last longer, and I get a lot of my supplies from thrift stores or from ArtsJunktion or people donate things to me,” Janzen said.
“I feel like I’ve always had a very natural affinity to ArtsJunktion personally and then also from a business perspective.”
She heard about the blaze and its impact on ArtsJunktion through social media.
“I’m really sad about it and I hope that we can figure out a good way to move forward,” said Janzen, who is looking forward to its reopening.
“I’m pretty confident in our community and being able to get everything back up and going … It’s such a great place for volunteer opportunities, essential welcoming space for all sorts of people, and so to have that missing is really hard.”
Jatto is hoping to be able to reopen ArtsJunktion’s doors to the public sooner than later.
He says he doesn’t want to burn out staff or force people to do or give more than they can, especially if the cleanup process in its early stages.
However, he’s optimistic the depot will reopen by the summer, hosting block parties, offering arts programming both on and off-site.
A commercial adjuster has already visited the non-profit, and confirmed that the losses sustained exceeded the maximum claim amount. So ArtsJunktion has started fundraising efforts as it pushes toward reopening.
“We’ll bounce back,” Jatto said. “You know, these things happen and we have a robust team and a really engaged board of directors who are really motivated to reopen our doors very soon, remain in that space and continue contributing to the health of downtown.”
Only weeks after relocating to a building on Main Street, Arts Junktion now finds itself with a daunting cleanup after fire gutted a building next door, leaving them with damage from smoke and a basement full of water.
