All-ages crowds have a new place to gather now that downtown music and art venue, Jinx Art Space, made its grand re-opening last weekend, for the Downtown Bellingham Art Walk on Friday, Oct. 8. Jinx is a music and art collaborative that rents out studio space for visual artist and musicians, and also hosts all-ages concerts for the community.
After a summer of renovations, the space has now reopened its doors to provide underage musicians with a place to practice and see live music. Although Jinx still operates to provide gallery space for artists, the new lease holders, Whatcom All Ages Music (WhAAM!) and Make.Shift added rentable practice spaces for musicians.
Over the summer volunteers gathered at the space to help renovate. Community members like Carlton Eide donated their time to gut the space and create new practice rooms and a performance area. In the end Eide says it was all worth it, “we were all doing what we could do to help make the space look fancy, and here we are.”
Located off Flora Street, Jinx originally functioned for three years as an all-ages music venue and art gallery. The venue was home to an upstairs gallery as well as a basement workspace that doubled as 14 rentable studio spaces for visual artists and an open performance area for touring and local musicians.
The space is now home to six practice spaces for local musicians to rent out monthly, along with an hourly rental space doubling as the WhAAM! office and green room for performers. The practice and studio spaces, which assist in funding Jinx, are rented on a sliding scale. Jinx is also funded through consistent all-ages concerts that cater to local and touring musicians in Bellingham.
Toby Reif and Nick Duncan, of local Bellingham band Bowlcut, are one of the many bands now renting space at the new Jinx. The central downtown venue has so far proven to be an improvement from their previous space located near the Bellingham International Airport. Duncan comments on the vast physical improvements the space has undergone, “you walk in and it looks a lot nicer. Before when we were out by the airport we were in a cramped space, now it’s like we’re in a luxury space. It’s huge!”
Jinx primarily focused on art centered events, but after a growing need for an all-ages music venue in the community, its image began to shift from gallery space to a community music center. This summer Jinx handed over the lease to local organizations Make.Shift and WhAAM! to transform the space from an art gallery into an all-ages music venue.
Make.Shift is a Bellingham-based nonprofit that strives to support independent musicians through creative eco-friendly events. A main attraction of Make.Shift is their bicycle-powered generators that are used to power amplified music. For some time, the organization has been searching for a space to call their own, but with several agreements falling through the cracks Make.Shift was still in the market for a suitable venue.
During the transition Make.Shift decided to join forces and collaborate with WhAAM!, who had also been searching for a new all-ages venue. WhAAM! volunteer Zach Wise said that the space couldn’t have come at a better time. After having several venue options fall through, the collaboration of the two organizations made sense. “They both realized that they needed an all-ages space to accommodate their common goals,” Wise said.
The two organizations decided to keep the name, Jinx, but update it with a little bit of love and fresh paint.
Not only does the newly renovated venue offer a place for musicians to practice, it also is a space to bring the community together. “It creates a really cool sense of community because you’ll walk out of your practice space and see other musicians practicing,” Reif said. With a shift from art to music focused events, Jinx is becoming a hub for Bellingham’s all-ages music scene according to Duncan and Reif.
Bellingham has a history of being the birth place for many bands, such as internationally known musicians like Death Cab for Cutie, Federation X, Idiot Pilot, and many others. Due the music community that Bellingham embraces, music advocates like Duncan, support the all-ages music scene. He highlights the community benefits that come along with getting youth through the door, and the ability to provide a safe space for all to connect over one common interest. Duncan advocates that the space is a great resource not only to the downtown district, but also the city of Bellingham. “It gives kids something positive to do on a Friday and Saturday night and also brings together a strong arts community that’s not based on if you’re legal,” he said referring to youth who can’t attend shows for people over 21.
Now as home to regular concerts hosted in collaboration by Make.Shift and WhAAM! the organizations are looking for volunteers who want to help with booking all-ages and eco-friendly events at Jinx. Both organizations encourage that all are welcome and the space is open for everyone to enjoy. More information about their events is available at www.jinxartspace.com.
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