JCCAC. I was not certain what this was, but I knew that it was worthy of the subway ride to find…read moreout. My husband and I ventured over one Saturday afternoon around 11AM to check it out. I would rank it somewhere between a 3 and 4 in Yelp stars, but I suppose I grant it a 3 in light of the ambiguity of marketing wise not really understanding what this space was in the prior to arrival.
What I thought was going to be like a grittier, rustic, re-use space, artist colony like PMQ, turned out to be a grittier, well laid out and thought of, re-use space, artist colony, creative use space for artists to work on their craft and teach others different crafts versus selling a whole lot of retail or art to the public. It is a creative center to go learn to throw a pot or draw a portrait or learn to work with glass. It is a place of individual owners and artists working on their own craft or business. This space is an open, light filled, former industrial complex to do just that.
Starting at the top floor and walking all floors to finish up at the JCCAC public gift shop of sorts called Port Design in their center courtyard (where they are actually selling stuff and were open when we where there), each floor had many closed businesses. I imagine artists and teachers and owners come when they are working or have scheduled classes. I would say 90% of the studio spaces were closed when we wandered around, but we could feel the gist of what this place was.
It seems like a studio space for artists first. It seems like an event center second. It seems like a learning outlet third.
It is an open venue that would be great for special events and really designed for this purpose. It would be a great place to go take a pottery class. It is not really a great place to wander around with the idea of seeing extensive amount of artists with functioning shops that are open to the public at set times. There are a few, but not like PMQ. JCCAC is actually a functioning artist studio building and less of an artist retail outlet, again like PMQ. There was a art gallery selling work in the courtyard, there is the Heritage Tea Room where we grabbed tea and some small dim sum dishes and veggies as a lunch snack in the courtyard, there are many public restrooms. There are old pieces of industrial equipment with some curatorial information about what they are on every floor (near the elevators). There is a good map guide with index of studios on the main floor and every floor. It is a well laid out spot and it is good to see an old building being reused.
So I am glad we went and I am glad that a creative outlet exists to the public to learn new things like painting or drawing, but this place is not some place I would return to unless I had reason to be there, like an event or to take a class. Go if you are in the area to see the space or look on-line and find a reason to go and learn something new.
