For 22 years, Art Sanctuary entertained crowds with a well-curated mix of national and local live music, as well as its popular Va Va Vixens burlesque shows at its prior location on South Shelby Street in Schnitzelburg. There were a few dozen studios for rent, populated by local artists (including Portland Museum Executive Director Katy Delahanty!). All that came to a halt within the past year, however, in part due to the fragile nature of arts non-profits, leaving founder Lisa Frye looking for a new home.
They found it in Portland, at 2012 Northwest Parkway, part of which used to be the former home of Rockerbuilt Studios, and near American Horrorplex, whose contacts there helped make Lisa aware of the massive warehouse space, hiding near the 22nd Street exit off I-64 and less than a mile from the Portland Canal. The Horrorplex draws big crowds for its Halloween events and has a somewhat similar edgier demographic, Lisa explained, which makes it feel like a good fit.
Lisa recently gave the Portland Anchor an exclusive tour of the new space, which features at least three different spaces. The first area she showed us was the Vixens’ wardrobe closet space, with endless rows of freaky costumes and accessories. There was also a small stage with an office and music lounge, which is home to her partner Shahn’s online goth and new wave online radio station, Radio Arcane.
“We also plan to have art studios upstairs,” Lisa said, which is another 2,000 square feet. “Partition off maybe 30 studios.”
Then we moved over to the separate area where the bigger stage would be located, which Lisa said just got a new roof, and which wasn’t quite in move-in condition.
“When we moved in, this looked like the surface of the moon,” she said, noting that they moved in in April. “There was three feet of dirt and spider webs everywhere.”
Volunteers have been awesome, she said. Danielle, a belly dance instructor, came by to sweep while we were there.
This space is by far the biggest, with mountains of stage equipment, light and sound gear, furniture and more shoved to the center. If you’ve been to the old Art Sanctuary, you’d know how huge and professional their stage operations could be, so all that stuff is over here now. The move required two 20-foot trucks, as well as bigger trailers for the forklift and other heavy equipment, with Lisa and her crew working 16-hour days taking multiple trips.
Lisa said Suspend Louisville, and aerial acrobat organization previously located in Butchertown) would be moving in, inhabiting a 2,000 square feet space.
She said they still need to build bathrooms, optimize the HVAC system and obtain a liquor license. In other words: “We need to raise a lot of money,” she said, holding out the hope that they’d be running by the end of the year.
Although she was lamenting the fact that there’s usually a Vixens show in the summer which isn’t happening this year, she’s excited about starting over in Portland.
“It’s gonna be great, we’re really excited. I was getting scared (as the deadline approached to move out of old place), like ‘what are we gonna do?’ I’m just trying to stay positive; manifest the goodness.”
She said she loves being close to the Portal and the headquarters of Louisville Visual Arts. “I think it can be an arts district,” she said. “Like a happy family, making cool stuff happen.”
Lisa said she’d love to have a farmers’ market or art fair outside the building in the sizeable parking lot. And as a side note for the neighborhood, her sister is Michelle Perkins, principal at Portland Elementary!
“It’s a crazy dream,” she said. “I can’t believe we’ve gotten this far, so I have complete faith we’ll pull this off.”
