Camp Hope DIY

That’s all, folks!

Last night, W8ing4UFOs, Yankee Røses, Jeremy Ray, and Dakota Floyd / music played the last show at our location on Glenwood Rd. It was a nice, relatively quiet evening full of sweet songs by sweet pals, and it felt good to go out on a late Spring night with a room full of folks who were instrumental to the vision and mission of the space.

There are so many things to say, but for now we just want to thank everyone for all the support over the past year. The spirit of Camp Hope has always been more than just a room to make noise in; it’s an idea, a shared ethos. We’re proud to have hosted nearly 50 accessible, all ages shows and events over the past year. In that span, we watched so many touring bands, screened a bunch of films, and saw several first shows, as well as a handful of record release shows.

Over the next few days, we’ll be swabbing the floors, taking down the bathroom posters, and painting over our beloved mural. We’re sad to see our little spot on Glenwood Rd. close up shop, but we’re also excited to see what’s to come in the future. Hopefully we’ll see you again in 2020!

In the meantime, keep going to shows, supporting bands, and making weirdo art. Put on more shows in spaces where anyone that wants to come can come. Think about representation in your lineups. Listen to your friends when they tell you that you matter to them. Read more zines. Print your own shirts. Heck, go ahead and start your own DIY space while you’re at it!

If nothing else, we hope that the existence of Camp Hope has shown that with enough motivation and effort, an alternative to shows rooted in an age-restricted culture of consumption can exist. From the beginning, we did things our own way and tried to build a space that didn’t make a mockery of our values. Maybe a year isn’t a long time, but we set out with several goals and are proud to say that we met them all in that span.

See something that needs to be done? Don’t just complain about it... start to fix it yourself! We’ll see you again soon. :)

Alex over at ARTSATL.org chatted with Dakota about our upcoming closure and what comes next.

If you’re interested, you can read the article here: https://www.artsatl.org/qa-decatur-d-i-y-venue-camp-hope-to-permanently-shutter-this-month/

Thanks, Alex!

Q&A: Decatur D.I.Y. venue Camp Hope to permanently shutter this month - ARTS ATL Decatur D.I.Y. venue Camp Hope permanently closes this month -- a final show will be held on May 25.

Hey friends! For anyone following along with Camp Hope DIY over the past 10 months, this post might be of interest.

To cut to the point, Camp Hope's lease is up at the end of May, and we've decided to not renew it. There are a lot of factors that went into this decision, but the biggest one is that there isn't really any room for growth at the current space.

When the idea for Camp Hope first came about, we wanted a space to do shows, hold workshops, screen films, have a li'l zine library, record music, curate art shows, and generally create things. Obviously, we knew that the current space would be tight before we signed the lease, but we still wanted to give it a go and see if a larger space would make sense for the future, or if we could manage to do everything in the 540 square feet that we had. So far, almost all of those things have mostly managed to fit / happen, but not to the extent that we originally intended. There are actually a few reasons for this other than just the physical space limitations, but we'll save those for another day.

Aside from having limited space to grow, there are a handful of other reasons why we decided to not renew the lease -- some big and some small -- and we'd be happy to chat more about them if anyone is interested (message us). To make it super clear though, the space absolutely is not closing due to lack of support, and we're incredibly appreciative to and humbled by everyone who has come out to something we've done at the space, donated / let us borrow stuff, played a show or run a workshop, helped run shows or cleaned up afterwards, kicked in some dough on Patreon, booked stuff there, etc.

We'll have a last show towards the end of May that we're still fleshing out. For now though, come hang out! There's a lot of stuff happening at the space between now and that last show. We've also got a bunch of stickers and a handful of shirts still available, and the bills still need to be paid, so if you've had your eye on something, now's the time to get it!

Despite some ups and downs, this whole thing has been a really great experience. Thank you all for sharing it with us, and we're looking forward to seeing what comes next!

PS - We are completely booked up between now and the end of the lease, so if you haven't already reached out to us about hosting something at the current space, you missed your chance! Sorry!

PPS – People who donated / loaned us stuff, we'll be getting in touch with you as the end of May approaches.

We’ve had an influx of vague, impersonal, and occasionally rude booking messages lately. Here are some basics that honestly apply to most any DIY booking situation, not just for us.

Be specific. Be personal. Be nice. And for what I’m sure isn’t the last time, we never want to see your EPK. Period.

❤ CH

PS - We’re booked through March. We’ll start booking for April in mid-February.

Couple shows happening next week! Come hang!

Just so you know. There is a lot more to music than how many Facebook likes your band has (or how many times you’ve invited us to like your page).