Save Empire Seven Studios

Unfortunately, like many small businesses in the bay area, our art gallery will be replaced with Luxury Apartments...

10 years ago I started looking for a building…

Where I could start my first art gallery in my hometown of San Jose, California

After years of getting in trouble for painting the streets…

I thought it was finally time to do things legit…

And start giving back to the community of artists I have gotten to know throughout the years

We found an old meat factory warehouse on the edge of Japan Town

The address was 7th Street and Empire…

We started renting it

It took about a year and half to fix up the place…

But here is where Empire Seven Studios was born…

My dream of finally owning and running an art gallery was realized

The landlord gave us a verbal agreement that we could stay there for 10 years…

In those 10 years we’ve had at least one show every month…

Featuring local…

And up and coming artists from all over the world.

We gave many artists their first art show ever

And we are proud to have been able to support our local creative community as much as we have…

We’ve had over 100 unique art shows since we opened Empire Seven Studios...

(Story continued below show photos)

Anniversary Show (group show)

Natural Selection (group show)

A Dream Deferred - Ben Alexy

Jim Phillips 30th Anniversary Screaming Hand Show

Ex Post Facto - Francisco Graciano

Beware Yokai Show (group show)

Hippocampus Wallpaper - Colin Frangicetto and Drew Roulette

Horitomo (State of Grace) and Christopher Brand (UGLARworks)

Roan Victor, Sean Boyles, Carlos Araujo

Beware Yokai (group show)

HandMade (group show)

We Are Robots - Paco Excel

Angela Fox, Ariel Wilson, Bunnie Reiss, and Lacey Bryant

Angela Fox

Impermanent Collection -Neto Soza

We Are Robots - Paco Excel

When Times Converge - Greg Ito and Sarah Edwards

Archetype$ - Spencer Keeton Cunningham, Erlin Geffrard, Jacque Fragua

Jaque Fragua, Spencer Keeton Cunningham, Erlin Geffrard installation video

Roan Victor of The Arsenal

Remember to Remember - Beau Roulette

Joe and Laura Miller

Quest for Pureland - Bigfoot one and Chip 7

(Story continued...)

,,,And we are grateful for all that have come out to enjoy the art.

Giving artists a place to show their latest work has been an incredible experience…

And has led to some amazing projects…

Like The San Jose Mural Project that we started
(AKA. E7S Mural Project in San Jose, Ca.) 

The San Jose Mural Project gets local and international artists…

To paint huge murals on local businesses…

To help bring new life and attention…

To the vibrant creative community here in San Jose

The murals have helped businesses grow

And a mural tour has made San Jose a destination for art lovers to come visit...

(Story continued below mural photos)

Nosego


Jaque Fragua and Spencer Keeton Cunningham

Sam Rodriguez


Sam Rodriguez and Poesia



John Barrick

Mesngr


Abel Gonzales

Andrew Schoultz


(Story continued...)Our art shows and mural projects are our babies…

However sadly…

we have recently been asked to leave our current location…

because the landlord is selling the property to real estate developers…

These developers plan on turning our art gallery into Luxury Apartments

We tried to fight it but there’s nothing we can do to stay at the building we spent 10 years creating

The day after I heard the news I was feeling pretty sad…

And I can’t lie

I was ready to give up

Then a friend came by to discuss what would happen next for Empire Seven Studios…

He asked me to imagine…

If I had all the money in the world, where would I want to build a new EmpireSeven Studios Art Gallery?

Right away I thought of a space in the heart of Japan Town

Then he said, okay let’s do a Gofundme and make it happen

We started writing down everything we needed and began working on a campaign…

While waiting to get a video made to go along with the fundraiser…

We found out that an old historic building in our ideal location was available to buy

The building use to be called The Dragon club

It's a block and half away from our current location

And it's closer to the heart of Japan town

This means it will be easier for people to visit our art gallery

Our plan is to build a four story art studio space

(Here is a building we are inspired by)

The main floor will be the art gallery

The bottom floor will be a studio for artists to practice and record music

And the top floor will be artist residences

The artist residences will give visiting artists a place to stay while working on their latest projects

If we can afford it...

We would also like to add a dark room for photography

And a ceramic studio where artists can work with clay

Creating our ideal new 4 story building could easily cost over $3,000,000

However we hope to cut costs by using contractors and designers we have met throughout the years...

We think we can create the building for $1,500,000

Now is our chance to own our own building so we never have to worry about getting kicked out again

Please donate whatever you can to help us reach our goal bythe time our campaign ends this year.

This way we can keep giving the public free art shows...

In a more central location...

And encourage artists to stay and create in San Jose…

We would like to start building sooner so we can to limit the delay of upcoming art shows as much as possible

Please donate whatever you can
$10 and $50,000 donations are equally appreciated

And if you can't donate please share this campaign

Thank you for showing your support of Empire Seven Studios throughout the years...

And we look forward to sharing many more art shows in the future

Thank you,
Juan Carlos Araujo and Jennifer Ahn
of Empire Seven Studios

What local artists are saying about Empire Seven Studios:

Some friends interviewed a few local artists to find out what Empire Seven Studios means to them...


Answers to common questions you may have:

1. What are the total costs of your new space and building a new gallery?

Here are the estimated costs...

The building and land parcel - $650,000 

Designer -  $50,000

Architectural Plans for Permit -  $60,000

Structural Plans For Permit - $40,000

Civil Engineering Plans - $25,000

Materials - $600,000

Contractors - $200,000

Cad Artist - $15,000

Permit costs - $100,000

Dependent Upon Area Factors


2. How can I donate more than $50,000 at a time?

Gofundme allows $50,000 max for a single donation however if you would like to donate more there are two things you can do:

1. You can donate $50,000 multiple times

Or 

2. You can contact [email redacted]

UPDATE: Our story was featured on KTVU FOX 2!!!