By
Adam Pugh
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Private donation revives Skrappy's after funding loss
Local youth center Skrappy's will reopen its doors Saturday after a four-day closure due to a lack of funding.
The not-for-profit organization, used as a venue for local and national bands and located at 201 E. Broadway Blvd., discontinued its relationship with its funding parent company ACME at the end of last year, leaving Skrappy's with only enough money to remain open through March.
The decision to split with ACME resulted from irreconcilable differences regarding the club's future between the parent company and Skrappy's Board of Directors and Youth Advisory Committee, said Nick Celi, president of Skrappy's Inc.
"(Skrappy's) felt that ACME was an unstable organization," he said. "That is the reason we left."
With no outside funding, Skrappy's faced the loss of its Broadway location. Saturday, employees and volunteers helped move furniture and equipment out of the club.
The youth center, still without a new parent company, received word from the building's owner on Tuesday that it could continue to rent the building - and at a lower price, Celi said.
According to the terms of the agreement, he added, Skrappy's will rent the building on a month-to-month basis - instead of a lease - leaving the club's future still uncertain.
"This venue is our temporary location," Celi said. "We won't be putting the pool tables and other furniture back in."
As a result of its separation from ACME, Skrappy's was also left without the sound equipment needed for putting on concerts.
However, after private funds were donated this week by an undisclosed source, Skrappy's bought a new sound system and reclaimed the venue as their permanent home. The club intends to do what it can with the resources available for the time being, Celi said.
"If people don't come to the shows, then Skrappy's will no longer exist," Celi said. "We need everyone to know that this is their club."
The kind of community support Celi said that Skrappy's needs to keep running was present at the venue's final show Friday night before its closing, at which an estimated 500 people showed up.
"Friday was the best local turnout we have ever had," Celi said.
As concert-goers gathered for what was thought to be Skrappy's last show, emotions ran high.
"It's kind of depressing that they are closing," said Chris Meszler, a computer engineering freshman. "I hope they open again so I can see the bands I like."
Since the announcement that Skrappy's will reopen its doors - at least for now - patrons of the club have shown their support.
"I am glad they found a way to stay open," said Matt Gilchrist, a mechanical engineering freshman. "If they closed, a lot of kids would have nowhere to go on the weekends."
Celi said Skrappy's is currently looking for a new, more permanent location that the committee can agree on. At any rate, the private funding will leave Skrappy's monitoring its financial situation "very closely," Celi said.
What is clear now, he added, is that Skrappy's needs a lot of help and support from the Tucson community.
Skrappy's reopens Saturday night with an anti-prom theme for the evening.
"The idea is for kids to dress like it is the prom," Celi said. "We want kids to have fun and feel comfortable at Skrappy's. We want them to tell us if they don't like something about the venue so we can make changes."
