Concert venue PhilaMOCA, housed in a building owned by Diplo, closes temporarily

Callowhill concert venue and art space PhilaMOCA was closed by the city earlier this month over zoning issues, and is currently seeking support from fans via a $20,000 GoFundMe campaign to reopen.

Venue operators hope to use the recently launched “Resurrect PhilaMOCA” campaign’s funds to address costs associated with the rezoning process, according to the fund-raiser’s page. As director Eric Bresler told the Inquirer, the space initially had been zoned as an art gallery.

Since the closure, organizers have applied for a variance that will allow them to host film and music events in the building. To reopen, the venue, also known as the Philadelphia Mausoleum of Contemporary Art, needs several repairs and upgrades to address code regulations that will allow them to obtain the variance. A hearing with the city, however, is about four months away, Bresler said.

Some money will also go toward ongoing rent and utilities, venue operators wrote. At the time of publishing, the fund-raiser, which was posted online on Sunday, has garnered about $15,000 of its overall goal.

“It has been a community effort,” Bresler said. “That’s just an illustration of how much the room means to people."

» READ MORE: Philadelphia art galleries add bands to their exhibits

The venue has also received some significant support online, including from Dan Campbell of Lansdale-founded rock band The Wonder Years, who encouraged his 61,000 Twitter followers to “help get this Philly venue back open.”

In the meantime, PhilaMOCA is opting to relocate scheduled shows to other venues rather cancel them, and is providing updates via its social media profiles. Organizers have indicated that more then 30 events have been relocated since PhilaMOCA’s closure earlier this month.

“We have all intentions of reopening at the same level of productivity as before, but the process is going to take both time and money,” Bresler wrote.

At it since 2010, PhilaMOCA currently hosts hundreds of shows per year out of the Finney & Son building on North 12th Street. The space formerly housed a showroom for mausoleums and tombstones, and dates back to the mid 1800s.

According to a venue bio, in the mid-2000s, formerly Philly-based DJ Diplo bought the building and used it as a central location for his Mad Decent record label, as well as the initial home of the Mad Decent Block Party, an outdoor concert that became a touring operation in 2008, including a canceled two-day festival at Gillette Stadium this summer. Mad Decent Properties retains ownership of the location today, L&I records indicate. A representative at Mad Decent did not immediately respond to request for comment.

“The neighborhood that PhilaMOCA resides in is currently being redeveloped at a rapid pace, circumstances of which are at the root of our recent troubles,” Bresler said via the GoFundMe page. “But we are looking ahead towards solutions rather than dwelling on the past.”