A new center offers spaces for the arts community to rehearse. Photo courtesy of 1400 Dallas Arts

Aaron Vega had his work gloves in hand as he prepared to hang mirrors in a dance studio. But first  he took time out to lead a visitor on a tour of 1400 Dallas Arts, a new rehearsal space in northwest Aurora.

The name and the address are the same. The mid-century building, once a police station, has room after room of spaces for creatives, with rent starting at $2 an hour. Weekly rentals are also available.

“I love the idea of being able to make these spaces available to people, and I think it’s really needed. Long term, I think it’ll be so good for the neighborhood,” Vega said.

Aaron Vega, curator of The People’s Building, stands in a studio at the building where rooms can be rented by the hour or week for rehearsals. Front Porch photo by Linda Kotsaftis

1400 Dallas Arts is owned by the City of Aurora and operated under the umbrella of The People’s Building on East Colfax Avenue, where Vega is curator. He now runs 1400 Dallas Arts just down the street. “It’s the same mission and vision. It’s just rehearsal studios instead of performance and event space,” he said.

Those rehearsal studios, Vega added, are badly needed by artists who he said are “being pushed out of their spaces. Some call it gentrification; some call it market scarcity. Whatever you call it, artists are having a harder and harder time developing work that speaks to their community, especially with theater and dance.”

There are rooms for both theater and dance throughout the two-story space, with a shop in the back for set building. The floors for dance are a work in progress. The building is old, and the floors need updates.

The community is stepping in. A man who is retiring donated 175 feet of Marley dance flooring, a rubber-like flooring that protects dancers from injury. Anyone with an old ballroom floor to donate would also be appreciated, Vega said, laughing.

Acoustic panels line another room, and one has a microphone and photo spot for actors to record auditions.

The School of Breaking, a breaking and hip-hop school, has already made a home at the building. A theater group came through to read a new play, and a couple of ballroom dancers stopped by looking for a spot. The dance community, Vega said, is “hungry for space” to rehearse.

1400 Dallas Arts hopes to provide that space, he said. “If we can help support that in a neighborhood that has so many languages spoken and so many cultures and stories, if people start making their own work that expresses their culture and helps people understand where they’re coming from, that’s valuable. I think the arts have incredible power and potential in that way.”

Vega hopes the building is used frequently by arts and culture groups from across the area. “I just want the neighborhood to be alive with people creating things.”

The center is in the heart of the Aurora Cultural Arts District, the area from Dayton to Florence streets that Vega called “the 50-yard line.”

At the west entrance to the district, about one block from the rehearsal space, is the big blue chair, a 16-foot-tall sculpture titled “Unglued.” The park near the chair has been getting cleaned up, he added, as “more people care about the area—more places, more activity, positive foot traffic. I think it’s a win for us, for the residents, for the other small businesses, and for the neighborhood.”

Visit tinyurl.com/1400Dallas for details.