The Tapp's building originally opened in 1940 as a department store, which closed down in 1995. The building was then transitioned into an art center in 2011, still under the name of Tapp's, but has once again closed its doors due to a lack of funding.
Caitlin Bright, executive director of Tapp's Art Center, said she has a strong vision of the direction in which Tapp's is heading.
Tapp's has relocated to Five Points and has rebranded as Tapp's Outpost. Its new home is at 713 Saluda Ave., which is being redesigned into an art space.
The first renovation that will take place at Tapp's Outpost in Five Points includes the building of five studios and a storefront. The store will have different types of DIY art for sale. Behind the store, there will be a hallway for small exhibitions with five studio and a dark room in the back for film production.
The second renovation will most likely begin at the end of April 2020 which includes the addition of six more studios and a performance space.
"We can do lots of different things in there — workshops, dance performances, blackbox theater, small shows," Bright said. "Lots of different things that we'll open up to the community to use as they want."
Tapp's will be working with the White Mule for music programming.
After Tapp's finishes the second round of renovations at the end of April, it plans to build an outdoor walkway to connect the two studio areas. The outdoor area would be a garden with Wi-Fi and workspaces for the community to use.
"The goal is that this will work out in the long term," Bright said. "It'll be a tiered scale, so the first bit will be an intimate introduction into what we can do, and then the second bit will create more opportunities and space opportunities for artists and then the third bit will hopefully be a fully functioning footprint of creative production in Five Points."
Tapp's recent relocation from Main Street was the result of high rent prices in the flourishing downtown district.
"What we produced here was really great, but we couldn't really afford the space," Bright said.
Tapp's tried working with the landlord but it was decided that it was best to close down, and it did not have a lot of time to prepare to move out.
Anita Floyd, executive director of the Columbia Film Society, which operates The Nickelodeon Theatre and Indie Grits Labs, said Tapp's on Main Street will be missed by the community. She said she hopes the city will still want to create opportunities for artists, especially in the downtown area.
Lee Snelgrove, One Columbia executive director, a nonprofit that supports community arts and history, said the closing down of the original Tapp's will have a large impact on the Columbia community.
“A lot will be lost, I think, in terms of that valuable space,” Snelgrove told The Daily Gamecock. “That was already a limited commodity in Columbia for arts and cultural space, and by not having the sheer size of Tapp’s available to artists and arts patrons, there’s a big loss and a big gap in the community.”
Bright said that they do not plan to make anything permanent as of yet.
"We realized that we've leapt, and we've hit Five Points and we're really excited about all the things we can do there," Bright said. "We're gonna stay pretty loose with it — if it works, it works, if it doesn't, it doesn't."
Bright said the larger goal Tapp's currently has is to establish Tapp's Outpost at its new home in Five Points, and then to reach out to local artists and the community.
"The biggest thing that we learned from this is that don't put all your eggs in one basket, but also if that basket is awesome, then eventually we'll put all our eggs there," Bright said.
Floyd said there are always challenges that come with funding for the arts even though the need is there.
"Tapp's was creating opportunities for local artists to do their work," Floyd said. "The kind of support, that kind of space [it] provides is pretty important."
Tapp's Outpost plans to be fully up and running by January 2020.