At Ape & Frog, we really pride ourselves in our focus on accessibility and a sense of community. Wherever possible, we maximize how many people can access our resources, from offering pwyc workshops and lessons, to being open nearly every day of the year for walk-in use of our materials and equipment. We've participated in countless community events, shows, markets, and fundraisers, and have met so many amazing artists, vendors, and performers over the years. If you know us, you know that we didn't get into this business for any individual, selfish reason; Ape & Frog has always been dedicated to the betterment of all the kind people and creatures that we can reach.

Our tattoo studio, exclusive to marginalized people, has become a staple of the Chinatown Centre, with many visitors of the mall being directed to us for shopping queries and the plethora of knowledge and help our artists have to share (we collectively speak 13 languages and come from all over the world!). We've always been happy to direct customers and visitors to their best options in the mall, going as far as learning what many of the shops have available. We're ideally located in a quiet part of the main floor, giving our clients easy access to the space and allowing us to maintain privacy for those that need it.

We built this space from the ground up; all we didn't install is the flooring. The walls, the lighting, the plumbing, the sinks, the cabinets, the furniture, the exhaust, the a/c, the shelving, and so much more was installed by us. We invested so much into this studio, but we quickly realized that this location did not provide the physical space that we need. We've effectively been operating 500sq ft of equipment and resources within 200 sq ft of space, having to move things in and out of the studio depending on what will be used the most that day. It's an understatement to say that this has been inconvenient, especially since our only storage space outside of the mall is filled to the brim with our old café stock and equipment (the building for which we were very suddenly evicted from, with only 10 hours notice by the lease-holder).

Then there's the rent... All other units with similar (or in most cases, more) square footage are paying considerably less than us ($500-900 less per month). We were told we'd get a reduction to our rent cost for the second year because of this, but that didn't happen, and instead, our costs effectively went up, as we suddenly had to relocate our exhaust, install new lighting, update our licensing because of new requirements, and on top of all that, our hot water has been cut off as of the last week of December, apparently due to many unpaid hydro bills. We have always paid our landlord on time, and actually have months of post-dated checks already delivered.

We're faced with the difficult, yet practical decision to relocate. We want to do this by May of this year, as that is the earliest we can end our contract at the mall. However, we don't think this will be possible without the help of the community. Ape and Frog has been, thus far, very self-sufficient. We have provided our artists with all the supplies and resources they need to succeed, we have never asked for more rent than we need to cover the total cost here, and everything has always been open, well-communicated, and very flexible. Our access to supplies has now taken a large hit; one of our close sponsors have revealed themselves to be quite problematic, so we've had to cut off this source of $500+ in monthly supplies. To make all matters worse, our owner was recently diagnosed with a spinal disease after experiencing increasing pain for a year, and has been debilitated more often than not; that has left many tasks at the studio difficult or even incomplete, such as moving stock back and forth between the space and storage, loading and unloading the vehicle (which was wrongly towed and impounded by Toronto Police on January 4th, and then hit on January 5th, for the second time, while parked outside of the studio), attending and vending at markets (a major source of income for our handcrafted products), and hardly being able to maintain the physical demands of life in general. The harassment dealt with and legal action we've had to take against a certain individual at the mall has been quite the hassle too. We're in a tough spot.

Beyond all this, we don't want to impede the growth and success of our artists. Everyone here has come such a long way. Our apprentices have spent months getting to where they are now, with 3 of them being within weeks of tattooing on clients. Our resident artists have improved so much, and it really shows in their work. Our client-base has grown, our collaborators have experienced success alongside us, and we've been able to share our outlook with the many small business owners we now consider our friends.

By May 2026, we'll realistically need $20,000 to keep our studio and makerspace alive. This number includes the cost of the final month of rent here at the Chinatown Centre ($2200), the cost of moving everything out of here ($300), the cost of the first and last month of rent for a new location (or part of a down-payment) ($10000-15000), the renewal of insurance for a new location ($300+/month), the cost that was required to retrieve our vehicle from the police ($620), the renewal of licensing ($1200), and the cost of the many studio supplies that were covered up until now ($500+/month).