‘Belfast artists call for more studio spaces to be opened’

The new Vault Artist Studios in Belfast City Centre

Amy Cochrane, Wed 4 Oct 2023.

Belfast Telegraph chatted with us on the launch of our new Gallery / Project Space in Belfast city centre:

Vault Artist Studios set to move into a new building this week but it is a temporary measure.

Artists in Belfast have expressed frustration at the lack of available studio spaces for them to work in.

One artists’ collective from the city — who were previously evicted from their east Belfast studio to make way for affordable housing — is set to officially launch in a new space on Victoria Street in Belfast this week.

However, even their time there will be limited.

Vault Artist Studios bade farewell to their Tower Street college building, in which they had been housed for more than four years, earlier this year.

They were forced to leave after Choice Housing, which owns the site, launched plans to demolish the building and make way for an estimated £5m investment in affordable housing.

The collective is made up of over 100 multi-disciplinary artists from across Belfast who worked hard on finding another suitable location for their studios.

After months of searching, they settled on two locations in the city — the Shankill Mission Building in west Belfast and Marlborough House in the city centre, the first city centre location for the collective.

Prior to moving in, it was announced that The Martin Property Group, which bought Marlborough House last year, had filed a Proposal of Application Notice (PAN) — the first step in the planning process — for a major development of 120 luxury apartments on the site.

The scheme would involve the partial demolition of Marlborough House and the redevelopment of an attached listed building.

While the group is excited to bring the collective to the city centre, members wanted to highlight the frustration felt by many artists at the lack of permanent premises in the city.

Jonathan Brennan, an artist with Vault, told the Belfast Telegraph that while there is deep appreciation for those developers who work in tandem with the artists to allow use of their unused buildings, he feels more needs done to support creatives who “help make Belfast a city that people want to visit”.

“At a time when many artist-led organisations are losing city centre locations we’re so excited to be bringing a Vault presence to the centre of town for the first time,” he said.

“The arts scene in Belfast makes it a place people want to visit and we strongly believe the fabric of our city shouldn’t become homogenous.

“But unfortunately there aren’t many grant opportunities for artists here or permanent studio spaces available, though we try to make our spaces as affordable as possible for our artists.”

Read the full article in the Belfast Telegraph.