The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin, has today announced details of a new pilot scheme that will enable Local Authorities to increase the provision of Artist Workspaces across Ireland.

As it currently stands,  almost half of all visual artists’ workspace buildings (43%) are owned by Local Authorities, as a result the department has enlisted the help of these city and county councils to increase the supply of artist workspaces.

Today's €6 million funding is part of the Government’s Project Ireland 2040, the governments long-term overarching strategy to develop Ireland.

Speaking while visiting a recently developed artist workspace at Artane Place, Minister Martin commented: “As Minister for the Arts, I have been acutely aware of the pressures that artists and creatives, including those in the electronic music sector, have faced in finding suitable workspaces and that is why I made a commitment to provide capital funding towards the provision of artist workspaces.

"Much of our cultural infrastructure is initiated by our local authorities and they have been a crucial resource in the delivery of arts and culture interventions over many decades.

In 2023 my Department provided €3 million to Dublin City Council for ‘Space to Create’ which will see the development of sixty artist workspaces in Dublin City. Today’s launch will now address the shortage of workspaces in the rest of the country.”

Coilín O’Reilly, Chair of the CCMA RCCH Committee and Chief Executive of Carlow County Council, said that the new scheme can help local authorise deal with vacany and dereliction issues saying: “The ‘Artists Workspaces Scheme’ is a welcome addition to the toolbox Local Authorities can use to address the issues of vacancy and dereliction, as well as adding vibrancy, activation and colour to our towns and villages.

"With 40% matched funding from Local Authorities, this scheme represents a partnership that can transform the arts at a local level.”

Each Local authority will be able to apply for up to €150,000/€300,000 (depending on their location) for a single project under the scheme and would itself provide match funding of 40%. This match funding will bring the overall value of the scheme to €10 million.

The capital grants of up to €300,000 will be made available to the following densely populated Local Authority areas should they apply; Cork City Council, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council, Fingal County Council, Galway City Council, Limerick City and County Council, Louth County Council, South Dublin County Council, Waterford City and County Council;

While remaining g Local Authorities can apply for up to €150,000.