Artists seeking workspaces in Dublin are set to benefit from a €9 million programme called 'Space to Create', which will see around 60 such spaces developed in the city.
The initiative will see Dublin City Council identify various buildings which are suitable for refurbishment into artist workspaces.
City Arts Officer with DCC Ray Yeates said an old restaurant and an old townhouse are some of the venues that will be used for these spaces.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said the funding comes from the Department of Culture and Arts, Dublin City Council and a philanthropist.
"They are wishing to remain private but it has been a major gamechanger to be approached by a donor and it has triggered this programme to a large degree, which we had been slowly, patiently putting together over years. And now it is coalescing into a major programme."
He said the council has located sites where it can put temporary units and buildings that can be refurbished and will also take out leases on the north side of the city to create the workspaces.
Mr Yeates said artists' work is broad and can include anyone from performers to composers to visual artists.
He said the spaces they have to work in have been "marginalised" for some years because of economic pressures.
"I think a lot of artists moved out of the capital because of pressure of rents. But to have a workspace and we hope to give these at less than €200 a month would be an amazing anchor for a lot of artists to stay here. And it is a big start and we need several hundred of these spaces and not just 60.
"But this is a statement of intent and I would hope we would be adding as the years go by," he said.
