Council open to purchasing The Complex arts venue, but only with major contribution from government
A senior arts executive in Dublin City Council (DCC) said the council would be open to part-financing the acquisition of The Complex arts venue, but only if 80 or 90pc of the funding came from central government.
It comes as the multidisciplinary arts space, which has occupied its current premises on Arran Street East in Dublin 7 since 2019, was issued with a notice to quit by the middle of next month.
If funding to purchase the building is not forthcoming and an alternative venue is not found, the dozens of artists it supports will have nowhere to go.
Ray Yeates, DCC’s arts officer, said the council was very supportive of the arts venue, but that it simply didn’t have pockets deep enough to acquire the facility.
“It’s not in our capital programme, and the amounts required are very high,” he said.
“It’s certainly more than €10m to retain The Complex. So the city view was, if the government departments are going to participate, perhaps we could be a minor contributor.”
“We all want to see something like The Complex retained," he said, but he reckoned that 80pc to 90pc of the acquisition funds would have to come from central government if a state purchase was to be realised.
Vanessa Fielding, The Complex’s artistic director and CEO, said the venue had been in discussions with Paschal Donohoe when he had been Minister for Finance about funding for an acquisition.
But with his sudden departure from the role last month, the question had been left unresolved.
“We need €6m from the Department of Finance,” she said, adding that DCC had agreed to provide €1.5m to fund the initial purchase, provided the money from central government was forthcoming.
On top of this, further funding would be required from the Department of Culture and loans for fit-out of the new building, contingencies and developer contributions, said Ms Fielding.
With the state’s backing, The Complex could keep their art and culture spaces in the new development and wouldn’t have to seek out a new home.
The group has had to move on several occasions in the past, but this time is different because there’s no alternative venue available and they’re under unexpected time pressure to find one.
Ms Fielding said they had assumed they would be able to continue renting the building while any potential planning applications progressed, but the arrival of the notice to quit has thrown a wrench in their plans.
“It’s kind of thrown everyone into a state of emergency,” she said. “If we don’t get funding, we close and it’s lost. And there’s kind of no alternative really, because we don’t have anywhere to move to.”
“Without space, we can’t trade, we can’t accommodate anybody, so we can’t function. We don’t have anywhere else to move to and it’s hard to find a space like this anywhere in the city.”
“I feel terrible because I’ve had to give notice to all the studio artists, and it’s their livelihoods at stake,” she said, adding that the purchase price for the facility represented "good value" for the state.
“If you were going to build the same thing for another person in the inner city, it’s going to cost you a whole lot more than [€6m].”
“I’m sure in time, everybody will recognise and think ‘God, you need to put in some kind of arts infrastructure, and it’s going to cost €80m, not €6m.’”
Green Party councillor Donna Cooney, herself an artist, said it was “devastating” that The Complex now faces this situation, but that she understands the council’s finances simply can’t absorb that cost.
"But something needs to be done to keep them in the space, even in the meantime,” she said.
Ms Cooney said that the owners were within their rights to issue the tenants with a notice to quit, but that DCC should be trying to persuade them to give more time to find an alternative location.
“If there’s no planning question, and not even any pre-planning put in as yet, like what’s the point in having it just sitting there vacant,” she said.
“I would know some of those artists personally and love their work. It’s so diverse a group of artists and such a loss to not have that space. To think that in the new year they’ll be out of their space, it must be devastating.”
"It feels like artists are always the first to go. Everything is so precarious,” she said.
The Department of Finance said it was not involved in funding for the venue, and said it was a matter for the Department of Culture.
A spokesperson for the Department of Culture said it provides grants for maintaining and enhancing arts facilities, but not for purchasing buildings.
"Separately, the Department are working closely with the Dublin City Council to provide 60 artist workspaces through the Space to Create programme,” they said.