AN inner city site that was unused for over a year is now home to young, working, creative people as part of a renewed push to bring multi-disciplinary artists back to the CBD.
The City of Perth officially opened the doors to McNess Studios at 8 Pier Street last week after renting the ground floor of the building from the Uniting Church for a nominal lease of $8664 a year.
The space – which features individual studios and a common area – was then sub-let to young artists for low rentals.
The move is a win for Perth artists after the City recently baulked at its plan to convert part of the Gas Works building on Wellington Street into studios.
The City had earmarked the dilapidated Gas Works for conversion into more than 20 studios in June last year in efforts to draw artists driven out by past booming rents back to the city.
But an unexpected price tag of $5.5 million required to bring the building up to standard meant the City had to look for alternative options.
McNess Studio resident and freelance graduate architect Joseph Matthiessen from North Perth said he was excited by the new opportunity to work in the city.
“You’ve got exposure to people with different skills, which is really important,” he said of the eight multi-disciplinary artists already based there. “And because the rent is affordable we are able to have this informal creative environment.
“It does give young people an opportunity and adds a different element to the fabric of the city.”
Perth Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi said the new project would foster a creative hub for inner city artists.
“High property values in the city have meant that suitable, affordable studio space for artists has not been so easily available, and over the years this activity has been lost to the city,” she said.
“We are keen to encourage its return as this is the sort of creativity that enhances our urban fabric in so many ways.”
A report released by the City last year found over the past decade around 200 artists had left the CBD while the number of permanent studios had dropped from 13 in 1996 to just two.
Ms Scaffidi said the City was actively seeking more vacant buildings for use as artist studios and encouraged business owners to consider offering up available unused space, even on a short-term basis, before redevelopment.