CLONAKILTY Community Arts Centre has made a last-ditch attempt to find permanent premises before its lease runs out at the end of the month. 

Organisers and artists at the Astna Square community space continue to feel the pressure to find a new location. 

Curator Mark Whitesides said the search was ongoing, with rent for small spaces in the town now costing between €1,500 and €2,250. 

‘As a non-profit [organisation] we can’t meet those rent levels,’ he said.

‘We’ve come up against a brick wall. It would be a massive social blow for the town if this was to go.’

Mr Whitesides said the organisation, which has been at its current base for 13 years, would consider sharing a venue with other community groups. 

Organisers at the centre have applied for a new space on Kent Street on a six-months lease, where eight other community organisations have also shown interest. 

The arts centre provides exhibition and workshop spaces for its 70 members and other creatives and hosts art exhibitions, concerts, readings, and open-mic nights.

It also offers studios for art, music, and photography lessons, runs workshops for local groups, and welcomes school visits. 

‘It’s always gratefully received and there’s always a good crowd at every opening,’ said Mr Whitesides, also an artist, who invested a lot of time renovating the space since he joined the centre in May 2024.

He is now fearing for his job, funded under the Community Employment scheme, alongside two administrators, Reham Ghafraji and Sarah Magnier Whooley.

The end of lease also affects a barber shop and Wazzy Woo coffee shop who share the same building. Liam O’Leary, owner of Wazzy Woo, said: ‘We are moving to the other side of the road where the tea shop used to be. I hope the arts centre can sort something out because it’s a valuable resource for the town.’ 

Cllr Isobel Towse (Soc Dem) said: ‘Clonakilty is alive with creativity, thanks to the artists of all disciplines who call Clonakilty home. In terms of tourism it is promoted as an artsy town. If that reputation is to mean anything, Clonakilty cannot afford to be without a community arts centre, a vital space for so much original and local art. Arts spaces need to be expanded, not taken away.’

Cllr Towse said there was much potential in the many vacant and derelict properties around town that could serve as a permanent space for the community arts scene, including the former fire station on Kent Street. 

Christopher O’Sullivan TD (FF),  Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, said: ‘I’ll be urging the council to offer the space at the former council offices on Kent Street to the Community Arts Centre, even if it’s only on a short-term basis at the start. I feel that that could be a blueprint of how the council could work with the arts centre to permanently deliver a space where artists can perform and display their incredible talent.’