Help Vault Artist Studios

When Vault Artist studios moved into the old Belfast Met building on Tower Street in July 2018 we understood that it was a temporary space earmarked for redevelopment for social-led housing. Our original timeline was eighteen months and we did not expect to still be here almost five years later!

In those five years, we’ve grown to become a collective of over 100 members across many artistic disciplines, providing studio space, rehearsal studios, dance studios, theatre event space and a gallery for our membership and the wider community.

The time has now arrived for us to move on. Finding a new home for a large multidisciplinary arts organisation has been a challenge, but thanks to the tireless work of our team over the last year, we are delighted to start sharing some good news!

We’re so happy to officially announce the first of two new buildings for Vault, Shankill Mission! First opened in 1898, The Mission is a stunning heritage building, full of wonderful architectural features and we’re excited to see what we will do in such an inspiring building.

The Mission will deliver exceptional studio space for our artists, as well as dance and event space. We can’t wait to open the doors of The Mission once again and to bring the building back to life.

At Vault, we’re passionate about the power of the arts to strengthen and build communities, so it’s important to acknowledge our partners in the Shankill area who have helped to make this happen. We offer our sincerest thanks to the owners of The Mission, Argyle Building Centre, for trusting us with stewardship of their wonderful building and for their immense generosity, and to the Greater Shankill Partnership for facilitating the connection that made this happen.

Our artists will begin moving to The Mission in late April, but as the building has been unoccupied since 2009, we’ve been doing a significant amount of work to ensure that it is fit for purpose for our artists and safe to open to the public.

Vault Artist Studios is primarily a self-funded organisation and we’re paying for much of this work out of our own reserves, but we need to again thank Argyle Business Centre for their generosity in paying for the needed roof and structural repairs, and also thank Belfast City Council for their support through the Artist Studio Organisational Support Grant.

There’s much work still to be done to get the building ready, and with this in mind, we are reaching out to our dedicated supporters to ask for donations to help us to complete the needed improvements to the building. Your support will help us to complete upgrades to lighting throughout the building, install new fire detection systems, and complete other fire safety modifications to the building.

If you have enjoyed any of the Vault’s events at Tower Street over the past five years and wish to help us continue on our journey, please consider donating. Every little bit helps!

Finally, stay tuned for the announcement of our second amazing new building, coming soon!

With love and solidarity,

Vault Artist Studios