Creative hub rent hike may 'force' artists out
| Published date | 05 April 2024 |
| Publication title | Evening Chronicle |
It comes amid concerns that the local authority can no longer afford to subsidise the creative hub, which has endured a chequered history and is expected to need more than £300,000 of public money to balance its books this year.
Numerous studio holders who spoke to The Chronicle warned that they would be forced to leave the High Bridge building if the impending rent rise, which has been set at 32% for artists and 21% for other tenants, goes ahead as planned.
The city council insisted that it wants the building's collection of creative businesses to stay and had agreed to delay the increase for three months, rather than enforce it from the start of April, in a bid to "give everyone more time to try and come up with a solution".
Michelle Percy, the council's director of place, said at a scrutiny committee last month that artistic industries were the "lifeblood of the city" but that it would be "wholly inappropriate to use public cash in order to subsidise businesses that are trading".
But artist Giedre Ka said High
Bridge Works should be treated as a cultural rather than commercial asset. She said: "There are more and more people moving out and it is a huge shame. My rent is increasing by 30% and I was given 30 days' notice. It just makes it unaffordable to be in the city centre.
"The council says it wants to bring artists back into the city centre, but there is a lack of affordable art studios. What they say and what they do doesn't match up."
Calling for the council and building managers Knight Frank to agree to a three to five-year transition period to allow tenants to catch up with the higher rents, she added that artists are "financially vulnerable and we cannot just absorb those costs".
Questions have also been raised about a large space on the first floor of the building, which had previously been occupied by Northumbria University, having been left empty without a tenant for some time. The council said the proposed rent increase would affect 26 tenants and generate an extra £25,779 per year for the authority, which expects High Bridge Works to be in a £313,000 deficit when figures for the last financial year are finalised.
Studio holder Gary Carter said: "For me, it feels like the council isn't bothered about the building. This place is meant to be a creative space and it...
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