OUR BUILDING

In 1879, the address '109 Edward Street, Brisbane' was home to a hairdresser’s shop, billiard saloon and an oyster saloon. In 1889, these stores were replaced with a five-storey warehouse built for glass, pottery and china imports.

 

Over the next 80 years, the building survived a fire and changed ownership many times to finally be approved as a community arts centre in the mid- 1970s. July 1981 brought about the official opening of the Brisbane Community Arts Centre, now Metro Arts. In 2001, Metro Arts received a grant to purchase the heritage-listed building and became its own landlord.

 

Metro Arts currently provides 35 tenancies, including individual artist studios, small creative businesses, retail outlets (a café, bar and restaurant) and arts organizations, including Backbone Youth Arts and Playlab.

 

Metro Arts’ two galleries fill an important gap in the visual arts sector by providing professional exhibition space that offers the affordability and accessibility of an artist-run space with the support and reputation of an institutional gallery.

The two performances spaces, the Sue Benner Theatre and the Studio, provide performing artists with a  professional, low cost, intimate venue appropriate for both new work and work in development. 

 

Metro Arts also provides multi-purpose rooms for public hire, suitable for exhibitions, performances, forums,
rehearsals, film screenings, corporate functions, book launches and more.
 

For further venue information, visit the 'Spaces for hire' page and for a listing of tenants visit the 'Directory of tenants' page in the Facilities Program area of this site.