Unit 44 in Stoneybatter has hosted roughly 275 public events over the past three years
Since opening in 2021, Unit 44 in Stoneybatter has hosted hundreds of public events and provided a space for artists, musicians and writers to create and collaborate.
Situated on Prussia Street, the former hair salon has been run by the Kirkos Collective and has become a popular location for everything from contemporary music and indie folk concerts, to film screenings and writing workshops.
In total, it has hosted around 275 public events and over 500 rehearsals. The space is particularly well known for its open-door policy, allowing artists from all backgrounds to use the venue, often at no cost.
Announcing the closure of Unit 44, Kirkos Collective said: “When Kirkos (a Dublin-based experimental music organisation and ensemble) moved into Unit 44 in the summer of 2021, it was supposed to be just for a year, and public events were still heavily restricted by COVID.
“The space was founded with the mission to be as open as possible to all artists, regardless of reputation.
“Over the last three and a half years, it gradually defined itself through the hundreds of artists who put on events here, through the addition of our studio tenants, and through the learning process of putting on a huge number of shows.
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“In the vast majority of cases, the artists performing were not charged a fee and kept all ticket income for themselves.
“Apart from anything else, Unit 44 has been a successful experiment in showing the huge dividends that can come from minimal investment in cultural infrastructure – as long as it is distributed to artist-led initiatives,” they added.
The Kirkos Collective said it discovered a couple of months ago that the shopping centre where Unit 44 is located had been sold to a developer from Co Wexford.
A letter from the new owner’s solicitors was sent to them, giving a moving-out date of the end of March 2025.
Kirkos Collective said, while “nobody has treated them unfairly”, Unit 44 has been “filling glaring gaps” in Dublin’s music and wider cultural space and will be missed by many.
“The fact that this space could only emerge in a place that was affordable, specifically because it was ephemeral, speaks to systemic problems regarding arts infrastructure and a lack of proactivity and engagement from funding bodies and city councils,” they said.
“There are currently no funding streams dedicated to setting up or running event spaces like Unit 44.
“Recent investment in artist workspaces in Dublin of €3m from central government (matched by a further €3m each from Dublin City Council and private philanthropic sources), has been distributed exclusively through local authorities, and virtually none of this has been put into music spaces or given to artist-run initiatives.
“In a recent email from the Government’s Arts Unit, I was told that ‘it is hoped that at least a couple of developments will happen under [DCC’s] 5pc creative/cultural/community requirements of new developments and will address the needs of musicians’.
“This lack of planning for music – given the scale of financial investment in artist workspaces – is scandalous,” they added.
Kirkos Collective emphasises that venues relying on market rent struggle to stay affordable for independent artists.
When the cost of renting a space exceeds what can be earned from ticket sales, hosting events becomes financially unfeasible.
This challenge is particularly tough for artists in niche genres, for whom sustainable careers are difficult to build under such conditions.
They said that non-commercial spaces like Unit 44 are crucial for fostering these genres in Ireland.
Looking forward, the Kirkos Collective is actively searching for a new location, but acknowledges the difficulty in finding a space with similar footfall and affordability.
