Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) and Midway Artist Studios have joined forces to create the Opera & Community Studios.

The opera company has signed a multi-year lease for a 14,000-square-foot signature location at Midway Artist Studios in Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood. The Opera & Community Studios are located in a 200,000-plus square foot, artist-owned nonprofit building that provides work-live space for 89 artists in all artistic mediums.

The space will be used in its current multi-level, open-format state over the next year to anchor the nearly 50-year-old company’s artistic work with rehearsal and production space, and other creative activities including public programs, education and community events, and producing operations. Boston Lyric Opera will continue to present its mainstage shows at venues throughout the city.

In a press release, Bradley Vernatter, BLO Stanford Calderwood General Director & CEO said, “This new space marks a milestone for BLO, for Boston, and for the broader arts community. It’s impossible to overstate the importance of access to appropriate, dedicated arts and cultural space in Boston, especially space for artistic preparation and rehearsal for the performing arts. The new studios will become a dependable place for individual artists and arts companies to collaborate and create.”

The studios also provide space for artists and cultural organizations from Midway, Fort Point and across Greater Boston. The Opera & Community Studios recently hosted an event for the projection-based digital art festival Illuminus run by the non-profit journal Boston Art Review, which held a launch event for its May issue. The Commonwealth Shakespeare Company has booked the space for rehearsals of its free-to-the-public summer production, “The Winter’s Tale.”

Boston Lyric Opera has dedicated a $10.5 million fundraising initiative to support the expansion and a potential build-out of additional studios, support spaces, and amenities aimed for completion by the start of the 2026-27 Season, which is BLO’s 50th anniversary season.

Members of the public will have a chance to tour the Opera & Community Studios space during this fall’s Fort Point Open Studios in October.