AUSTIN, Texas - Many creative spaces in Austin are on the verge of shutting down. It all stems from rising costs across the city.

Joshua Green is preparing for a gallery opening, despite the lingering uncertainty.

"If we close, we are going to have a lot people displaced with no new places to go," said Green, who runs Pump Project, a warehouse of work space for local artists in East Austin.

With rising costs to live and work in the city and a for sale sign out front, dozens of local artists will likely be forced out of their leases.

"We are facing the consequences of the success of attracting so many people to Austin," added Green.

"One of the first things that is negatively impacted by the growth is the vibrant cultural life," explained John Riedie, CEO of the Austin Creative Alliance.

RELATED: East Austin art galleries lose lease amid concerns about rising real estate prices 

It's a problem that Riedie has been trying to solve for years. He may have found a fix in larger cities like San Francisco and Pittsburgh.

"They take cultural spaces out of the public market and put it into a cultural trust, so that they are always going forward, going to be used as cultural spaces," said Riedie.

It's still in the beginning stages, but a cultural trust could mitigate those rising market costs, while providing more affordable solutions to keep the creativity in Austin flowing.

The trust would likely operate separate from the city and would focus on obtaining culturally significant properties.

"I'm optimistic that we will start to see some viable tools, but it is going to be ongoing. I think the approach to this project is going to take years of sustained effort," Riedie said.

Austin City Council voted Thursday to continue the discussion.

The Economic Development Corporation will be working to figure out how to more forward.