Mayor Michelle Wu wants to build a new creative hub in Downtown Crossing.

Under a partnership with the Downtown Boston Alliance (DBA), the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture announced a new project last week to fill vacant office buildings in the neighborhood with art studios, performance venues and other creative spaces, to both economically revitalize the area and make it easier for creatives in the city to find space for their art.

“We’ve both had a long running conversation post-pandemic about how to activate Downtown,” Michael Nichols, the president of the DBA, said of the community organization’s partnership with the mayor’s office.

“We believe that Downtown could feature even more of the best artists and creative folks from around the city. We wanted to go out and see what great groups, individuals, and ideas that were out there maybe we didn’t know about yet and see if we could pair them with available spaces in the Downtown.”

The mayor’s office put out a Request for Information (RFI) where artists can submit ideas for creative spaces in the area, from recording studios to art galleries. Then, Nichols said, the Alliance will serve as a matchmaker.

“Our organization’s role will be to pair people with space,” Nichols said. “Once we hear the type of ideas that come in through this process, we will go out to the commercial property owners of Downtown and see if we can make space available for these initiatives.”

The project is the latest in a series of attempts to revitalize Downtown’s empty office buildings, including an office-to-residential conversion program and three rounds of federally funded grants for small businesses. According to the RFI, a healthy vacancy rate in a downtown should be between 10 and 15 percent. The Downtown’s vacancy rate currently ranges from 19 to 31 percent, depending on building height.

Efforts to fill downtowns with creative spaces have worked in other cities, however. London, for example, launched “Creative Enterprise Zones” in 2017 to help artists find permanent affordable places to work. This resulted in more economic stability, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to London’s Creative Enterprise Zone impact report published in 2021.

Boston’s project is inspired by London, the RFI reads. Its main goals are improving the economy, enhancing public spaces, and attracting both “talent and investment from tech and creative sectors.”

The deadline to submit an idea is April 18, although the form on the mayor’s website will be open for the full year. The city then plans to invest a total of $200,000 in pilot programs.

“Not every applicant to this RFI needs to be in need of funds,” Nichols said. “We imagine there might be some folks who already have great ideas and have the needed funding, and just need the space. This initiative is about trying to find them. It’s about trying to find people for whom a little bit of startup money could go a long way.”