What she said, ask the parish because the worst that happens is they say no. Then maybe ask around local community centers, colleges, etc.

It sounds like you are building it and they are coming. Please dish! What kind of choir? Purpose, etc.? Always like to hear growth stories like this.

Round here our best options are churches of non-Catholic denominations, which hire rooms at very reasonable rates, and generally don't mind their worship spaces being used for other decorous activities. YMMV

RE: Printing

If this is near a college, befriend a college student. They almost always have enough "printing capabilities" built into their budget that they are left with a surplus.

At our Society chapel, we get plenty of printing because our director emeritus is a real estate agent and can regularly print off music (and get it stapled, none the less!) with his fancy printer at work. "Despoiling the Egyptians" is one of our time-honored traditions.

RE: Space

Do you have a library nearby? Sometimes they can rent out spaces, but don't know hw much they cost.

Sorry context below!
It's a parish choir to train up members for the other choir that has dwindling numbers due to health of older members and work commitments of younger members just finished uni.

I am the music director at the parish, I choose to let another person run the regular choir as he always has and I value his knowledge and skills. The priest has asked me to make another choir to boost numbers and feed into this choir. Loose cannons in the past have really genuinely bothered me. No this group is by permission from all involved and I am merely the teacher who hopes to educate them to give them the opportunity to get past the audition for the auditioned choir.

No monetary resources from the parish are available due to recent roof restoration and organ rebuild project.
Already am using the presbytery dining room to rehearse but this is a problem when the priest has a special occasion such as lunch with the bishop etc.
Officially choir is now too big to legally fit into loft due to OHS laws in Aus.
The school neighbouring won't let our parish use resources because they belong to a rival liberal Catholic parish.
We already use the church as a Latin mass parish.

Should I be more pushy and ask the parish for some funds? At the moment I'm funding this all myself and whilst I am grateful to have this job and have the opportunities that come with the job, the costs involved are amounting to more than I'm being paid. I'm considering asking the local counsel for funding and rehearsal space or asking members to pay a fee.

Thoughts?

Thanks Janet,
The other choir rehearses in the dining room but as I said much smaller only 4 people.

The church loft is available but our number is too big to fit that space safely.
Here is the real shock factor... The parish doesn't have a functioning copy machine... Yup, that also surprises me.

I'm investing in books, the last thing I want to do is copy midweek for rehearsals. We are going to need to buy hymnals, and chant books, and I was thinking of then only using copy machines for motets which is really affordable for me. It's the hymnals and chant books I can't do alone. Not in the initial start up anyway.

For books, ask the members to purchase their own. With the offer that you will buy them back (for resale to someone else) if they leave, or that they can keep them if they want.

Re venues - what about downstairs in the church? TBH, I am confused why you are training more members, when you sing from a loft that sounds like it cannot accommodate any more.

It's almost unheard of to ask church choir members to pay a fee. I wouldn't recommend it. The parish should be covering incidental costs, at least.

Yeah the church would normally be my solution too but for Saturday rehearsals it isn't great because it is all hustle and bustle on that day. Maybe I'll change the day.
The new choir won't exactly be singing at masses. They are very much a theory, audition preparation choir to get people ready for the formal choir. We are in charge of more evangelical things such as when the parish moves to other churches to do mass. As we are not a home parish, we are a personal parish and move around a fair bit.
Situations where this choir steps in is such like "we need a tenor for Byrd 4" and we poach them out of my group who go into depth on how to read Byrd 4 for weeks so that those in the auditioned choir don't have to rehearse a tenor for weeks and can just do their two rehearsals and into mass. Then when my choir has learned Byrd 4 on a more solid basis we might go to the cathedral to sing it at a youth event or pilgrimage.
The loft can currently fit 12 but the trainee choir has 14. If you take away people who regularly serve at mass then we actually have around 8 which would work for feeding into the auditioned choir. We like to keep it relatively small in the auditioned choir because of the OHS issue.

Hmm I think I will ask my parish for more support. They already have given me a lot and helped a lot but this really does need it.

It's one excellent purpose for which an old church that no longer can be sustained by a parish could be put: a choral rehearsal space (if the local musicians and angels can be persuaded to fund it).

@stimsoninrehab YES it is.
Nah our organ is in the stupidest spot. Could totally fit more if it were not right in the middle or if it were closer to the wall or something then we could fit either side but the other issue is weight. The loft is possibly as unsafe as the organ is unsturdy. haha.

and thanks guys.