Above: Supporters came out for a Soap Factory event in 2013. (Photo by Chris Kelleher, Special to the Star Tribune)
The Soap Factory isn't ready for its inaugural reopening bath yet.
Financial complications have put the brakes on the Minneapolis experimental art space's grand re-opening. Closed for building renovations since December 2017, the building was supposed to reopen this summer. That has been pushed back to the end of October, to coincide with the organization's 30th anniversary.
"It makes more sense to be a little bit more patient," said Executive Director Bill Mague when reached by phone. He cited tax-credit complications with several financial partners as the cause of complications. "We are finding the right investor for the right set of tax credits. We had to go back through those again."
There will still be openings this summer associated with the residency program, but the Art(ists) on the Verge exhibition that was scheduled for May 5-June 10 will now take place in the fall.
"It's a very complicated project [to organize the financing], but also it's in the interest of long-term sustainability and helping the Soap Factory," Mague said.
Housed in an old factory near the downtown riverfront at 514 SE 2nd St., the organization also announced new branding by local graphic designer Michael Seitz, which will include signage in the new building and a revamped website. Soap Factory also recently hired Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts alum Ellina Kevorkian as its new director of artistic programming; she will start June 1.
