From an email sent today by Conduit Dance:
As you know, we moved into the Ford Building last October with generous support from building owner Mike Tevis, who offered a gradual ramp up of rent, and we began building a new focus on broad dance education programming.
During the last few months, despite our best efforts, we were not able to build programs quickly enough to generate the income required to meet rent and operations costs. We also concluded that the space, while beautiful, is not well-suited as a performance venue, which is an important aspect of our mission and revenue.
In light of these and other factors, Conduit has given notice on the Ford Building studio and we will be suspending all operations and programming on July 23, 2016. Classes and workshops will continue through July 21st.
The organization has been active in Portland for 20 years. It looks maintaining some of Conduit's programming without a permanent space is under consideration. Like many Portland arts organizations, maintaining a permanent space had been a major challenge for Conduit. Last year, the organization was evicted from its former space at 918 SW Yamhill.
