Culturebot recently reported a rumor that the Culture Project may be on its way out. According to The New York Timesthe 10-year-old nonprofit is just relocating, not folding.

According to Campbell Robertson:

The reason for the move — surprise, surprise — is rent.

At its current site at 45 Bleecker Street in the East Village, the Culture Project had two leases: one on the fourth-floor offices and living quarters of Allan Buchman, the project’s founder and artistic director, and another on two performance spaces, a 199-seat theater on the first floor and a 99-seater in the basement.

The company pays $50,000 a month for both theaters and office space, Mr. Buchman said. The lease for the offices was renewed in April. But for more than a year Mr. Buchman had been looking around for new theater space. The rent was just too high, he said, and under terms of the seven-year lease that was drawn up in June, it was only going to get higher.

The Culture Project will now reside at 55 Mercer Street, the home of Manhattan Ensemble Theatre.

You can read the full article here.

So as always Manhattan real estate prices affect the well-being of our cultural institutions(thanks to Off-Off Blogway for the tip).