{"id":829237,"date":"2026-08-29T00:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T00:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/829237\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T00:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T00:58:11","slug":"south-bend-museum-of-art-searching-for-new-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/829237\/","title":{"rendered":"South Bend Museum of Art searching for new home"},"content":{"rendered":"

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The South Bend Museum of Art is searching for a new home after city leaders voted to end its lease at the Century Center.<\/p>\n

The Civic Center Board of Managers voted Thursday, August 27, to end the lease. The city plans to eventually demolish the building\u2019s north wing.<\/p>\n

The Century Center was built specifically to house the South Bend Museum of Art. The museum now has three years to move out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Century Center facing aging infrastructure and a changing market, we thank the Civic Board for taking proactive steps to build a more active and vibrant future in the heart of South Bend,\u201d a City of South Bend spokesperson said in part. <\/p>\n

\"PiecesPieces sit on display for visitors at the South Bend Museum of Art on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026.(Emma Bratt)<\/p>\n

Lisa Shaffer, executive director of the South Bend Museum of Art, said the museum draws up to 21,000 visitors a year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think replacing the space will be a monumental task,\u201d Shaffer said.<\/p>\n

Shaffer also said the museum\u2019s studio classes, including the largest ceramics studio in northwest Indiana, are a hidden gem.<\/p>\n

Louise Leighton has visited the museum for 30 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019ll certainly miss it. This is the biggest pottery atelier around,\u201d Leighton said. \u201cThere\u2019s lots of space, of course, and it keeps people coming in and out of the Century Center all week, as opposed to just events. I imagine the events make the money.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LouiseLouise Leighton makes pottery at the South Bend Museum of Art on Friday, Aug. 28, 2026. Leighton has been visiting the museum for 30 years.(Emma Bratt)<\/p>\n

Shaffer does not necessarily see the move as a bad thing. According to her, <\/p>\n

\u201cAbout 100 to 150 students come weekly to downtown South Bend,\u201d she said. \u201cBeing more co-located toward other businesses … might really add to the foot traffic and economic development for some of these entrepreneurs that are downtown.\u201d<\/p>\n

The museum\u2019s lease ends in three years. Shaffer said the process could take over five years to find a new building and install the gallery. She said she is optimistic the city will be flexible with that timeline.<\/p>\n

Stay up to date on local news with WNDU<\/a> on-air and online. Be sure to download the 16 News Now App<\/a> and follow our YouTube<\/a> page as we continue to bring you the latest news coverage.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WNDU. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The South Bend Museum of Art is searching for a new home after city…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":829238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,351214,351212,351215,229,88,351213,349824],"class_list":["post-829237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-century-center-board-of-managers","tag-century-center-lease","tag-ceramics-studio-northwest-indiana","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-south-bend-indiana-museum","tag-south-bend-museum-of-art"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=829237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/829237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/829238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=829237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=829237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=829237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}