Heartland taking storefront space in Murphy Art Center

Heartland Truly Moving Pictures has signed a deal to move its headquarters to Fountain Square's historic Murphy Arts Center, which includes a former movie house.

The organization plans to move its 13 employees into a 5,000-square-foot, storefront space by July, joining Red Lion Grog House, Pure Eatery, IndySwank and the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art. The group is moving from a similarly sized space above The Old Spaghetti Factory at 200 S. Meridian St.

The Murphy Arts Center, which sits along an under-construction extension of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail, is made up of the 1895 Schreiber Block and the 1928 Granada Theater. The buildings were combined in the 1950s for an expansion of the retailer G.C. Murphy Company, which operated in Fountain Square from 1929 to 1998. It is owned by a group led by architect Craig Von Deylen.

"The Murphy is the heart of the arts scene in Fountain Square and as a nonprofit arts organization that celebrates the transformative power of film, we feel this location is a perfect fit," Heartland CEO Jeffrey Sparks said in a statement.

The flagship event for Heartland Truly Moving Pictures is the annual Heartland Film Festival, which launched in 1991 and takes place every October in Indianapolis. The group also sponsors the Heartland Institute, which offers mentoring to aspiring filmmakers, and gives the Truly Moving Picture Awards to movies that embody the organization's mission to "promote positive change in people's lives through the transformative power of film."

The group has scheduled an open house for the new space, which will include a public screening room, on Aug. 5.