Mudflat Studio moves

East Somerville advocates are hoping clay can make a neighborhood stick together. Mudflat Studio formally opened its grand new space on East Broadway on Sept. 10. The $3.8 million project has reinvigorated a 1915 building that was one of Somerville’s 14 movie theaters, according to an exhibition by historian David Guss. The last film was shown there about 30 years ago; the building became a warehouse, and then the city took it over. The studio submitted its redevelopment proposal nearly 10 years ago, after running out of space in the building it owned down the street, said executive director Lynn Gervens during an impromptu tour Monday. A legal battle with a tenant followed, and then it didn’t seem like a good time, economically, to do the project, Gervens said. However, a $300,000 grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council sparked the organization to line up financing for the project, and the work began in June 2010.