New arts district extends Vegas' cultural renaissance - city beat Las Vegas

Art Business News, Sept, 2002 by Vanessa Silberman

A mid the casinos, five-star hotels, fabulous restaurants and glitzy entertainment, a burgeoning art scene is also making its mark on the city known as the "Entertainment Capital of the World." The Las Vegas art scene, once confined to casino galleries along the neon strip, now extends beyond the flickering lights and into a new area, aptly named by Mayor Oscar Goodman as the Gateway Arts District.

Bordering the city's redevelopment district and the downtown redevelopment area, the arts district is located about equidistant from the downtown casinos on Freemont Street and the beginning of the Las Vegas strip. "It is right in the heart of everything," said Goodman, who has passionately been nursing the project ever since he took office three years ago. "I love the mystique and electricity of Las Vegas--I certainly don't want to redefine that. What I am interested in doing is getting more locals interested in what I would refer to as an `Eastern sophistication.' The arts are really spread out, and there's no centrality to it. And that's what I'm trying to establish."

Indeed, for a city boasting 35 million tourists in 2001, with non-gaming tourism generating $22.5 billion, a central meeting place for the arts would be a win-win situation.

A few months ago, Goodman's dream came closer to reality with the opening of [S.sup.2] Art Group's new atelier for its lithography presses. The atelier serves as a gateway to the city's aforementioned arts district, and, at 11,000 square feet, it is the largest facility in the world for the production of fine art lithography, said company officials.

According to Goodman, [S.sup.2] was the perfect kind of company to venture into the neighborhood. With three successful local galleries located at the Paris, Venetian and Mandalay Bay resorts on the strip, [S.sup.2] had already established a strong presence in the Vegas art scene. Goodman believed if [S.sup.2] set up its new operations headquarters in the proposed arts district, the business would serve as a catalyst to the area. Owners Jack and Carolyn Solomon found the offer hard to resist. "Las Vegas has become an international destination, and it offers a great business climate, with no corporate income tax and no inventory tax," said Jack, who moved to Las Vegas with his wife a few months ago. While [S.sup.2] maintains a presence in New York and Chicago, it moved the bulk of its operations to Las Vegas.

"We've moved our international distribution center here and will expand our dot.com business," he added. "And we'll possibly open a gallery to the public. The building is in the epicenter of everything."

A New Frontier

In addition to the newly opened [S.sup.2] atelier, the district already contains other art destinations. Next door to the new [S.sup.2] facility is the Arts Factory, a funky building that houses a collection of galleries, artist studios and architectural offices. Included in the Arts Factory is CAC, the Contemporary Arts Collective, an artist-run, non-profit gallery, which showcases both local and national artists. It also is home to the George L. Sturman Museum of Fine Art, which features works by famous 20th-century artists.

The area also boasts hip furniture stores and a few small clothing shops, as well. Some antique stores are also planning to move into the area, said Goodman. And not far from the arts district, the Leo Koenig gallery recently opened in an upscale mall called Neonopolis. There, cutting-edge paintings and sculpture "that one does not ordinarily see in Las Vegas" [according to Goodman], are on view.

For many involved, the timing couldn't be better to launch the new arts district, especially as the city solidifies its reputation as a destination for art. In recent years, Las Vegas has transformed itself into a gleaming symbol of the country's economic strength, and a model for the leisure and tourism industries. The city is gearing up for the inaugural Art Las Vegas, a new contemporary art fair this fall. "We are anticipating a strong response worldwide," remarked Thomas Blackman Associates President Thomas Blackman, the show's producer. "Las Vegas is one of the nation's most dynamic cities. It seems nothing is beyond the scope of its imagination."

Las Vegas has also gained a foothold in the museum world. The Guggenheim Las Vegas and the Guggenheim Hermitage at the Venetian Resort Hotel and Casino opened last year, and both feature rotating exhibits such as the blockbuster show, "The Art of the Motorcycle." According to Venetian's Chairman Sheldon Adelson, the response to the Guggenheim ventures has been great. "The Guggenheim Las Vegas is the cornerstone of the continuing cultural renaissance of Las Vegas," he said.

Las Vegas is home to other museums as well, such as the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art which opened in 1998, the Wynn Collection, which shows masterpieces from the private collection of Steve Wynn, and the Las Vegas Art Museum, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution. Many public libraries contain art galleries, and the city's campus of the University of Nevada has a well-respected art program that is attracting artists from across the country.