United They Stand

Lisa Ferguson

Thursday, Sept. 24, 1998 | 10 a.m.

In this town, it's not what you know, but who you know. At least that's what James Kelly contends.

The aspiring screenwriter's own story -- of trying to connect with people in Las Vegas who might also have influence in Hollywood, to turn the novel he wrote into a film -- is a frustrating one.

Since moving to Las Vegas two years ago from Atlanta, he's pounded the pavement and on doors in search of a producer, a director, anyone in the motion picture industry interested in putting his book -- titled "The Emblem," about a military officer's top secret mission and discovery in the Middle East -- on the big screen.

"I called several production companies here," Kelly says. "The thing is, they look at me like (because) I live here, what do I know? What do I have? I'm a no one, and they close the door instead of just taking a look at the project."

And he figures he's not alone in his experiences. That's what prompted the former postman and waiter to found the United Artists of Nevada group earlier this summer.

The nonprofit organization, which boasts a still-growing membership of about 50 people, is designed to serve as a networking hub for all members of the local arts community -- from painters, sculptors and photographers to musicians, dancers and poets.

United Artists' members meet monthly to share anecdotes about their experiences, advice about their respective fields and. Most importantly, they share the names and telephone numbers of industry professionals -- or, at the very least, somebody who knows somebody else -- who can point them in the direction toward having their work exhibited or purchased, or provide help in finding them a regular gig.

Kelly, who also leads a monthly discussion group called Aspects of Writing at a local Borders Book Shop, says: "I don't care who you are in this world, and I don't care what business you're in, if you don't network, you get nowhere."

That's especially true in Las Vegas, which many well-known Hollywood/artistic types call home. "I guess the point is, if there's people out there who are interested in these projects, then why aren't they letting themselves be known, and why is it so difficult ... in this city to just get your foot in the door?"

Bill Sutton, who (though not an artist) sits on United Artists' board of directors, blames it on a long-standing "bad attitude" towards the arts here, that "if you're not Englebert Humperdinck or ... if (you don't have) someone like a Steve Wynn who's pushing the buttons for you, then we don't want to talk to you.

"There's a tremendous cultural network growing underneath this (city's) whole facade of casinos," Sutton, who operates Nevada Catering, says. "The thing is to get (the artists) out and get them exposed.

"All of these artists have something to give, be it good, bad or indifferent, and don't know where to go with it," he says. "We're kind of like the buffer between them and the rest of the world. ... We're not saying all projects are good, but we're saying that all projects have a degree of merit."

But, Sutton contends, more goes on at United Artists' meetings than back- scratching.

"I don't think it's a schmooze thing because people hang around for hours" after meetings, which are held at the Nevada Power offices on West Sahara Avenue. "I think they're comparing notes, a lot of them," Sutton says. "It's a place where artists can go and educate themselves, meet other people.

"We've found that a lot of people, no matter what their artistic ability is, have a very difficult time getting past" the initial task of approaching people about their work, Sutton explains. "They don't know what to do with it. ... Now they've got a place to come to, or else that book that they might have written, or that picture that they put together is going to sit on a shelf on their house forever and they're going to say, 'Gee, what could I have possibly done with this?' "

And, for those who have taken the steps toward debuting their work to the world -- and have run into roadblocks -- 41-year-old Kelly, who now works as a publishing consultant, wants United Artists to serve as a support system.

"We're there to say, 'Don't give up and keep trying,' " he says. "When you're unfamiliar with a business, or anything you're trying to do, you're always trying to fight that discouragement ... and it's really difficult when you make a dozen phone calls and they hang up on you or no one calls you back."

It's a scenario with which Kelly is all too familiar. Because his prospects here seemed so limited, he traveled to Savannah, Ga., and Pompano Beach, Fla., where he connected with independent filmmakers who agreed to read his script.

"Which kind of bothers me," Sutton says, "because we live here; we pay our taxes here, our families are here, and yet we can't get the support we want internally. That's very frustrating.

"There's so much potential here, and yet, how do you take the community and shake them and wake them up?" Sutton says, explaining how United Artists would eventually like to receive federal grant monies to help fund its endeavors.

"What we're trying to do is get (local artists) together collectively because we have a much louder voice in government ... if we have a couple hundred members saying, 'Yes, we want to do this.' "

But is it really that much harder for Las Vegas artists to make a go of it than in other cities?

Richard Hooker, of the Nevada Arts Council, says of United Artists' efforts: "I think that they wouldn't be expressing the need (for such a networking group) if it weren't there.

"I think anytime you increase opportunities for working artists to exhibit, the art community benefits ... so I think that's an admirable goal," Hooker says. "I would say that it always helps to know people, but it also really helps artists to organize just like any kind of interest group."

Mark Masuoka, a local independent art consultant and former director for the Nevada Institute for Contemporary Art (NICA), isn't sure the scene here is as bleak as it's been portrayed.

"It's small and it's a select community, but there are artists, I think, who have been able to survive here and be successful," he says, pointing to fewer resources and a small community of established artists here for bolstering the perception. He adds that a lot of new artists coming into Las Vegas must find it frustrating.

"I saw it when I worked at NICA -- artists felt like there weren't a lot of places to show their work and meet other artists and, to some extent, I think that's true," Masuoka says.

"That's some of the growing pains of the arts community. Those kinds of things are normally established in other communities (but) aren't necessarily here. But there are more opportunities here now than there were 10 years ago, I can tell you that."

Still, Kathleen Thomas says she had difficulty getting her poetry group off the ground before she connected with United Artists. Through Kelly, she met the owners of a local coffeehouse, Soup of Seattle, who agreed to let her host monthly gatherings of her group, Poets of the Dawn, at their store.

United Artists "sort of gave me a few directions that I could go after myself," Thomas, a restaurant worker, says. "It kind of gave me an incentive, that if I had (a talent to share), that would give other people incentive to share their something."

But where? Another, more long-term goal of United Artists is to construct a building locally that would house workshops for -- and performances in -- all artistic mediums. Fund-raisers for the facility are in the planning stages.

"We know Steven Spielberg isn't going to be knocking on our door shortly," Sutton says. "But we are willing to work, to persevere to get to that point."

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