Smithsonian officials to visit

Erin Neff

Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2000 | 11:23 a.m.

Las Vegas will roll out the cultural red carpet for Smithsonian Institution officials Thursday to convince the national museum to give Sin City a closer look.

Mayor Oscar Goodman wants to convince the preeminent American history and culture museum to open a branch downtown.

"We'll make a first-class presentation," Goodman said.

While a "Smithsonian West" would require an act of Congress and could take 15 years to plan, the city might be able to link up with the Smithsonian Affiliations program. That program is a two-year to 10-year loan of Smithsonian items to museums and nonprofit organizations.

The Affiliations program director, Jay Michael Carrigan, and its deputy director, Margaret Pulles will both arrive Wednesday from Washington, D.C., to prepare for a full day of meetings with local cultural and political representatives.

The city will host a town hall meeting Thursday from 3 to 5 p.m. in the City Hall council chambers to discuss the potential for museums to create a new cultural corridor downtown.

Goodman will meet Thursday morning with representatives from the Smithsonian, U.S. Sen. Harry Reid's office and the Fannie Mae Foundation about the possibility for a major museum collection downtown.

The Smithsonian currently has 50 affiliate displays nationwide and might soon have two here in the Las Vegas Valley.

By late 2001, the Smithsonian will contribute artifacts from the Cold War era to the nuclear age to the Nevada Atomic Testing History Institute in North Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas Art Museum has a preliminary contract with the Smithsonian to display items at its West Sahara Avenue location.

And Las Vegas is trying to add cultural arts to the latest renaissance under way on the Strip. The Bellagio was the first, with then-owner Steve Wynn's personal grand masters' collection and now with a collection from the Phillips Collection of Washington, D.C.

The Venetian will create a free-standing gallery for collections from both the Guggenheim Museum of New York and the State Hermitage museum of St. Petersburg, Russia.

The Smithsonian Affiliations program is only set up with non-profit organizations. The non-profit Fannie Mae Foundation could be used locally to establish an affiliation with Smithsonian, City Hall sources said.

Thursday's town hall meeting will not be limited solely to talk of the Smithsonian.

Mark Hall-Patton, director of the Nevada Museum Association, and other museum and cultural facility representatives are expected to take part in discussions.

The city is planning to send out requests for prospective developers of a vacant 61-acre site downtown that could be home to a museum.