Columnist Susan Snyder: Building an art network is an art

Friday, Nov. 1, 2002 | 3:35 a.m.

For a costume-shop worker, ducking out early the evening before Halloween is akin to closing a Walgreen's on Christmas Eve.

But Toni Sgariata figured the future of the local arts community was more important than hawking another mask or vial of spirit gum. She was one of about 40 people who showed up for a public workshop by the Nevada Arts Council Wednesday.

"I snuck out of there early because I wanted to do this," Sgariata said during a break in the two-hour meeting at Las Vegas' Winchester Community Center.

The meeting was the last of 13 the arts council hosted across Nevada in September and October. In each one, local artists, arts promoters and residents discussed the kinds of programs and support their communities need.

The state council draws ideas from such meetings and uses them to create the agency's four-year strategic plan. The current plan expires at the end of the 2002-2003 budget year.

Money, more art in education and building better arts networks were issues raised at all of the workshops, Bobbi Ann Howell, the council's Las Vegas associate, said. But rural and urban areas do face different challenges.

"In rural communities, when you're bringing a tour group to a town, it's whether can they afford it, and where can the performers stay," Howell said. "In the urban areas you compete with a lot. How can we compete with a Texas Station? We want to provide something the casinos aren't."

Louise Stephens, the consultant running the workshops and collecting ideas, said just finding local artists can be hard.

"We know there are more traditional artists out there than we know of. They may say, 'Hi. I sew,' " Stephens said.

She divided Wednesday's participants into small groups, each of which tackled a topic regarding the Las Vegas Valley arts community.

"We want to hear every single idea you've got," she told them.

Sgariata sat with a group talking about building public awareness.

"I'd like to see more people go to the theater," she said. "I get mad when I go and see how many empty seats there are."

Quarterly meetings among those staging performances and exhibit openings and a working calendar would help avoid opening night conflicts, her group decided. They also want a website or publication directed solely at local arts.

Steven Liguori, an artist with the Boulder City Arts Council, says art is good business. The executives and the teachers we need won't move to Southern Nevada unless we have cultural activities.

"We see 2,500 people a day (at the Hoover Dam) who are looking for something other than just gambling," Liguori said.

Athena Peters, a Las Vegas painter, says artists also need affordable studio space and galleries in which to sell their work.

"I have to sell in New York or Los Angeles or Europe. I can't sell in Las Vegas," she said. "I tried to rent a place downtown. But it's very expensive."

Until locals are exposed to art, they won't buy it, Peters said. The money is here, but the appreciation is lacking.

"I got into these $300,000 homes, and they have framed posters," Peters said. "Why is that?"