Where I Stand — Guest Columnist: Art lives in Las Vegas

Friday, Sept. 2, 2005 | 8:37 a.m.

Editor's note: Today's guest writer for the Where I Stand column is Matthew Hileman, managing director of the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art.

LESS THAN a decade ago if you had mentioned art in Las Vegas to someone from New York or Los Angeles, the very idea would have been sniffed at with contempt. But, as the city's population boomed and tourism reached record highs with each passing year, the cultural life of Las Vegas evolved to suit the needs of this diverse city of nearly 2 million people.

Every day throughout our community the creative process is at work. There are few cities anywhere in the world today that can boast the same number of talented artists, architects, craftsmen and performers who have been flocking to Las Vegas since the late 1980s to be a part of what history will look back on as one of the greatest metropolitan overhauls since Baron Haussmann's redesign of Paris in the 1860s.

One has to look no farther than the Strip to see a creative army, nearly all of which reside in Las Vegas full-time, doing what it does best. From Cirque du Soleil and other production companies, which employ hundreds of the most talented performers, set and costume designers from around the world, to the architecture and design firms, which create the lavish hotels, nightclubs and restaurants -- each massive works of art in their own right, that are seen and talked about on national travel documentaries or in slick magazines on any given day of the week -- art is flourishing in Las Vegas.

The arts are not confined exclusively to the Strip, however, and there is a lively scene bustling just outside its borders made up of community organizations and individuals who are determined that Las Vegas and its residents should have the same cultural diversions as any American metropolitan center.

Many of these organizations were earnestly at work long before the first art galleries arrived on the Strip. In 1950 a group of artists formed the first Las Vegas Art League. Made up mostly of women artists, this determined group eventually gained museum status for the league, creating the Las Vegas Art Museum, today a Smithsonian affiliate. Nevada Ballet Theatre, originally started by a dancer from the Tropicana's Folies Bergere, is in its 33rd season and the Las Vegas Philharmonic is now in its seventh year of operation.

On any given day of the week thousands of people on the Strip will visit exhibitions of masterpieces that you would normally have to travel thousands of miles to see. These kunsthalles, although certainly not on the grand scale of the Metropolitan Museum or the Louvre, have become part of the city's identity as a cosmopolitan international destination, as well as a cultural resource for the community and one of the nation's largest school districts.

The popularity of these art spaces devoted to the masters led to the creation of the downtown Arts District, a modern-day Salon des Refuses, a place where local contemporary artists could show their work and where now once a month thousands of Las Vegas residents converge to support and encourage the growth of our artistic community. The success of these First Fridays has been such that there are spin-offs throughout the valley, and the events have proven vital not only to the artists who show there work there but also for the local businesses that reap the residual benefits of the increased traffic.

The state of the arts in this city of invention and reinvention is as lively as any other community in America. The art scene will continue to evolve and grow over time, and although there may be a few stumbling blocks along the way, you can rest assured that the arts in Las Vegas will never languish.

In a city as diverse and growing as this is, creative expression will continue to thrive in its many forms and eventually even the staunchest critics will have to recognize the enormous community of talent that calls Las Vegas home.