Supporters: Performing arts facility is for locals

By Ed Koch

Sunday, June 25, 2006 | 7:50 a.m.

With showrooms on the Strip, a performing arts center at UNLV and theaters at Cashman Field, community centers and libraries, does Las Vegas really need to build the Smith Center for the Performing Arts?

The center's supporters say yes because it's geared for locals and it's seen as the centerpiece of Union Park, the redevelopment plan for 61 acres of former rail yard in western downtown.

Unlike hotel showrooms that cater to tourists, the Smith Center is meant for the community, says Myron Martin, president of the Las Vegas Performing Arts Center Foundation.

"I will never put down (UNLV's) Artemus Ham Hall or any showroom on the Strip or any other venue, but they are nothing close to what the Smith Center will be - a building that you walk into and get goose bumps; a place where you will feel the electricity," Martin says.

The Smith Center wouldn't put UNLV out of the cultural arts business either, says Jeff Koep, dean of the College of Fine Arts. It will ease the crowded arts calendar at the 550-seat Judy Bayley Theatre and 1,800-seat Ham Hall. Student and community groups will still want to use those theaters, he says.

The Smith Center's proponents dream of bringing in Broadway shows and touring musicians. Even the recent failures of Broadway shows such as "Avenue Q" and "Hairspray!" at Strip showrooms don't discourage Martin.

"What we learned is what we had felt all along - that locals will support Broadway plays." he says. "We actually got a good turnout of Las Vegas residents to see 'Hairspray!'

"A Broadway play at the Smith Center will work because the center is for locals."

The shows would be priced for locals' pocketbooks, he promises. Not the $75 to $100 for a Strip or Broadway production, but the $50 to $75 that touring companies get for comparable productions in places such as San Jose, Calif., or Portland, Ore.

Las Vegas city officials back the project. A few years ago, they warned developers not to propose development on the former rail yard without including a world-class performing arts center.

"It is the centerpiece of Union Park," says Dan Van Epp, a regional president of Newland Communities who is overseeing the project. "The vision for Union Park is specific - to see that the entire 61 acres is completed in a way the citizens will use and enjoy it."

Union Park technically could be built out without the Smith Center, says Scott Adams, the city's director of business development, but he wouldn't want to try to do it.

"A performing arts center makes the 61 acres a different kind of project," he says. "It's a strong component you would see in any major U.S. city.

"The Smith Center separates us from the Strip."