Arts collective gets a call from ‘home’

Friday, June 29, 2007 | 7:21 a.m.

The Contemporary Arts Collective has survived embezzlement, dwindling membership, skyrocketing membership, changing leadership, board quarrels, bad exhibits, good exhibits and exhausted volunteers.

It has been loved dearly, hated, praised, pushed and pulled.

Many have considered it the cornerstone of the arts community. Started by UNLV professors seeking alternative exhibition space for students and artists, it is the welcome wagon for new artists coming to town and provides exhibits for its members.

So when recent rumors of financial struggles and waning energy and structure circulated, along with talk of the collective moving from the Holsum Design Center to Henderson or closing its doors for good, whispers were unleashed.

Responding to the scuttlebutt, Wes Myles, owner of the Arts Factory, the longtime hub of the Arts District, invited the Contemporary Arts Collective back to its old street-front home , where many say it belongs.

With more than 700 members, the collective left its cozy nook in the Arts Factory a little over a year ago for the larger and more expensive space at the former Holsum Lofts.

Holsum developer Jeff LaPour agreed to provide the group a monthly donation during its first year as a tenant . The group signed a three-year lease, despite concern from some board members that the group couldn't afford the space and would suffer from lack of foot traffic.

"At the Arts Factory they were able to get throngs of people walking through the door . They were signing up for membership and looking at the work," former CAC President Diane Bush says. "First Friday basically saved CAC. Everybody walked through that space."

Jacie Maynard, board president, says the CAC gets plenty of traffic and new members at the Holsum Design Center on First Fridays. She says that any financial issues are a result of city permits that hampered fundraisers. She says the CAC could use some help, but that should come from artists and volunteers stepping forward or from a donation.

"If there is someone who would like to step in and write a big check, now would be a good time to do it."

Maynard says the group is serving its members by giving them exhibition space that they didn't have at the Arts Factory. The larger issue, she says, is the direction the Arts District may be taking with the proposed Project Neon Lights and the fear that CAC will leave downtown.

Henderson has invited the 18-year-old group to be part of its downtown redevelopment.

Myles, who often paid CAC's rent at the Arts Factory and wants the group back in his building, also offered to assist in exhibits, auctions and other fundraisers that would help the struggling nonprofit group get on its feet. He contends the group would be "insane" to not take his offer.

Maynard says decisions must be made by the CAC's board, advisory council and members.

The offer is so fresh that as of Thursday Maynard had yet to speak with LaPour.

"There are a lot of options," Maynard says. "Even if we have to go virtual for a while, we'd still have options. We don't need a physical space to be the CAC."

Moreover, she says, "CAC has always struggled. There is always that change, that ebb and flow with the CAC that keeps it rolling. Whether we move or we don't, we will always have financial challenges . That is never going to go away. We are making some decisions in order to prepare for what the future holds for us."

Myles says the group would be more likely to have its old synergy back at the Arts Factory.

Bush says CAC also needs to have a deeper connection with UNLV and the community college system and a leader passionate about its arts mission.

She is one of the former members Myles called to consult about the offer. Others were Tom Holder and Brian "Paco" Alvarez.

"The offer is very noble of Wes," says Alvarez, who supported the decision to move because of space issues. "He could have closed the door on CAC after we moved the organization."

CAC's former space is now home to M Modern Gallery of Palm Springs, Calif. But Myles, co-owner of M Modern in Las Vegas, says he'd put CAC back into its old space and find a new venue for M Modern.

Moving CAC to the Arts Factory at Charleston Boulevard and Main Street and involving old members and artists is critical, Myles says.

"It will bring the energy back."