Vegas museum to make its move on 40 million tourists

Thursday, Oct. 4, 2007 | 7:30 a.m.

Somewhere between the white wine and lobster-crab appetizer, Jim Zeiter announced to gala guests that the Las Vegas Art Museum is moving.

This is big news for the city's only art museum, but few paid attention. It was a lively party. There was catching up to do, auction items to bid on and gourmet comfort food to savor.

For those who weren't listening to the board president or couldn't afford a $500 ticket to the museum's fundraiser on Sunday, here's the lowdown:

The Las Vegas Art Museum is moving from its tiny cove in a suburban library to the old All-American SportsPark on Sunset Road, near McCarran International Airport.

It delays dreams of building a new museum , but it gives the museum more room and a centralized location.

The museum occupies 27,000 square feet and has 7,000 square feet of exhibition space in the library at 9600 W. Sahara Ave. When it moves in late 2009, its overall space will triple and its exhibition space will more than quadruple. The museum board has signed a 10-year lease with the sports park owners, Ted and Doris Lee of Eureka Casinos.

The new museum will have four or five galleries, a library, a research facility, education space, an event hall, a gift shop and a restaurant. It will be able to stagger exhibits and rotate shows without having to close during the transition, and accommodate the demand for school tours and other educational opportunities.

Directors also think a more central location will draw local visitors and tourists. They plan a full-service community museum, but officials are also eager to tap into the 40 million tourists who visit Las Vegas each year.

"People on the east side of Las Vegas think of us as a Summerlin museum," Executive Director Libby Lumpkin says. "It's an $80 cab ride from the airport, round trip, including tip. We can't market here. We purposely do not market to visitors.

"Our goal is to be recognized as a significant museum by the international community. Las Vegas is a top tourist destination but bottom on the list for cultural destinations."

Lumpkin referred to the Museum of Modern Art's $2 billion economic impact on New York City from 2004 to 2007, based on a survey by Audience Research & Analysis. Anyone needs only look at Bilbao, Spain, to witness the economic impact made by the arrival of the Guggenheim. Then there is the art show Art Basel Miami Beach, which draws hundreds of thousands of visitors, books up hotel rooms and pumps dollars into Florida's economy.

"In Las Vegas obviously it wouldn't have as large of an impact since we already have a substantial number of tourists," Lumpkin says. "But we want to create cultural tourism here."

The board is quietly raising money to help pay for the remodel, but won't officially launch its capital campaign until June . The museum hasn't set a date to begin the remodel. Nothing will happen before May . Officials plan to ultimately build a museum. Representatives say leasing is more economically feasible while building the organization.

The museum's permanent collection is growing without solicitation. All but three or four of the works on display in its new exhibition, "Las Vegas Diaspora," featuring artists who studied under Dave Hickey at UNLV from 1990 to 2001, were donated .

The gala, held in conjunction with "Diaspora," raised $533,275 and drew more than 450 guests. Auction items included a day in Los Angeles looking at art with art collector and actor Dennis Hopper (final bid $8,500); a tour of James Turrell's Roden Crater project, led by the artist (final bid $35,000); and a tour of Robert Rauschenberg's New York studio, and VIP tour of the Museum of Modern Art and P.S. 1 art center (final bid $18,000).

The evening wound down with an after-dinner dessert-lounge party, but not before Hickey told the audience that one reason Las Vegas has an "excellent art community" is the university "inadvertently" hired him.

When the laughter and applause subsided, he pressed for the obligation to culture in Las Vegas "and not to artists making baskets," saying: "Excellence is to be rewarded and not ignored."

For many at the gala, that excellence can flourish from a full-service art museum. Roger Thomas, board member, art collector and designer for Steve Wynn, pleaded for museum support. "We need a full community," he said. "We need an art museum to make that community vibrant."