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Don Snyder, chairman of the board of directors of the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, stands in front of a replica of a box of seats in his office. The center is under construction in Symphony Park.
Sunday, Dec. 27, 2009 | 2 a.m.
What's Your Vision?
Sun Coverage
If the last few years has taught us anything, it’s that we need to be better planners.
Las Vegas has to handle prosperity better because the old business model is going to change.
By 2020, the room capacity will have been absorbed and work on Echelon will have resumed. Las Vegas will continue to grow, but it won’t be rapid growth. For most of my time here, we were the fastest-growing city in the country, but that’s over. We’ll grow, but it’ll be modest growth.
Tourism is going to be challenged by the expansion of gaming worldwide. People simply won’t be traveling as much because there will be casinos in places such as Macau and Singapore and, in the United States, on tribal land. They’re catching up to us.
There’s been a lot of talk about diversifying the economy and the catalysts are in place to make that happen.
Technology is an important part of diversification and the Switch Communications Group’s high density Super NAP data center at the Beltway Business Park will be an important technology hub.
Education is key to Nevada’s future and I’m encouraged with the partnership between UNLV and the Brookings Institution and what that will mean in 10 years.
Nowhere in Las Vegas will diversification be that more apparent than downtown and I can’t say enough about how Oscar Goodman has moved that along.
Some of the game-changing catalysts downtown are the medical facilities, the jewelry center and the Smith Center for the Performing Arts.
The Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health will become more significant to the expansion of Las Vegas as a center for medical treatment and research.
The World Jewelry Center will do for that industry what the World Market Center has done for the furniture business.
One of downtown’s highlights will be the Smith Center.
I visited six world-class cities in Europe and saw 15 performance centers and some of that architecture and style inspired us and is being memorialized in our building. It will be a timeless, elegant place, something that will be with us for the next 200 years.
History tells us how important world-class facilities like these have on the culture of the city’s residents.
So it’s not just going to be a fabulous building, it’s going to change lives. Culture and the arts change lives. What’s happening here will forever change our children.
By 2020, the Smith Center will have found its stride.
All the major top-tier traveling Broadway companies that have passed us over to perform in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago will stop here. World-class dance troupes will have us on their schedules. By 2020, we’ll have the Bolshoi Ballet here.
And major philharmonic orchestras from all over the world will perform in Las Vegas because they play in all the great cities of the world and we will have become one by 2020.
Don Snyder, a Retired Boyd Gaming executive, is chairman of the Smith Center for the Performing Arts board of directors.
LV first needs to make it to 2020....
I don't think people travel to LV to see Orchestra either. If I were to see it I would travel to NY, Boston, Vienna, etc.
I go to Vegas to Gamble. If Strip joints keep being cheap by tightening slots & 6-5 BJs, where do you think people like me would go?
Vegas can come back if Vegas becomes Vegas again. Offer fair payouts on gaming , good service and comps, solid entertainment. Then Vegas can come right back. Those are what tourists like me would look for. Vegas used to offer those. Good luck and can't wait to visit in January.
Nicely said Mr. Snyder and so true. Las Vegas has not reached its true potential but we are definitely on our way and the Smith Center for the Performing Arts is just the beginning of a great journey...
I agree with Snyder and LVPaco, I have been very excited about his for a long time.
Las Vegas needs to attract more postgraduate college and university programs to serve P/T students and others seeking to advance their careers......LV desperatley needs to strenghten it's intellectual base in order to balance it's over reliance on entertainment, gambling and glitz!!!Mayor Goodman has made great strides in attracting some intereting medical and research facilities...... ,,,but more needs to be done......I have been involved in establishing such programs elsewhere and would be happy to assist here.....it will payoff...I am willing to do this pro bono!!
Smith Center is good, but to align it with World Market Center "success" means the Smith Center will be a money loser, a burden to our city.
Another false statement, if you check the facts: "The World Jewelry Center will do for that industry what the World Market Center has done for the furniture business." This means the Jewelry Center will be mediocre.
World Market Center developers fooled the city and the furniture industry. Its appearance is greater than its actual importance.
A world-class performing arts center has been a long time coming to Las Vegas. For as long as one can remember, that role has been filled by UNLV's Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall and the cultural programming offered by UNLV, so it will be interesting to see how the two work together to expand the performing arts offerings towards both ends of the spectrum.
That the Smith is coming to Symphony Park -- that Symphony Park will even exist on that parcel -- is immeasurably significant to Downtown and to Las Vegas as a whole. This is just one piece of the major socio-cultural maturation Las Vegas will experience as Downtown transforms. Thank you to everyone involved in making this a reality.
My only hope is that normal working folks can afford to enjoy everything the arts center has to offer. My experience in other cities is that it ends up being a social club for the rich with the middle class squeezed out with pricing that doesn't put it within reach.
Also i do not believe that the performing arts center will draw anyone to come to las vegas. The center is for the people of las vegas. not the tourists.
What do all "world-class" cities have in common? They have an educated workforce that earns enough money to enjoy some of life's "extras" such as concerts, shows, gambling, fine dining, etc. LV certainly does not have the reputation of a "world-class" city, in fact, it's quite the opposite. It will take alot of fundamental changes before that reputation will improve. Personally, as a newer NLV resident, I like living here. Not many cities have the variety of social/recreational opportunities like LV does. We just need to upgrade many areas such as education, cultural events, major sports and medical facilities to complete with other major cities.