Passionate about art education

By Kristen Peterson

Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Name: Candy Schneider, director of education and outreach for the Smith Center for the Performing Arts.

Age: 57

Education: Bachelor’s degree in education with a minor in art, Arizona State University; master’s degree in education administration, National University (San Diego).

The programs: Before joining the Smith Center three years ago Schneider spent 31 years connecting youth with the arts in the Clark County School District, first as an art teacher at Woodbury Junior High, then at Cashman Middle School before becoming an administrator in visual arts curriculum development, where she helped establish a districtwide elementary art program.

As assistant director in the School-Community Partnership Program, she bridged the School District and local and national arts organizations, introducing thousands of elementary school students to the Las Vegas Philharmonic and to Kennedy Center touring productions.

She serves on various boards and committees, including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ Partners in Education program, Las Vegas Arts Commission, Lied Discovery Children’s Museum, Nevada Alliance for Arts Education and Nevada School of the Arts. In 2007 she was awarded the Nevada Art Educator of the Year Award by the National Art Education Association.

How it happened: “I wanted to be like my seventh grade teacher. She had a wonderful, sensitive personality and related to kids in a way that other teachers did not.”

Smith Center: Though not yet built, the Smith Center has been bringing programs to youth for a few years. It’s partnering with the Kennedy Center’s Partners in Education and last year sponsored Ailey II workshops, master classes in dance.

This month the Smith Center launches its Southern Nevada Wolf Trap Early Learning Through the Arts program, which places resident artists in preschool classrooms. Artists, working with educators, use drama, music and movement to engage students in the learning and development process.

Seeing kids at concerts: “There is the sheer joy of unloading buses and listening to the kids (at concerts the Las Vegas Philharmonic puts on just for them). Some of them haven’t been out of their neighborhoods. Some of them have never been on a field trip. They get off the bus, see that sculpture, that architecture and then that sea of upholstered seats — it’s just tremendous. The lights go out and they see things on stage that they haven’t seen before. They didn’t know where music came from. They’re so excited. They’re energized. They’re learning.”

Getting to Vegas: Schneider came to Las Vegas when she was 6 months old, moving here from Miami Beach, Fla., with her family. Her father was an executive in the gaming industry in Havana before Fidel Castro took over. He brought the family here as Vegas began to boom. Schneider grew up in a midcentury modern home on the Desert Inn golf course.

Arts in Las Vegas: “We have a ton of arts, a wealth of it. But you have to go and find it. The Philharmonic is not going to send a van to your front door. Every organization is doing everything they can to reach the community, but it’s up to the residents to engage.”

Arts education: “The arts are part of basic education. They develop the whole child. Arts reach into literary skills, social development, confidence, imagination, creativity and problem solving. Those are all skills being sought in the global market.”

On Las Vegas’ being a young city: “I sat on the NEA board reviewing grants, looking at fantastic things in other communities that were 100 years old. That’s not who we are. We are very young as a city. We just had our centennial. We have the chance to grow and build. When you compare the artistry and passion to programs in other communities, that tends to be equal. There is a commitment of boards, organizations and artists. Ours is no different. It’s just a matter of how long we’ve been at it.”

Other interests: Knitting, enjoying her husband’s gourmet cooking. She never misses a UNLV men’s basketball game. She and her husband, Nevada State Sen. Mike Schneider, have season tickets.

Sticking around? “What kind of a question is that? (laughs) This is who I am. Las Vegas is it. My family is here. I can’t think of a more exciting place to be.”