UNLV ‘takes some risks’ with online fine arts series

UNLV College of Fine Arts Dean Nancy Uscher asks, “What can we do to serve society right now? How can we give an even more personal view than in a gallery or concert hall?”

UNLV’s answer is the new UNLV Arts Worldwide (under the hashtag #UNLVArtsWorldWide) project, which premiered at 6 p.m. Monday on the UNLV College of Fine Arts YouTube page. Each weekly episode will focus on a different area of the school’s range of work. Louis Kavouras, head of the UNLV dance department, is the series curator.

Episode 1 features the Barrick Museum’s “A Drawing a Day Keeps the Pandemic Away” social media exhibit. With exhibitions stalled at the museum, the school invited submissions on its Instagram Live page. The list has grown enough to turn those pieces into a catalog.

Uscher says of the project, “It’s evolving. It’s informal. We’ll take some risks. It’s our chance to really experiment, and figure out what is the widest range of experiences we can share.

She adds: “What our faculty and staff do every single day — as teachers, researchers, performers, architects, art-makers, creators — is critical to the health and well-being of our society.”

The project is open-ended. The art is boundless.

Those dates

Potential hotel guests and eager entertainment fans should understand the flexibility of reopening dates posted on Las Vegas resorts websites. Generally, we’ve seen Vegas hotel-casinos offer room reservations beginning May 1, with shows opening June 1.

But be educated when reviewing the calendar. Expect the dates to reset according to social distancing directives from the governor’s office and such health care agencies as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And know that the monthlong lag between the room reservations and the entertainment on-sale dates is an indication that shows will open only after guests have occupied the hotel for a few weeks. Expect a very measured process and a fluid timeline.

No claws

Sadly, “Tiger King and I,” released Sunday on Netflix, glosses over Jeff and Lauren Lowe’s legal troubles and misguided attempts to operate an exotic-animal attraction in Las Vegas. I had hoped for some fireworks ignited by host Joel McHale on this topic, but no.

Instead, Jeff Lowe said he was disappointed in how he was portrayed in the “Tiger King” series. As he stated, “They tried to sensationalize the story a little to give it a villain.” Right. They didn’t need to specify the overnight bags the couple used to tote their tiger cubs through Strip resorts were Louis Vuitton.

Dialogue de Donato

Las Vegas Philharmonic Music Director Donato Cabrera has added “MusicWise — Conversations About Art and Culture” to his on-lineup. Cabrera opens at 1 p.m. Tuesday on Facebook Live with his special guest, Austrian-Romanian pianist Maria Raduru.

The appearances are in partnership with the California Symphony in San Francisco, which Cabrera also conducts.

Each week Cabrera will explore his guest’s backgrounds and influences, while sharing favorite performances and taking select questions from the Facebook Live followers. Upcoming guests include timpanist David Herbert on April 21; composer Katherine Balch on April 28; violinist Alexi Kenney on May 5; and violist Gerhard Marschner on May 12. All of it happens on Cabrera’s fan page — it’s the one with the blue check mark next to his name.

She heats it up

Italian songstress Giada Valenti shows off her dexterity in her Facebook Live appearances: She sings, and she cooks. At the same time. It’s a magical convergence.

Valenti, who usually opens her shows with “Are we live? Yes?” is posting on Facebook again 2 p.m. Saturday (baked pasta with white ragu). And, I’m joining her at 2 p.m. Wednesday on her Instagram Live show “Giada Live,” where she promises a grilling.

‘Igniter’ drops in

Not to self-promote, but I’ll do it anyway, my Instagram Live shows from the deck of my residence downtown are at once fun and moderately informative. Sunday night, my unbilled guest was Cameron Hughes, “The Igniter,” who fires up the crowd at Vegas Golden Knights games at T-Mobile Arena.

Hughes mentioned how he’d been inspired in life by the late Terry Fox, the Canadian multisport athlete who in 1980 embarked on a cross-country run across Canada despite having had his leg amputated. Fox covered more than 3,300 miles in his quest.

I suggested to Hughes that as a tribute, we should train for a distance run.

I asked, “Have you ever run a marathon?”

He said, “Yeah, in Las Vegas.”

I asked, “The Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon?”

“No,” he said. “At T-Mobile Arena, during Knights games.”

Probably true.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His PodKats podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.