R-JENERATION: Las Vegas’ Smith Center as much about community, education as theater, arts

It took more than a decade of dreaming, discussing, organizational structuring, fundraising and, finally, construction.

Now, The Smith Center for the Performing Arts is a reality in downtown Las Vegas, on a site once considered toxic, surplus real estate.

Don Snyder, The Smith Center's board chairman, said the center's opening is a major event in the life of the Las Vegas Valley.

"We are still a very young city by national and international standards," Snyder said. "It takes time and commitment to build a city's infrastructure, including its cultural infrastructure, which is very much about the soul of a community. I think a generation from now, people will look back at this moment in time and suggest that we truly found our soul as a community."

Smith Center president Myron Martin agreed.

"We were the largest community in North America without a performing arts center," Martin said. "We will now be on the world's cultural map."

The center also will have a place in each household in Southern Nevada, he said.

"Through our educational-outreach program, The Smith Center will allow children and families of all economic levels to celebrate their own cultures of origin, as well as places that are new to them," Martin said.

The Smith Center stands out at every level, from its world-class architecture by David M. Schwarz to the classic art of Hoover Dam in a lobby sculpture designed by Benjamin Victor. Additional art decorates walls of the hall, and other sculptures grace the adjacent Symphony Park.

Paintings of dancers, inspired by Aaron Copland's composition "Fanfare for the Common Man," connect art and music - inseparable themes at the center. Outside, the 17-story carillon tower, housing 47 hand-crafted bells, already is chiming a song to the community.

Despite its grandeur, The Smith Center has a human scale. Every area is designed as a "welcome" to each visitor, and the center has developed every program with the community in mind.

The Outreach Program will be a hands-on effort, said entertainer Clint Holmes, who will headline monthly in Cabaret Jazz.

"I will be involved in the Arts in Schools program that the center has developed in cooperation with the Kennedy Center," Holmes said. "My role is really as ambassador and spokesperson, and I really want to have other artists who will act as mentors in seminars and masters classes."

Holmes added that people in other areas, such as New York, are now aware of The Smith Center, "and that's news," he said. "New York doesn't look at Las Vegas as a city with a cultural center like the rest of the country. That can begin to change now."

Within the valley, anticipation has grown steadily. School buses are lining the driveways, and kids are packing into rooms to learn about the arts.

At the Las Vegas Academy, where The Smith Center has long been anticipated, students are looking forward to performances at the center. The new home of the Nevada Ballet Theatre, the center also will host performances from youth troupes from across the valley. The Fern Adair Conservatory of the Arts' annual "Concert Fantasy" will move to The Smith Center this summer.

"It will definitely enhance the arts for all the children and families in our community," said Christina Delessio, owner and manager of Step Up Academy of Dance in Henderson. "I will be seeing the Nevada Ballet there and lots of Broadway, too."

The opening of The Smith Center for the Performing Arts is not just about theater and dance, Martin said, but about children, families and the community.

"When I was a youngster in the fourth grade, I had an opportunity to visit the Downtown Houston Theater District on a field trip," Martin said. "What I heard and saw made a life-changing impression on me. It literally gave me goose bumps."

"My goal for The Smith Center is simple: I want to provide every child and person in our community with the opportunity to have that same goose-bump experience."