City hits mark by backing performing arts center

The Las Vegas City Council has received all kinds of flak — much of it warranted — for pressing ahead with plans to build a new city hall. But there are far fewer critics of its support for the Smith Center for the Performing Arts.

On Wednesday, the council committed $170 million in funding so construction can begin on the performing arts center, possibly within the next two months.

This is great news for the long-planned Smith Center, which had managed to raise $200 million in private donations but lacked the remaining funds needed for the five-acre complex. The city’s commitment to the project also is likely to spur additional private contributions.

It’s also great news for downtown Las Vegas revitalization. The Smith Center is seen as a key piece of the Union Park development. Although the performing arts campus will cover just five acres of the 61-acre Union Park master plan, its psychological impact is far bigger. City officials call it an “anchor tenant.”

Besides becoming the home of the Las Vegas Philharmonic and Nevada Ballet Theatre and hosting traveling Broadway productions, the Smith Center aims to serve as the nucleus of local high culture. Performances of all kinds will occur in three different venues, and students will train there in a range of performance disciplines.

The Smith Center is about Las Vegas maturing into a real city, and creating and nurturing its own culture rather than importing it from elsewhere. Mayor Oscar Goodman hit the nail when he told the Review-Journal: “We’re stimulating the economy. We’re [also] stimulating our intellect in the community.”