3/31/2020
Education and Outreach
With theaters and performances on hiatus across Southern Nevada, it remains just as important now as ever to keep the arts alive. Even as community members remain at home, they can still pursue a variety of art forms to boost their spirits and nurture creativity.
3/25/2020
Education and Outreach
With schools temporarily closed and families remaining home, many parents might be searching for stimulating activities to engage their children. Fortunately, opportunities abound to create and entertain at home. Many arts-related games and crafts can expand the imagination, and provide valuable quality time.
3/9/2020
Performances and Artists
Countless people know and worship the band Fleetwood Mac – but few likely remember Buckingham Nicks. That’s because this duo, comprised of guitarist-singer Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, didn’t exist long. Instead, it unexpectedly served as their stepping stone to joining Fleetwood Mac and bringing the group to international fame.
3/4/2020
Discovering The Smith Center / Supporting the Arts
When The Smith Center opened in March 2012, board member Michael Yackira knew it would make a tremendous impact across Southern Nevada. “There’s something transformational about performing arts centers like this,” Yackira says. “We have so much entertainment in the Strip, but to have a place that is for us locals, that can bring the entertainment that exists in places like Broadway for people here to take part in, it’s phenomenal.”
2/28/2020
Performances and Artists
Most Americans immediately recognize Garrison Keillor’s voice. That’s because millions listened each week to Keillor’s heartwarming stories and songs on “A Prairie Home Companion,” the acclaimed radio show he created and hosted for over 40 years. Many still feel close to the characters from his iconic, short stories of fictional town Lake Wobegon.
2/28/2020
Community Impact / Supporting the Arts
When Janice Haupt Allen attended The Smith Center's opening-night event, she shed tears of joy the entire evening. “To be a part of this unbelievably beautiful auditorium was breathtaking,” Allen remembers. As a Smith Center founder, Allen helped make the center’s opening possible with a donation of $1 million.
2/28/2020
Performances and Artists
When Bill Wade first read the children’s book “What Do You Do With an Idea?” he finished it with tears in his eyes. “I was like, ‘oh my gosh, this is my story,’” remembers Wade, founder of Inlet Dance Theatre, a nationally acclaimed contemporary dance group. “This is me starting my dance company 20 years ago.”
2/26/2020
Performances and Artists
Supremes cofounder Mary Wilson remembers that during her childhood, most African-American youths didn’t dare dream of becoming pop stars. “We had to focus on the jobs we were allowed to have,” Wilson recalls of 1960s America. But fortunately for Wilson, living in Detroit offered a rare resource: the Motown record label.
2/20/2020
Education and Outreach
Students at Del Sol Academy of the Performing Arts rarely have the chance to learn from professional dancers — let alone performers from one of America’s most acclaimed companies. Yet 80 students enjoyed this very experience in January, with a special opportunity provided through The Smith Center, a nonprofit organization.
2/19/2020
Performances and Artists
The first time De Ann Letourneau played a Stradivarius violin, its sheer volume forced her husband to cross the room away from her. “The sound is so huge and comes right at you like a bullet,” says Letourneau, concertmaster for the Las Vegas Philharmonic. “The sound fills the entire room, because it was meant to do that.”