more visible, increase their audience and, hopefully, make them more successful.” The relationship benefits The Smith Center, too. Both the ballet and philharmonic have large, loyal audiences. Crawford says her group has some 1,200 annual subscribers — a number that’s risen 15 to 20 percent per year during the recession. The public stands to reap the greatest rewards. There are philosophical gains, such as The Smith Center’s mission of cultivating local talent. There are psychological benefits, such as a patron’s joy at claiming a certain seat in the same theater, show after show, for his full subscription. And there’s the emotional charge of seeing fine art performed live, with music and elaborate staging, the way its creators intended. Canfield says, “It’s the relationship between art and artist and music and movement and audience. It’s live! You don’t push ‘go’ and it’s like last night. You don’t know what’s going to happen.” Most important to the community, arts officials say, the marriage between the performing
Most important to the community is how the marriage between The Smith Center and resident companies will benefit children. arts center and resident companies benefits children. The ballet and philharmonic both have educational programs that expose kids to dance and music; the facilities at The Smith Center — and the proximity of the Discovery Children’s Museum and other cultural institutions downtown — open more time and space to expand those programs. Both Crawford and Barbre are planning collaborations with the children’s museum. Abstractions aside, there are plenty of material advantages. Here’s one everyone can applaud: jobs. Mario Garcia Durham, President and CEO of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, says, “We know from the National Endowment for the Arts that Las Vegas is one of the leading employers of performing artists in the nation.” A great big new space equals more jobs for these local folks.
The philharmonic employs scores of musicians — as many as 80 per performance — and pays them union-scale wages. Crawford says her goal is to see the group become a full-time orchestra, playing up to 30 weeks a year. She admits it’s a distant goal, but the optimism marks a notable turn for an organization that, three years ago, had to cut staff (including its executive director) to weather the plight of disappearing donations. The ballet, too, saw revenue shrink during the recession, but both resident companies expect to grow now that they’re at The Smith Center. Barbre says, “We’ve moved from a 550-seat theater at (UNLV’s) Judy Bayley Theater, to the Paris Theater, which has 1,500-plus seats. We’ve been able to grow while Caesars Entertainment has hosted us, and now we’ll
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