Heart of the arts: Smith Center the city’s ‘living room’

The opening of The Smith Center for the Performing Arts is an extraordinary benchmark for the city of Las Vegas, and not just because downtown now boasts the finest concert hall in the United States.

By now, valley residents are accustomed to seeing opulent structures rise from the desert floor at a cost of nine or 10 figures. All have been built to attract and entertain visitors.

The $470 million Smith Center, however, was built for you. And your neighbors. And your children. And their children.

This spectacular building is for us. It is the city’s long-missing hub for culture, a place where locals can gather and enjoy the talents of gifted local performers as well as world-renowned artists. It is where our youth will be exposed to a variety of music, dance and story-telling that they have never before experienced. More than just the valley’s new heart of the arts, it is, as Smith Center President and Chief Executive Officer Myron Martin says, "the city’s living room."

The center, designed by noted architect David M. Schwarz as an art-deco tribute to Hoover Dam, is so inviting it will make anyone who enters its doors want to come back.

It would not have been built without the vision, leadership and generosity of local business, arts and civic leaders. Over the past 10 years, as momentum took the idea for a revitalized downtown with a world-class performing arts center from a dream to reality, hundreds of individuals, corporations and foundations have made many millions of dollars in donations to fund The Smith Center’s construction and operations.

The city contributed the land and about $60 million in redevelopment funds. A car rental tax on tourists supports the $105 million bond that sealed the deal. We’ve seen plenty of bad uses of tax dollars and lousy public land deals over the years, but The Smith Center is the new gold standard for public-private partnerships.

Far from a gathering place for the rich, The Smith Center will keep some ticket prices low enough to allow Southern Nevadans from all walks of life to enjoy any performance that interests them. Its endowment not only guarantees Las Vegans access to the building, but ensures the center will be financially viable for generations, never at risk of being boarded up or bailed out.

The Smith Center is named for former Las Vegas Review-Journal executive Fred W. Smith and his late wife, Mary. Mr. Smith led this newspaper and its parent company, Donrey Media Group, from the 1960s into the 1990s. He went on to helm the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, which provided $150 million in support for the center — Nevada’s biggest-ever donation and the second-largest philanthropic gift to the arts in U.S. history. Mr. and Mrs. Smith donated more than $1 million themselves in leading the fundraising campaign.

The building is a fitting tribute to the Smiths. And it is a marvelous gift to Las Vegas. Unlike the many local buildings that have been imploded at a relatively young age, The Smith Center promises to get better with each passing year.

But don’t just take our word for it. Read the perspectives of those who will benefit from The Smith Center’s opening on Pages 1 and 4 of this section to better understand the significance of the hall. Or read the Review-Journal’s special section on The Smith Center, which will be published Wednesday. Then go see it for yourself.