April 6, 2009
A Gamble On Art Doesn’t Hit Jackpot

By STEVE FRIESS

Newsweek

It was always an odd combination: Sin City and serious art. A decade ago, Las Vegas was full of brio about becoming the next Miami—a cultural mecca and art-tourism destination. But with the closure of the Las Vegas Museum of Art in February, the desert hotspot is now the biggest city in the U.S. without a public art museum.

The LVMA's demise is only the most recent blow. In 2007, hotel magnate Steve Wynn converted his art gallery into a Rolex shop. Last year, the Guggenheim closed its outpost at the Venetian Hotel and Casino. "We were just wrong," says highly regarded art critic Dave Hickey, who moved to Las Vegas in the early 1990s, anticipating a cultural shift.

The LVMA had its problems. Located about 10 miles west of the Strip, it was too far for all but the most hardy tourists. The museum greeted just 12,000 visitors a year, or about 30 a day. "And that would've been a really good day," says former executive director Libby Lumpkin, who is Hickey's wife. Also, with Nevada facing the nation's highest home-foreclosure rate, donations plummeted. "It was like somebody just turned off a faucet," Lumpkin says.

Meanwhile, the city's mayor, Oscar Goodman, has shown more interest in financing his $50 million dream for a museum of organized crime. He even listed his museum as a "shovel ready" project for President Obama's stimulus package. (No dice.) "Nobody's going to come to downtown Las Vegas to look at paintings," Goodman says. "What will they look at? A mob museum! I think it's a natural."

The MGM Mirage is in the midst of a $40 million public art project, and the 10-year-old Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art has drawn 7,000 visitors per month this year. First Friday, a festival in which galleries and antique shops stay open late, draws thousands. "We're not in a tailspin here," says Michele Quinn, MGM Mirage's art-acquisitions chief. "In 10 months, it will seem like a lot is happening." Who wants to bet on it?

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