Unveiling Opera: Harmonizing Community and Creativity in Las Vegas

In this captivating episode of City of Dreams: Unveiled, we sit down with Ginger Land-van Buuren from Vegas City Opera and Dina Emerson, a former Cirque du Soleil performer, to explore the vibrant pulse of opera and performance art in Las Vegas. Ginger sheds light on how Vegas City Opera enriches the local arts scene through innovative productions and community engagement, while Dina shares her journey from the dazzling stages of Cirque to her current artistic endeavors. Together, they discuss the transformative power of opera and performance art in building community and fostering cultural growth in the heart of Las Vegas. Tune in to uncover the dynamic interplay between traditional opera and modern theatrical expressions right here in the City of Dreams.

Creators & Guests

Host

Jeff Lund

Jeff Lund is a seasoned professional with a multifaceted 20+ year career in the entertainment industry including iconic entities like Cirque du Soleil, Spiegelworld and Meow Wolf, where he has consistently demonstrated his expertise in fostering innovative ideas and driving significant business growth across the entertainment industry. With a keen eye for emerging market trends and a deep understanding of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, Jeff has effectively leveraged his skills to mentor and guide aspiring Entrepreneurs, Artists, and Creatives towards realizing their full potential. In his latest endeavor, Jeff has embraced the world of broadcasting as the host of KUNV 91.5 radio show, City of Dreams: Unveiled. This platform is a testament to his commitment to giving a voice to Creatives, Entrepreneurs, and Artists, allowing them to showcase their dreams and stories. Through this initiative, Jeff aims to inspire listeners by bringing to light the journeys, failures, challenges, and successes of today's visionaries, thereby fostering a community of like-minded individuals who are driven to make a positive difference in the world while creating more art.

Guest

Dina Emerson

Dina Emerson, mezzo-soprano and actor, has been living in Las Vegas for over 20 years. She first came to replace the lead singer at O by Cirque du Soleil and subsequently moved to Mystère by Cirque du Soleil where she sang over 5,000 shows. Since leaving Mystère in 2017, Dina has appeared in plays, operas and concerts around the Las Vegas valley as well as in NYC and the SF Bay Area. Before coming to Las Vegas, she lived in New York and was sought after for her ability to be a “vocal chameleon”. She toured the world with MacArthur award winning Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble and many other projects. She is also a vocal coach specializing in acting & staging lessons for singers.

Guest

Ginger Land-van Buuren

Before moving to Las Vegas from New York City Ginger was a Portland Opera Resident Artist. While in NYC Ginger was well received by The New York Times and Opera News in the New York debut of An Incomplete Education, with The Bronx Opera, in which she sang the lead role of Gontron le Comte. In her professional operatic career Ginger performed with Palm Beach Opera, Dicapo Opera Theater, Pacific Opera, Opera In The Heights, Natchez Opera Festival, Portland Opera, Opera Astoria and the National Lyric Opera, singing the roles of Queen of the Night, Lucia di Lammermoor, Donna Anna, Madame Goldentrill, Constanza, Gilda, Cunegonda, Miss Wordsworth, Violetta, Musetta, Lady with a Hand Mirror, and Nella among others. Ginger also performs in concert across the country with her TechnOpera band OperaRisque’. Ginger is also a member of Actor's Equity and has performed as Irene Molloy in Hello Dolly, Madame de le Grande Bouche (The Wardrobe) in Beauty and the Beast, Ellie Mae in Showboat, Lucy in The Telephone, Nellie Forbush in South Pacific, Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, Carrie Pipperidge in Carousel , Velma in Chicago, Rose Murrant in Street Scene, and Clara in Passion. As a member of SAG Ginger can be found on the big screen in the movie, Find Me Guilty, starring Vin Diesel and in the award winning short film Cold Dark Night Of Brilliance, in the role of the “Angel of Mercy” in which she performed and recorded the title track and is also the voice the “Laughing Opera Singer” in the Fandango commercials in theaters nationwide. After relocating to Las Vegas with her husband Christiaan, Ginger co-founded Vegas City Opera with Skip Galla Katipunan, and continues to perform with the company. Ginger feels very lucky to have found an amazing group of talented people to work with and call friends here at Vegas City Opera.

What is City of Dreams: Unveiled?

City of Dreams: Unveiled delves deep into the pulsating heart of Las Vegas creativity. Each month, I'll take the listeners on a journey through the vibrant, often untold stories of artists and creatives from various fields, all united by their passion and drive. The show is anchored in raw, unfiltered conversations that aims to unveil the real essence of what it means to be a creative soul in today’s dynamic city - Las Vegas. We're not just talking about the end product - it's about the process, the struggles, the eureka moments, and everything in between.

Unknown Speaker 0:00
This is a Kun V studios original program.

Unknown Speaker 0:03
The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada Las Vegas or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education. Good morning, dreamers and creators, you're tuned into the City of Dreams unveiled your monthly deep dive into the pulsing heart of Las Vegas's art and entertainment scene. I'm your host, Jeff Lund, here to peel back the layers of creativity and inspiration that fuel our city's most innovative minds. You

Unknown Speaker 0:43
Good morning listeners on our next episode of City of Dreams, I'm super excited to welcome Dr Laura Hinkel, a distinguished curator, art consultant and the driving force behind transformative art exhibitions and cultural projects here in Las Vegas. Welcome Laura. Hi.

Unknown Speaker 0:59
Thank you for having me

Unknown Speaker 1:01
absolutely How are you today?

Unknown Speaker 1:02
I'm wonderful. Thank you and yourself.

Unknown Speaker 1:04
I'm great. Let's get started. So first of all, Where are you originally from?

Unknown Speaker 1:09
I'm originally from Dallas, Texas, okay, that's where I grew up.

Unknown Speaker 1:13
Okay? And have you always had a passion for arts and culture?

Unknown Speaker 1:18
I have one thing about my growing up, I spent every summer in Miami, so it was just very much a different culture, and it was a culture that was very diverse, and it really opened my eyes to a lot. Also went to Europe quite a bit with my family, and was exposed to a lot of art there as well. So it's always been something that has intrigued me. So

Unknown Speaker 1:42
you've got a family of art and culture support growing up, yes, and then so you finish high school. What's your college look like?

Unknown Speaker 1:51
My college? Well, I didn't want to go to college right away. I actually moved full time to Miami, okay? And it was really when Miami was gentrifying. It was really becoming South Beach, and it was just a lot of fun. It was a playground. And I really didn't get serious with my education until my late 20s, okay, and then I just went full force.

Unknown Speaker 2:12
And where did you go, or where, what school did you attend? Well, originally it was

Unknown Speaker 2:15
Miami, Dade. I started there, and then I went on to California, to John F Kennedy University, okay, and then from there, I went to a private institution in San Francisco called the Institute for the advanced study of human sexuality, because I was actually going to be a therapist,

Unknown Speaker 2:31
okay, but art is a type of therapy, so I can see the crossover is

Unknown Speaker 2:35
because when I was in graduate school, I was introduced to 25 warehouses of art and ephemera, and that basically became art education through, excuse me, education through art. Okay? And that's pretty much how I got my start. And doors open that way. Yep,

Unknown Speaker 2:51
I think there's a lot with art therapy that we can unpack in a little bit, a little bit later on the show. Sure. So you What did you graduate with,

Unknown Speaker 3:01
I have a doctorate in human sexuality and a PhD in erotic art eratology, okay?

Unknown Speaker 3:05
And what did you plan to do with that right away? Sure.

Unknown Speaker 3:10
Well, originally I was going to be a sex therapist, okay? And and then the art just came into my life, and then my disser dissertation became creating the erotic Heritage Museum. So I actually designed the space, traveled the world, meeting collectors, making alliances with other organizations, and really put together 17,000 square feet of permanent exhibitions and 7000 square feet of temporary exhibitions that changed every six months. Okay,

Unknown Speaker 3:38
here in town in Las Vegas. Okay, so you're one of the original founders.

Unknown Speaker 3:44
I wouldn't say that. There's been many people before me, and I've stood on their shoulders, but I came to Las Vegas in 2007 Okay?

Unknown Speaker 3:52
And you came from San Francisco. I did okay. And what drew you to Vegas to leave the Bay Area up there? You know, it

Unknown Speaker 3:59
was really interesting, because I was living on my sailboat in Sausalito. It was pretty much a lovely, charmed life, not

Unknown Speaker 4:05
a bad life. But

Unknown Speaker 4:06
for my dissertation, had the choice of having the Museum in New Orleans or Las Vegas. And I chose Las Vegas. Why? Well, Sin City, you know, I just thought that was a natural, you know, segue, little did I know that sin city is not necessarily sin city. It's it's actually rather conservative, sure, but I was able to make it work. Okay, yeah,

Unknown Speaker 4:30
so you moved here, you opened that up. What's the next part of your story?

Unknown Speaker 4:33
Next part of my story is then I opened up Sin City Gallery in the arts district. I had that gallery for nine years, and it was wonderful putting on monthly exhibitions. Two years into it, I really wanted to market the gallery a little bit more to have a broader reach take advantage of my travels around the world. So the gallery space was actually very small. It was only 250 square feet, so I needed to make sure that the artwork was small so I could get. Much art into the space, I created a juried art show called 12 inches of sin. It was just so much art you could barely fit it all in, right and fun with the double entendres. And that went on to become such a huge success, I attracted artists from 27 countries, eventually activated a space of 42,000 square feet with performance art, visual art, yeah, it was pretty amazing. It was the I took over New Orleans Square and the commercial center, okay? And when I first started doing 12 there, that it was 10% occupied. Three years later, it became 90% occupied with creatives, so I could no longer do the exhibition there, but it was really great to see how art can really transform space and build community. Sure,

Unknown Speaker 5:49
sure. So open this gallery. How many years did you have that?

Unknown Speaker 5:52
Well, the gallery

Unknown Speaker 5:54
I had for nine years, okay. And then transitioned to then I transitioned

Unknown Speaker 5:58
well, because everyone was kind of asking me how I did Sin City and how I did 12 and artists and other cultural organizations started to ask me, How do you do this? How do you do that, that I created art culture PR, and basically I began supporting people and organizations to launch their brands, do projects, manage projects, and that was great. And during that time, too, I was hired to streamline Art Museum in San Francisco. So I had Sin City Gallery, I had 12 I had art culture PR, and I had the International Art Museum of America, where I streamlined that organization. I was hired for a year while they were looking for a director who could speak Mandarin and Cantonese, all right, yeah, but that was fun. It was a million over budget, and within a year I was able to get it within budget, excellent. Yeah, it was, it was a fun, fun experience. Yep,

Unknown Speaker 6:51
so you're a juggler of sorts, and so now your your firm, that's what your main focus is on. Now my

Unknown Speaker 6:58
main focus is 12. I'm, actually kind of in another phase where I'm ready to expand even more. I really feel that I have taken 12 where it can go. I mean, I always have 12, but I want to do something more. I really want to lend my expertise and knowledge to an organization that has a far greater reach and really community centric, so I'm open to possibilities, although I still have some clients for art, culture, PR, I am starting to put it out into the universe for something new, right?

Unknown Speaker 7:28
And talk to me more about more like, what does that more look like?

Unknown Speaker 7:32
More is basically, I, you know, I've, pretty much have been a one man show, so to speak, where I've hired teams, up to 40 people, contractors, you know, across different industries and continents. And it's always been me kind of being facilitating, putting it all together. I really welcome a team now, you know, I want to be part of the mix. I don't necessarily need to wear all the hats, and I kind of want to focus on one thing, maybe, sure, yeah, but we'll see. And when

Unknown Speaker 8:03
you have a team, I mean, creativity just flows from all different areas. The synergy is wonderful, yeah, yeah. And who knows what you can discover, yeah, you know,

Unknown Speaker 8:13
I'm a person who believes in humble leadership. It's really empowering the people around you, yeah? And that's really where magic happens

Unknown Speaker 8:21
in what ways do you believe the arts can enhance community engagement and like social dialog here in Las Vegas?

Unknown Speaker 8:29
Well, I think art is just a safe place where people can explore. They can see if that it's a safe place to talk about things that may not be necessarily easily to converse with. I believe that whether it's political, whether it's personal, you know, in a social context, art is just a platform where you can get it out and allow people to receive it however they wish to receive. It's not necessary. You may be proving a point as an artist, but you may not be but someone may interpret something in some way. And I think that's the most powerful aspect of art,

Unknown Speaker 9:11
yeah. And I think it just goes from many different levels, you know, superficial to, like, very deep, moving, emotional. You know that it's amazing how you can impact people with your art. It is,

Unknown Speaker 9:24
and it's interesting too, because right now I have, I have two clients. One one project is the cliff segerbloom Legacy Project. And Cliff segerbloom was a photographer who actually documented the Hoover Dam when it was being built, he actually founded the photography department at UNLV. He was really a painter at heart, so he loved to go out into the state and just paint the landscape, paint small communities, even then, in the 40s and 50s, he felt that. The landscape, the people, the places were disappearing because people were starting to come to Nevada, you know? And then I'm working with another client, who is will Roger. He just did a book called Habitat annihilation. It's him wanting to say, hey, let's stop using the word climate change. Let's talk about Habitat annihilation, you know. And again, how do we preserve? How do we protect? And this is all through art. Again, it's all you know, art and environment. It's amazing. It's it's almost like an age old tale that will never go away and always stay fresh. But to document and to educate and to learn from and grow from is, is again, pretty, pretty wonderful. Interesting.

Unknown Speaker 10:43
Since 2007 when you moved here, what has the the arts and cultural like landscape changed to now 2014

Unknown Speaker 10:54
really interesting. Since I've been here, there's already, already been two waves of things about to happen. Okay, you know, even an art museum twice. There's been talk about having an art museum coming to fruition. Here we are at the third stage, and I actually think it's going to happen this time. Which is, I agree, which is spectacular,

Unknown Speaker 11:15
thanks to some very, very good people in town. Let's put it there,

Unknown Speaker 11:20
good people. And it's really interesting, because ever since I came to town, I have always heard people say, Elaine Wynn. Yes, Elaine Wynn. And here Elaine Wynn is actually doing it, which is great. And she's got a great team around her with Heather Harmon and Roger Thomas, and we need

Unknown Speaker 11:35
to have Heather on the show one day. Oh yeah, she would be spectacular. Yes.

Unknown Speaker 11:39
So you know, it's we have such incredibly rich artist community here, because we're also attracting talent from all over the world, and they also need a place to release and do their creative Mojo. So you know, whether it's performance art, visual art, so forth. This is just a rich depository of resources that's just untapped, and I just am really excited to see more of what's going to come to be Yep, and

Unknown Speaker 12:08
that's where I think you played into an important part in bringing more visibility to the arts and culture. Because we know Vegas is known for, you know, Cirque du Soleil, all the entertainment offerings, and then you've got sports like that is taking over the city. But I still feel there's like a momentum of now we've grown up, and now we're coming into our own arts and cultural, you know, Mecca, like we should be on the same stage as New York and LA and Chicago. We're not there yet, but we have the capability to do that. We do

Unknown Speaker 12:40
have the capability to do that. The thing is, Vegas is also a very young town. I mean 1900s I mean very young compared to New York and Chicago and and other places. And I think we need to take advantage of our youth in the sense of, you have these incredible art museums around the world, and you have these also incredible music venues and performance art venues. I think Vegas really needs to find its niche in that regard that makes it different than any other place, and I think we're discovering what that is. And to me, that is very exciting, because we're a town of reinvention. Of course, no, no other town can really say that, no, and and that's what makes it exciting. But how do we make that permanent? And how do we, how do we take advantage of that nuance?

Unknown Speaker 13:31
For sure, let's talk about public art. How important is public art to the identity of Las Vegas, and what do you see your role in playing in the city's future with that. Because I know we've discussed a public art project in the past, and you've got some great ideas. We've

Unknown Speaker 13:50
come up with a couple of good ones. Yes, I think public art is exciting. I think we need more of it, and I think we're starting to see more of it. I think I would like to see more massive pieces here in Las Vegas, because we're such larger than life the town itself, yes. And you know, you've got big rig jig by Mike Ross which is at downtown Ferguson's, which is pretty wonderful. You've got bliss by Michael Cole crane at Park, which is, again, another huge, massive one. I think we need more pieces like that. I'm not saying necessarily they need to be money Burning Man pieces, but I think we need bigger pieces like that. I love the fact that one thing that life is beautiful did was bring in the mural project. And I've done a few murals in town as well, which is really fun and exciting. And again, murals are not supposed to stay around forever. They're supposed to change and evolve, evolve, which is, again, I think, really in line with our community. So I think we need more public art. I'm really excited. We now have Jennifer cleven, who. Is now the Director of Cultural Affairs for the city of Las Vegas. She's homegrown, native, yes, so I think it's really exciting to have her at the helm of the cultural arts, to really tap in to what is already here and expand upon that and really make it exciting. Yeah, and

Unknown Speaker 15:17
she came from the Neon Museum she did, which she did amazing things over there with Aaron, the executive director. So she's another one that we need to get on the show and just talk about art for the city, sure. And

Unknown Speaker 15:29
even Aaron, what Aaron's about to do for the Neon Museum is spectacular. Aaron's

Unknown Speaker 15:33
got a box full of ideas and tricks, and yeah, he's he's amazing as well, and really promoting the cities, arts and culture for sure, and

Unknown Speaker 15:42
history, which is, yeah, a celebration of our history for sure.

Unknown Speaker 15:47
Yeah, you mentioned Burning Man. Have you ever been I have quite a few times, okay, first time when

Unknown Speaker 15:56
2000 okay, it's been a long time.

Unknown Speaker 15:59
So I've done very early stages, yeah,

Unknown Speaker 16:01
very early stages. Not, not when it was the cacophony society and it was, you know, anything goes. I've heard stories, yeah,

Unknown Speaker 16:08
talk to me about that experience. So someone who's never been maybe a little bit curious, what would they experience? You

Unknown Speaker 16:17
know, it takes about two days to really acclimate to Black Rock City. Black Rock City is amazing. It is the third largest city in the state for two weeks out of the year. It is built upon a lake bed that half the year, it's actually late, and the other half, I mean, you can kayak on it, or

Unknown Speaker 16:36
if it rains, then it's a mud pit. It's

Unknown Speaker 16:37
like last year, yeah, exactly. But it truly is a city with all the infrastructure. It's it's a it's a harsh environment to where you really need to go prepared. But once you acclimate those two days and you start to get into the groove, it's pretty much like the world is your oyster. Anything you want to manifest, really can manifest there. There's a saying that the playa provides, and it truly does, even if you run out of provisions, you're not going to be really out of provisions. There's 60,000 people, right? You know, you're going to be well taken care of. It's a city that's 24/7 usually people get a little quiet around 6am okay? But no, it's for me. I go there for the art. I it's, it's awe inspiring, because you have people from all over the world creating these massive pieces, bringing it out to one of the harshest environment, building. And you just not like you can run to the store get supplies. I mean, you have to really plan this out, and then, you know, take it apart and leave no trace. You know, it's, it's, it's mind boggling. I've seen some incredible pieces from South Africa. I've seen things from Spain, Japan. I mean, everywhere. It's just mind blowing. Yep,

Unknown Speaker 17:56
talk to me about one of the local artists that had a piece up there this year.

Unknown Speaker 18:02
Yes, Louis Rico, he had this incredible piece. I believe it was called peso NATO. Okay, I may be getting this wrong. I'm so sorry if I am, but it's basically, I think, zero gravity, what it translates to. And again, I could be butchering that as well. It was this beautiful skull, suspended skull. It was 2200 pounds of metal, and it was an homage to his Mexican heritage. And it was just breathtaking. Didn't matter what time you went to go visit this thing, day or night, because you know one thing, what's magical about Black Rock City, depending on the position of the sun and how the light reflects the art is also it can take your breath away, right? And his piece was pretty spectacular. I think you saw the piece, what it was being built, right? Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 18:54
He did a little preview up at his studio in North Las Vegas about maybe it was three weeks before Burning Man, before he had to pack it up and ship it up there. And so there's a small group of us, and, yeah, I got to preview it there. And it was nice, very cool.

Unknown Speaker 19:09
I want that piece. I just don't know where to put it, yeah, but people can go, I don't know for how long it is, but it's currently on exhibition at Nua art, okay, at fawn Douglas's. He's having a solo show, so the piece is actually there now. Okay, so,

Unknown Speaker 19:23
oh gosh, fawn too. We need to get her. You're listing all these people that we need to have on here today.

Unknown Speaker 19:29
There's a bunch of wonderful innovators and facilitators that truly share a common goal of celebrating the Arts in the City.

Unknown Speaker 19:38
Yep, for sure, and you've been around long enough, so you pretty much know everybody in the city, I pretty, pretty much do, unless they just moved here last week. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 19:47
you know, it's really interesting. You know, again, having lived in Sausalito, it was only one mile long, yes, and that was one degree of separation. And somehow, here we are in a city of over 2 million and it seems like it's. Less than one degree of separation. I know, I don't know how that works, but it's pretty something. Yep.

Unknown Speaker 20:05
Can we move on and talk about a cultural project that you're maybe working on right now that could impact the local art scene? Well, that you're willing to share? That's not top secret? Yeah, I've

Unknown Speaker 20:20
got one that's little top secret right now. Yeah, yeah, but, but again, I'll go back to the cliff Seeger. Seeger bloom, Legacy Project. He died several years ago, but the family has a majority of his portfolio. So I'm actually working with the Nevada State Museum, Nevada Museum of Art and UNLV special collections to see where the art the ephemera can go for preservation at the same time, kind of doing a call for people who may have a piece of art by Cliff Sager bloom, so we can actually start documenting it, sure, and just kind of putting a portfolio together of all his work because he was so prolific. Yep, yep.

Unknown Speaker 21:07
So your career sounds very fluid, easy. It flowed from one thing to the other. Certainly, you've had some challenges over the years. What would be one or two of those for listeners who are like, I'm inspired to do what you do, but what would be a challenge or two that they might encounter, and how did you get over it?

Unknown Speaker 21:29
I'm going to bring up a controversial one. All right, a controversial one. When I had Sin City Gallery inside the arts factory, the owner at the time, Wes miles, wanted to do a show with John Wayne gacy's artwork. And I, I was a bit stunned by that. And I basically, you know, shared with him that he really needed to have a educational component, or a component where people could express their feelings about the art, you know, because it he wasn't a nice guy, and so Wes was basically okay, you put that together, because he was handling the art, the art sales. I basically brought in the foremost therapy, art therapist specializing in Prisoner art, from Florida State. I brought in another professor from Northwestern University who was the leading criminologist in the country. I brought in gacy's former attorneys, and basically created panels of people to talk and giving people the opportunity to talk about what this was about at the time, even though I was just putting on the educational component and really wanting to look out for the community, a lot of people basically were saying that I was single handedly destroying the arts district, that how could I bring this art somehow another your name got attached to it. My name got attached to it, in a way that I was the one that organized the entire show when I was actually trying to create an outlet for people to be able to express right? It was very interesting. It was the first time that I had been involved in something so controversial and so charged, because I actually did have, I had some of the pieces in my gallery, which I found very disturbing. I had a priest, a rabbi, a Buddh monk even come in and bless my space, because it was just weird, but I would have people walk by my gallery cursing at me, or I would have people come by in my gallery and just start having confessionals about experiences that they had that were very traumatic. And so I was also able to get in touch with organizations, to get people in touch, to get help. Sure, it was a very interesting time and again, one of those controversial times, but I did what was authentic to me and what I felt was right, and just carried on. But that was a that was a little bit of a tricky one. Yeah, especially

Unknown Speaker 23:57
in Las Vegas, it's such a small town that, you know, you work hard to make a name for yourself and all of that, and then all of a sudden, you know, it's a pivotal time, and now you're looked at as, you know, maybe not so great, yeah, and to work through that. So yeah, the

Unknown Speaker 24:13
professor from Florida State actually wrote a piece in Psychology Today about the whole aspect of how the community here in Las Vegas reacted, wow, yeah, it was interesting. Yeah, maybe that was too much. No,

Unknown Speaker 24:25
not at all, not at all, because I think that's what you know all of us in our careers, you know what I mean, there can be those challenges. And I love how you said, just be authentic. And that is kind of what carried you through it

Unknown Speaker 24:41
again. I always go back to education through art and it being a catalyst to be able to support people and to get through something difficult or to celebrate something wonderful.

Unknown Speaker 24:53
Yeah, yeah. What's your vision for growth in the art scene in Las Vegas?

Unknown Speaker 24:58
I would. Like to see artists being able to thrive, to have studios to create and sell their work. The Arts District, to me, really, is not so much an arts district anymore. It's it's gentrified, yes, and that tends to be what happens the arts comes in and makes things fun and popular, and then they're pushed out to have a real, true Arts District. It's really a real estate deal. You really do need to have a patron to come in and lock in the land and and really provide space for artists. I would like to see somehow another our city officials to come up with something clever so maybe to attract a patron that would actually engage with something in that direction, to support a true Arts District,

Unknown Speaker 25:55
for sure. And that's what I was going to say. What changes of developments would you like to see in the coming years. And it sounds like real estate, real estate to allow for those young artists, those hungry artists, the opportunity to really do their art and let it be seen. Because I do hear over and over again, like the arts district that is, it's just moving, and it's trying to find its new location. Is it the commercial center? Is it not? So that's very interesting.

Unknown Speaker 26:22
And, you know, it's funny, I look at Koreatown, okay, yeah, there's a lot of big vacant mall like spaces there that also looks rather intriguing. Yeah, it needs to be something large that can support a diverse community of artists.

Unknown Speaker 26:36
Yep, because we do have a great diverse group here. So much

Unknown Speaker 26:41
talent. Yeah, yeah. And it's interesting that they use Las Vegas as a base in inspiration and take that to the rest of the world. So in many respects, there are ambassadors.

Unknown Speaker 26:50
Yeah, for sure. One last piece of advice, if I'm a young listener, maybe I'm not that young, but I'm just curious, interested in getting more involved in the art scene, the community, like, where's a good place to start? Show

Unknown Speaker 27:05
up, wherever you feel comfortable.

Unknown Speaker 27:07
Okay.

Unknown Speaker 27:08
Show up. Yep, get engaged. Yep. See what you like. See what you don't like. One thing that's wonderful also about Las Vegas, and I can say that even about for myself, it because we're so young. It's almost like the Wild West. You can create anything here. You can build anything here. You just need to have the drive, the passion, and you know, you have to be wise about it, because obviously money is involved. But there's a way that you can do it and you can be successful. Two artists that I will, well, three artists, actually, I will say, pretty done. He started, yeah, he started off, you know, First Friday, doing this and that, and he's just grown into his own art space. Another artist, I would say, is Isaac of recycled propaganda. Yes, he's another one that just, you know, every first Friday for years and years and years. And then he ended up getting his own gallery, and he's doing really well, even Derrick Douglas snipped he's just also doing amazing things. You usually can see his murals all over town as well. Again, these are people that just started doing things that they love to do, and showed up and just were passionate about it and kept at it.

Unknown Speaker 28:21
Yeah, that's one thing I love about this show. Like there's even entrepreneurs, you know what? I mean, like Amina, Abdul Jalil, the shoe designer, and it's so like, Vegas is so small that you can really make a name for yourself and have a global audience as well. So I think that's great. Thank you for being on the show today.

Unknown Speaker 28:42
Thank you for having me. It's

Unknown Speaker 28:44
my pleasure. Thank you for tuning in to sin. City of Dreams. Don't forget to join us on our next episode, where we'll continue to explore the vibrant tapestry of arts and innovators shaping our community. I'm Jeff Lund. Reminding you to support and engage with your local artists. Keep the spirit of creativity alive in our city Until next time, stay inspired and keep dreaming big music.

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