Oasis Conference begins today at the Historic 5th Street School...

Last nights 30th Annual Governors Arts Awards was a hugely successful event with hundreds of attendees in the audience including quite a collection of politicians who celebrate  the arts. If you did not get a chance to attend the gala there will always be next year. It was heartwarming to see such an important cross section of the community attend this event, which only demonstrates that the arts are alive and well in Nevada. I giggle when I think that there are still people out there that believe there is no culture in Las Vegas or Nevada. The thing I say to you naysayers is get out and get enculturated!

Well after months of anticipation the Oasis 2010 conference is here and a large contingency of arts professionals from all around the state has arrived in Las Vegas. I have been given the honor to put together a panel discussion that will discuss the State of Museums in Nevada in which I have dubbed Museums in the Crossroads. The panel will include a discussion about how museums are dealing with these difficult economic times, how they are reaching out to their communities to build new audiences and how they have embraced social media as a way to positively market themselves in the 21st Century.

The panelists are as follows -

• Marilyn Gillespie, Executive Director, Las Vegas Natural History Museum
• William Marion, President, Neon Museum
• Mark Hall-Patton, Administrator, Clark County Museums, President, Nevada Museums Association
• Mike Spiewak, Curator, Springs Preserve
• David Walker, Executive Director, Nevada Museum of Art

The conference will take place TODAY at the Historic 5th Street School in Downtown Las Vegas. If you just happen to be in the neighborhood please do not hesitate to say hello. Doors open at 7:30 AM. 

Stay tuned for via Facebook for photos and updated of todays artsy events and most importantly do not forget that First Friday is this evening in 18b.

For more information on the Oasis 2010 Conference please visit the Nevada Arts Council website at http://nac.nevadaculture.org/

The creative industries play a major role in building and sustaining economically vibrant communities, serve as magnets to attract businesses and their employees, and are the main reason for stimulating a marked increase in cultural tourism - 

U.S. Conference of Mayors