Smith Center & Children's Museum Celebrate the Spirit of Collaboration...
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| Myron Martin, President and CEO of the Smith Center for the Performing Arts speaks as Las Vegas Mayor Oscar B. Goodman listens |
After years of anticipation and speculation the rumors can finally be laid to rest. The Lied Discovery Children's Museum is moving. The museum has teamed up with the Smith Center for the Performing Arts to build a brand new museum located at the Smith Center complex in Symphony Park. The partnership will create a synergy that will only add to the dynamic nature of what is happening Downtown. With a new City Hall, Transportation Center, the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Brain Institute, World Market Center and so many more projects, Downtown is poised to be the economic driving engine of this community for years to come.
Projects and collaborations like these are changing Las Vegas in ways that could not have been imagined years ago. We are very fortunate to have visionaries that look beyond today and see the potential that this city in the desert has. Las Vegas is growing despite our economic challenges and the time is now to seize the moment and be part of the wonderful things that are happening. I wish the Children's Museum and all those involved the best for your opening date in 2012 is only around the corner.
Below is the news release that was sent to me Brock Radke from the museum. I am posting it in its entirety because it is full of great facts about the museum and all the partners invloved.
Enjoy!
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Children’s museum to join The Smith Center in Symphony Park Gift to The Smith Center for the Performing Arts will complete city’s block-sized arts and education complex in the heart of Downtown Las Vegas
The completion of the downtown cultural arts and education block is made possible due to an unrestricted gift of $56 million from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation to The Smith Center.
When it opens in the fall of 2012 – shortly after The Smith Center’s grand opening in the spring of that year – the nonprofit museum will change its name to Discovery Children’s Museum. The building will be named the Donald W. Reynolds Discovery Center.
“This gift gave us a remarkable opportunity to build on the creative foundation already underway at The Smith Center,” said Myron Martin, President & CEO of The Smith Center. “We searched for the perfect addition to complete our arts and education complex and we are thrilled to bring this wonderful new project to the families in our community. The Discovery Children’s Museum further enhances our educational mission, and creates great synergies for our cultural block.”
The Smith Center will use the bulk of the grant, $43 million, to construct the future home of the Discovery Children’s Museum, a 58,000-square-foot building, complete the building’s interiors and outfit its exhibit halls with entirely new interactive exhibits. The balance of the grant will be used to construct a parking garage on the site and provide for long-term maintenance for the new buildings.
“In recent years, our board has been exploring the possibility of relocating the museum from its current location to allow for expansion and growth,” museum Executive Director Linda Quinn said.
“Symphony Park provides the ideal synergy between cultural partners while furthering our plans to create a premier children’s museum experience for the Las Vegas community,” Quinn said. “The new Discovery Children’s Museum will build upon the great foundation from its past 20 years and create an experience that is fun and engaging, while remaining relevant to the world in which children grow up, today as well as in the next 20 years.”
Donald W. Reynolds Foundation Chairman Fred W. Smith said he is more than supportive of the plan.
“We believe The Smith Center and the entire complex will have a transformational impact on the quality of arts and educational experiences for families in Las Vegas,” he said. “We couldn’t be more pleased with the direction The Smith Center is taking in partnering with the children’s museum.”
Lied Discovery Children’s Museum is celebrating 20 years in 2010, having opened on September 9, 1990 in the historic Cultural Corridor on Las Vegas Boulevard. In addition to providing a wide array of all-new exhibits, the new museum will be larger, allowing for expanded programs, services and events.
“This is a realization of the vision we’ve always maintained for the museum, and an absolute gift to the children and families in our community,” said Judy Cebulko, President of the Museum Board of Trustees. “It is in honor of the leaders who worked tirelessly to establish this great institution decades ago that we proudly guide the children’s museum to its dynamic new home, where we can fulfill our mission to serve a community when it needs it the most and deserves no less.”
Media Contacts:
Brock Radke
Lied Discovery Children’s Museum
(702) 382-3445
The Smith Center for the Performing Arts
Adrianne Offermann
Kirvin Doak Communications
(702) 737-3100
About Lied Discovery Children’s Museum
Lied Discovery Children’s Museum was founded as a private, nonprofit educational institution in 1984 by the Allied Arts Council and the Junior League of Las Vegas, and opened to the public in 1990 thanks to the construction of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library building and the generosity of the Lied Foundation Trust. In its 20 years, the museum has grown into a community cornerstone that complements and enhances the educational experience of children and families through interactive, hands-on exhibits and programs. For more information, visit www.LDCM.org.
About The Smith Center for the Performing Arts
The Smith Center for the Performing Arts is a public/private partnership that will become the centerpiece of cultural life in Las Vegas offering a blend of performances by resident companies as well as first-run touring attractions. The 4.75-acre cultural complex will feature inviting lobbies with beautiful balconies, refined acoustics and a tastefully landscaped plaza linking surrounding hotels, restaurants, shops and offices in downtown’s 61-acre urban development, Symphony Park. Home to the 2,050-seat Reynolds Hall and the Boman Pavilion, The Smith Center will be a living room for Las Vegas; a place that will educate, entertain and excite the citizens of our great community. The Smith Center broke ground in May of 2009 with a ceremonial carillon bell casting and ringing. In February 2010, it celebrated its “Topping Out” with the raising of 50 tons of steel and is projected to open in 2012. For more information, visit www.thesmithcenter.com.
About Symphony Park
Symphony Park is a planned 61-acre, mixed-use city neighborhood located in the heart of downtown Las Vegas on land owned by the city of Las Vegas. Newland, a diversified real estate company leveraging a national platform and over 40 years of experience to perform challenging and diverse development, investment, management and advisory services across a wide range of real estate, was retained in December 2005 by the city of Las Vegas as Symphony Park project manager. Newland and its affiliates have completed or have underway more than 140 diverse real estate developments, over 20 million square feet of commercial and retail space and 175,000 residential units in 14 states. Considered the single most important element of the revitalization of downtown Las Vegas, Symphony Park is anchored by two key public projects: the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, a highly specialized clinical center housed in an iconic facility designed by famed architect, Frank Gehry; and The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, a magnificent facility designed to become the city’s center of culture by renowned architect David M. Schwarz. Planned to encompass more than 10 million square feet of office, medical, residential, retail and hotel/hospitality space, Symphony Park will be developed over a multi-year timeline with a project value of approximately $6 billion. For more information, visit www.symphonypark.com.
About The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation
The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation is a national philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named. Headquartered in Las Vegas, it has committed almost $350 million to charitable projects in Nevada. For more information, visit www.dwreynolds.org.
Brian Paco Alvarez enculturating Las Vegas into the millennium...
Lied Discovery Children’s Museum was founded as a private, nonprofit educational institution in 1984 by the Allied Arts Council and the Junior League of Las Vegas, and opened to the public in 1990 thanks to the construction of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library building and the generosity of the Lied Foundation Trust. In its 20 years, the museum has grown into a community cornerstone that complements and enhances the educational experience of children and families through interactive, hands-on exhibits and programs. For more information, visit www.LDCM.org.
About The Smith Center for the Performing Arts
The Smith Center for the Performing Arts is a public/private partnership that will become the centerpiece of cultural life in Las Vegas offering a blend of performances by resident companies as well as first-run touring attractions. The 4.75-acre cultural complex will feature inviting lobbies with beautiful balconies, refined acoustics and a tastefully landscaped plaza linking surrounding hotels, restaurants, shops and offices in downtown’s 61-acre urban development, Symphony Park. Home to the 2,050-seat Reynolds Hall and the Boman Pavilion, The Smith Center will be a living room for Las Vegas; a place that will educate, entertain and excite the citizens of our great community. The Smith Center broke ground in May of 2009 with a ceremonial carillon bell casting and ringing. In February 2010, it celebrated its “Topping Out” with the raising of 50 tons of steel and is projected to open in 2012. For more information, visit www.thesmithcenter.com.
About Symphony Park
Symphony Park is a planned 61-acre, mixed-use city neighborhood located in the heart of downtown Las Vegas on land owned by the city of Las Vegas. Newland, a diversified real estate company leveraging a national platform and over 40 years of experience to perform challenging and diverse development, investment, management and advisory services across a wide range of real estate, was retained in December 2005 by the city of Las Vegas as Symphony Park project manager. Newland and its affiliates have completed or have underway more than 140 diverse real estate developments, over 20 million square feet of commercial and retail space and 175,000 residential units in 14 states. Considered the single most important element of the revitalization of downtown Las Vegas, Symphony Park is anchored by two key public projects: the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, a highly specialized clinical center housed in an iconic facility designed by famed architect, Frank Gehry; and The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, a magnificent facility designed to become the city’s center of culture by renowned architect David M. Schwarz. Planned to encompass more than 10 million square feet of office, medical, residential, retail and hotel/hospitality space, Symphony Park will be developed over a multi-year timeline with a project value of approximately $6 billion. For more information, visit www.symphonypark.com.
About The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation
The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation is a national philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named. Headquartered in Las Vegas, it has committed almost $350 million to charitable projects in Nevada. For more information, visit www.dwreynolds.org.
Brian Paco Alvarez enculturating Las Vegas into the millennium...
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