The Smith Center for the Performing Arts

The Las Vegas Performing Arts Center Foundation, in partnership with the city of Las Vegas, is developing The Smith Center for the Performing Arts. The Smith Center is scheduled to open on March 10, 2012.

Centrally located in downtown’s 61-acre Symphony Park, The Smith Center sits on nearly five acres adjacent to the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, which is situated at the corner of Bonneville Avenue and Grand Central Parkway. The five-acre cultural campus will feature three performance spaces: the 2,050-seat main performance area in Reynolds Hall, Boman Pavilion’s 258-seat cabaret-jazz theater and a 250-seat studio-theater. It will also include a two-acre park, which can be used for outdoor concerts. The campus will be home to the Discovery Children’s Museum and the Las Vegas Philharmonic and Nevada Ballet Theatre.   The complex will offer a blend of performances by local arts groups, as well as first-run touring attractions.

The Smith Center is funded by a public-private partnership. The city of Las Vegas has provided the land, infrastructure and parking for the facility. In addition, the city, Clark County and state legislature collaborated on a car rental fee that resulted in a bond of just over $100 million.

The private funding campaign was launched by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation with a landmark gift of $50 million in 2005, in honor of their chairman, Fred W. Smith, and his wife, Mary. Since then, the Reynolds Foundation has continued their generosity with an additional $100 million grant. This gift is the largest philanthropic donation in state history and, combined with their initial contribution, is the second largest donation to the performing arts in the United States.

For more details on The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, please visit http://www.thesmithcenter.com/ .

All media-related questions should be directed to Michelle Wilmoth by calling (702) 737-3100 or by e-mailing MWilmoth@Kirvindoak.com.