As We See It

Don’t cry for our culture, Las Vegas

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The city’s cultural corridor says goodbye to two of its institutions.
Photo: Ryan Olbrysh

News that the Lied Discovery Children's Museum will leave the cultural corridor for the Smith Center didn't surprise anyone who's followed the center's courtship. But paired with the recent closing of the Reed Whipple Cultural Center to the public, it raises questions about the health of the corridor. "I'm sorry to see the Children's Museum go," says Marilyn Gillespie, director of the Natural History Museum and president of the Cultural Corridor Coalition. "But it's certainly not the end of the Cultural Corridor. We're still the highest concentration of cultural institutions." Those include the Neon Museum, which is in the middle of a renovation of its Boneyard; the Mormon Fort; Cashman Center; the Las Vegas Library; and the Natural History Museum, which recently expanded. "There are so many advantages to this site," Gillespie says. "We're just seconds off the freeway and have a recognizable address on Las Vegas Boulevard." And improvements are planned, including banners by artist Marty Kreloff and a pedestrian bridge over the boulevard. Says Gillespie, "Our hope is that we'll be able to entice another cultural institution looking for a home."

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