Las Vegas gallery owner Michele Quinn is a tireless advocate for the Southern Nevada arts scene and goes out of her way to promote it.
This week that means more than 400 miles out of her way.
Quinn speaks in Carson City on Wednesday evening to the Capital City Arts Initiative in a program titled “Vegas Culture on the Rise.”
She is expected to discuss her work to bring a major contemporary art museum to Symphony Park in downtown Las Vegas and the need for a unified statewide arts community to make it a reality.
“We have to stop thinking of us as a separate state," she said, "We’re not Northern Nevada. We’re not Southern Nevada. We are Nevada. Bridging that gap between Northern communities and Southern communities is such a critical point in our growth as a state not just politically but culturally.”
Quinn said she's been on the board of the art museum for two years and in that time they've worked with the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno on a partnership.
“We need friends and allies on both sides," she said, "We want to be the voice of both sides of the communities.”
Sharon Rosse is the executive director of the Capital City Arts Initiative in Carson City. She said the talk from Quinn coincides with an exhibit featuring a Las Vegas artist.
She strongly supports the effort to bring the art communities in the north together with the community in the south.
“It is very important that we shrink the space between Northern Nevada and Southern Nevada," she said, "The more we know about each other the better it is for everybody and it helps enhance this community that we’re all working to strengthen.”
And she has no problem lobbying Northern Nevada lawmakers on behalf of the southern museum.
“Absolutely, all boats rise," she said, "The more we can do for the whole arts community the better it is for everybody.”
Michele Quinn, Las Vegas gallery owner and arts advocate; Sharon Rosse, executive director of Capital City Arts Initiative in Carson City