The partnership that fueled Las Vegas’ artistic expansion began with an informal conversation more than a decade ago. Elaine Wynn, one of Las Vegas’ foremost philanthropists with a passion for enriching the city’s cultural heritage, consulted with Michael Govan, CEO of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

“Michael planted this in my ear: ‘You know, we should really build a museum in Las Vegas,'” Wynn said in a phone interview this week. “He said, ‘Las Vegas is such a great city, everybody loves going there. We can get this thing off the ground.'”

Govan recalled: “I said to her, ‘I’ve been coming to Las Vegas for decades, and I just want to know why there’s no museum in Las Vegas?’ Her response was something like, Don’t get me started on that.”

It has started now.

That discussion is the cornerstone of a partnership between the just-announced Las Vegas Museum of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art — or LACMA for short. The long-awaited LVMA will take over a 4-acre parcel in Symphony Park, just east of The Smith Center’s Reynolds Hall (home to Nevada Ballet Theatre and Las Vegas Philharmonic performances) and Discovery Children’s Museum.

Heather Harmon, LVMA president, hopes construction can begin in 2026, with a planned opening in 2028.

Wynn, who is also co-chair of LACMA, said LVMA is the ultimate passion project.

“For me, this is a personal legacy of giving back to my city,” she said. “This museum should be enjoyed by the people who live here, the people who work here, the children who go to school here, and hopefully the visitors who come to Las Vegas.”

Next: Financing

The nonprofit project will cost $200 million, with a capital campaign announced before the end of the year. Grants, sponsorships and donations will fuel the effort.

The LVMA’s formal description of the 90,000-square-foot structure: “The museum building is thoughtfully organized, with two floors of exhibition space above a vibrant open plaza and adjacent sculpture park. The design transforms the plaza into a veranda, creating an inclusive environment where public amenities can be interwoven with community events, ultimately strengthening the character of Symphony Park as a neighborhood and cultural destination.”

The City Council unanimously approved Wednesday the use of city land for the LVMA, which joins the Smith Center in Symphony Park and established Vegas-focused museums such as the Neon Museum and The Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas.

Mayor Carolyn Goodman says the LVMA development is the highlight of her three terms, and her husband’s, as mayor.

“The arts have been a key pillar in the development of the city of Las Vegas over the past 25 years. From the magnificent Smith Center for the Performing Arts to public art installations and murals, Las Vegas is a city of art,” Mayor Goodman said in a statement. “I am excited about the prospect of adding a new art museum to our city, which already has so many popular museums.”

Design, location key

LVMA’s design architect is Francis Kéré, founder of Berlin-based Kéré Architecture. Kéré is a Pritzker Prize-winning designer, the $100,000 annual award for design excellence established by the family that founded the Hyatt resort chain.

“Our design combines the beauty of the desert environment with local building principles and the passion and collaborative spirit of the Las Vegas Museum of Art to create a space where dreams come to life,” Kéré said in a statement. “It is a tremendous honor and a culmination of my professional journey to create a space that will bring art and joy to the residents who call Las Vegas home.”

After LMVA is completed, Las Vegas will no longer be the largest municipality in the U.S. without an independent visual arts museum. Harmon notes that the 30 largest cities in the country have independent museums.

According to the Las Vegas arts official, the timing of the LVMA development was determined by the city’s growth and the continued development of Symphony Park.

“I think the timing has been forced by the momentum and the natural maturation of our city, it feels like there’s a museum missing,” Harmon said. “So we’re really able to capitalize on that. I think the Smith Center in particular has been such a great barometer of success and such a beacon for us. We’ve learned so much from the success of the Smith Center and how we can build on that.”

Harmon praised LVMA directors Dana Lee, a longtime philanthropic leader in Las Vegas; and Roger Thomas, famous for his design work on many of Wynn’s resorts, “for being such tireless champions of this project.”

LA has advantages too

LACMA’s relationship with LVMA will provide a suitable exhibition space for works currently archived out of public view. LACMA is the largest museum in the western United States, but even it is not large enough to display all of his collected works.

“We have collections from all times, all places, and like most great museums, a lot of that collection is in storage,” Govan said. “Nobody wants to see art in storage. We’ve shared our collections pretty strategically in our region. It’s an easy jump from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. My vision is that with an electric truck and soft packaging, it’s very cheap and efficient to move collections and programs. We’ll be able to share our artwork and our territorial work with a large population nearby.”

Inconsistent history

Las Vegas has an uneven history of museum support. Many have been successful, including the aforementioned downtown projects and landmark destinations like the National Atomic Museum (the Liberace Museum, by contrast, closed 15 years ago, its pieces parsed into Liberace Garage and the Thriller Villa on Palomino Lane). UNLV still maintains strong support for the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art.

Wynn points to the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, which she co-founded when Steve Wynn opened the resort in 1998, and which has created an arts-friendly climate on the Strip.

“The Bellagio Gallery was intended more as a hallmark of our hotel hospitality,” Wynn said. “That was the ambition. But it developed in us a high level of sophistication about art. It’s one thing to enjoy art. It’s another thing to become an art collector and really get into the art world and all of its dimensions.”

The Venice museum attempted to set up its own art department, the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum, which was open from 2001 to 2008 and presented “The Art of the Motorcycle” for two years in an attempt to attract tourists before it closed.

The Las Vegas Art Museum on West Sahara Avenue, just off the Strip, closed in 2009. When the museum went bankrupt, it had fewer than 1,000 paying members.

Time to show up

Wynn says the LVMA will have support from a city that has flourished in other cultural areas. She rejects the idea that the project is too flashy for the Las Vegas community to support.

“I’m willing to be charitable, to be very generous, but I’m not going to be so generous that it gets the job done,” she said. “That’s not the point. The community has to own it. And we’re going to develop a board, and we’re going to do what everybody else is doing. There’s no reason why this affluent community that can build arenas and has sports teams and Spheres can’t participate. I just reject that.

“I don’t take anything for granted, but I know we can do this.”

John Katsilometes’ column appears daily in Section A. His podcast, “PodKats!”, is available at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.