Southern Nevada's Heart of the Arts will usher in its tenth year with a month-long lineup of world-class performances to celebrate a decade of achievement and community.
A vision nearly 20 years in the making, The Smith Center for the Performing Arts reaches a significant milestone in March 2022 with the celebration of its 10-year anniversary. After just a decade, The Smith Center has firmly ensconced itself as Southern Nevada's Heart of the Arts, a true cultural hub where community members from all walks of life can gather to enjoy high-caliber performances. As a nonprofit, The Smith Center has further provided a variety of education and outreach initiatives for more than 1 million students and teachers in Southern Nevada, most at no cost to schools.
"Over the past 10 years, our community has embraced The Smith Center as a cultural fixture of our city, and together we completely transformed access to the performing arts in Southern Nevada," said Myron Martin, Smith Center president and CEO. "Our Smith Center family looks forward to celebrating 10 years of bringing the world's greatest performers to community members' back yard."
Since opening The Smith Center in March 2012, the center's leadership team has accomplished many of its ambitious goals and beyond. This includes bringing top Broadway productions to Las Vegas nearly every month with the center's Broadway Las Vegas Series, which has maintained over 10,000 season ticket holders every year. The Smith Center also successfully produced its own original musical "Idaho! The Comedy Musical," and launched the national tours of hit productions such as "Kinky Boots" and "An Officer and a Gentleman."
As part of its ongoing commitment to the Southern Nevada community, The Smith Center has considered arts education part of its DNA since day one. The Smith Center's Education and Outreach team has provided special programs and initiatives throughout each year, including student matinees at The Smith Center, performances in schools, professional development for teachers and support for school musicals through Disney Musicals in Schools.
To celebrate all of these accomplishments as Southern Nevada's Heart of the Arts, The Smith Center will ring in its tenth year in a way all Southern Nevadans can enjoy - with world-class performances. The Smith Center will pack the month of March with thrilling programming that spans every genre, reflecting the center's driving goal of presenting performances for all audiences, including music, theater, dance, guest speakers and more.
The Smith Center's March performances include world-renowned speakers, such as internationally recognized astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson on March 8 and explorer and primatologist Dr. Mireya Mayor on March 2 as the latest installment of the National Geographic Live speaker series. The month also features music icons such as Paul Anka on March 10. Audiences can further experience leading performers from across the globe, like acclaimed Mexican dance group Ballet Folklorico on March 23, as well as DRUM TAO, showcasing fiery and athletic Japanese taiko drumming on March 25.
The Smith Center's intimate venue Myron's will also present leading performers up close, such as chart-topping vocalist Chris Mann on March 26, best known for starring as the phantom in over 700 performances in the national tour for "The Phantom of the Opera." Audiences can also enjoy top artists who live in Las Vegas, such as David Perrico on March 2, Clint Holmes on March 9 and Frankie Moreno on March 15.
"These uplifting performances also shine a spotlight on The Smith Center's vibrant return upon reopening after its shutdown for over a year during the pandemic," said Martin. "This demonstrates the resiliency of the performing arts and their importance in bringing joy to community members through experiences that enrich and inspire."
Martin appreciates all the community support that has helped The Smith Center remain Southern Nevada's Heart of the Arts, he added.
"The Smith Center family anticipates many more epic performances in the decades to come," Martin said.
For more information about The Smith Center's March 2022 performances, please visit thesmithcenter.com.
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