 Newsletter Signup
Stay informed with the
NEW Casino City Times newsletter! |
Gaming News
Culture Vultures in Vegas26 March 2001Newsweek magazine this week included the Guggenheim museum under construction at the Venetian Las Vegas in a story on the vast expansion of prestigious museums into cities around the nation including smaller markets like Seattle, Denver, Kansas City, Mo.; Fort Worth and Austin, Texas; Milwaukee, Cincinnati and Minneapolis. Prestigious museums are expanding across the United States, entering smaller markets like the unlikely location of the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas. Despite its apparently dubious location where even the museum''s unorthodox director, Thomas Krens, was skeptical at first, it appears that people everywhere want to enjoy world-class art, and Las Vegas has 38 million tourists a year. Krens overcame his skepticism when he learned that one million people a year paid US$12.50 each to see Steve Wynn''s modest collection of old-master paintings in a Vegas hotel. “His gallery was sandwiched between a wedding chapel and a yogurt stand,” said Krens. “People were standing in front of the paintings with real reverence, having a cultural experience.” Two Guggenheim spaces in the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino at a cost of US$30 million – for the Venetian - are set to open next September. |