Celebrating The Smith Center’s 10th Anniversary with World-Class Performances
By Alecia Westmorland
In the early 1990s, a group of Southern Nevada community leaders met to discuss a bold idea: creating a world-class performing arts center in Las Vegas. After nearly 20 years of planning and fundraising, The Smith Center for the Performing Arts opened in March 2012, promising a new cultural hub where community members from all walks of life could gather to enjoy high-caliber performances.
Now this year brings a tremendous milestone for The Smith Center, with March 2022 marking the center’s anticipated 10-year anniversary. After just a decade, the center’s leadership team has accomplished many of its ambitious goals and beyond. That 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 a nonprofit, The Smith Center has served over 1 million students and teachers through a variety of education and outreach initiatives, all at no cost to schools. That includes a combination of programming and outreach by The Smith Center’s Education and Outreach team, including student matinees at The Smith Center, performances in schools, professional development for teachers, and support for school musicals through Disney Musicals in Schools.
The Smith Center for the Performing Arts. Photo courtesy of Geri Kodey.
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, as well as explorer and primatologist Dr. Mireya Mayor on March 2, as the latest installment of the National Geographic Live speaker series.
The Smith Center for the Performing Arts. Photo courtesy of Geri Kodey.
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. That demonstrates the resiliency of the performing arts and their importance in bringing joy to community members through experiences that enrich and inspire.
The Smith Center family anticipates many more epic performances in the decades to come. Go to: www.thesmithcenter.com
