Vegas is still a pretty small town at heart, so it’s no wonder that supposition and rumor abound with regard to the new Las Vegas Museum of Art (LVMA). As such, I figured I’d break it all down into an easy-to-read primer of bullet points that you can use to edify yourself.  That said, feel free to sprinkle these factoids into your conversation to sound knowledgeable on a date or appear au courant to folks at a party. 

• The Las Vegas Museum of Art will be the city’s first freestanding art museum, serving Las Vegas’ more than 2.4 million year-round residents and tens of millions of visitors from around the world.

• The plan to create LVMA as the art museum for Las Vegas was endorsed by the Nevada State Legislature (which provided seed funding) and public officials, including U.S. Representative Susie Lee, U.S. Representative Dina Titus, U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, and U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen.

• LVMA’s Founding Trustees are Kevyn Wynn and Gillian Wynn; Dana Lee; Roger Thomas; Michael Govan; and the late Elaine Wynn (Founding Board Chair and President | Chair Emerita, LVMA).

• LVMA is an independent institution and will benefit from several partnerships, most notably with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), in addition to the City of Las Vegas.

• LVMA’s curators and educators will program exhibitions, learning and engagement initiatives, and public offerings, adding to the cultural community of Las Vegas.

• LVMA will benefit from the ability to borrow artworks, mount exhibitions, and adapt educational programs from LACMA and draw on LACMA’s extensive professional expertise.

• In fall 2024, the City of Las Vegas granted LVMA two acres of land in Symphony Park, in the heart of Downtown, as part of a public-private partnership.

• Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Francis Kéré (Founder, Kéré Architecture), the LVMA will be a 60,000-square-foot building in Downtown Las Vegas’ Symphony Park.

• Kéré’s design draws inspiration from the Mojave Desert and Las Vegas’ rich history of modernist architecture, as well as the majestic baobab trees of the African savannah. 

• Its façade will feature a mosaic of locally sourced stone, wrapping the building in the colors of the surrounding Red Rock Mountains.

• A canopy extending far beyond the roof will provide a shaded “front porch” for the entry plaza.

• A signature grand staircase, visible through the entry level’s floor-to-ceiling windows, will make the interior core into a canyon from which visitors will ascend toward galleries that seem to float on the second floor.

• Kéré’s design includes sanctuary-like galleries that reflect the influence of architect Paul Revere Williams’s Guardian Angel Cathedral, which has been a refuge for Las Vegas since 1963, as well as an oasis-like outdoor sculpture plaza.

• Kéré has teamed with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) as the architect of record.

• Construction of the LVMA is estimated to generate $191 million in economic activity for Las Vegas (including $80 million in wages),

• The economic impact of the LVMA (once opened) is estimated to be $181.5 million annually.

• More than half of the LVMA’s $200 million campaign goal has already been raised.

• The campaign gained momentum from a major leadership gift made in her lifetime by the late Elaine Wynn (Founding Board Chair and President | Chair Emerita, LVMA).

• Led by Heather Harmon (Executive Director, LVMA), the Museum continues to earn support from additional Founding Trustees, private and corporate donors, and the City of Las Vegas.

• Among the new donations to the LVMA campaign are major gifts by Founding Trustees Dana & Greg Lee, Roger Thomas & Arthur Libera, and the Elaine P. Wynn & Family Foundation.

• More than 300,000 students in the Clark County School District live within a 10-mile radius of the Symphony Park site and will be among the residents to benefit from LVMA.

• This fall, the Museum will begin to operate the LVMA Gallery and Media Lab, also in Symphony Park, a short walk from the LVMA site.

• A dynamic, multi-use exhibition and public programming space, the LVMA Gallery and Media Lab will give the public a preview of the Museum’s offerings.

• The 15,000-square-foot Media Lab will serve audiences and offer instructor-led art classes for children, young people, and families.

• The LVMA Gallery and Media Lab will offer inclusive exhibitions and programs, a retail storefront, and a collaborative workspace.

But don’t take my word for it.  Here’s what some of those in the know have to say about LVMA:

“We see the Las Vegas Museum of Art as a gathering place where the entire community can recognize itself and take pride in a building that reflects the history and spirit of the city and the beauty of its natural surroundings.”
Francis Kéré
Founder, Kéré Architecture

“Bringing together a range of influences, the design embodies the diversity of our great city and signals the dawning of a new era for culture in Las Vegas. With immense gratitude to all our donors and the City of Las Vegas, we are moving ahead with confidence toward a grand opening in 2029.”
Heather Harmon
Executive Director, LVMA

“The people of Las Vegas have been working toward building a standalone art museum for this great city for decades. With the remarkable vision of the future Las Vegas Museum of Art’s leadership team and a world-class building by Francis Kéré, we are closer to making this dream a reality.”
The Hon. Shelley Berkley
Mayor, City of Las Vegas

“LVMA and LACMA were bound together by the shared leadership and generosity of Elaine Wynn, who was deeply committed to enhancing civic life through art, and led LACMA's board for more than a decade.  This partnership can be a model for how museums can bridge communities, deepen collaboration across borders, and expand access to art where it is needed. We're extremely excited to collaborate with our new colleagues in Las Vegas, led by Executive Director Heather Harmon, a decades-long admired and influential arts leader rooted in this project by her four-generation family history and internationally recognized for her support of artists across the globe.”
Michael Goven
CEO | Wallis Annenberg Director, LACMA
Founding Trustee, LVMA

Las Vegas Museum of Art (LVMA)
Symphony Park | Downtown Las Vegas
Click HERE for info

Get into it!
#LVMA