Arts council gets earful

The Nevada Arts Council came to the Brewery Arts Center on Monday afternoon seeking advice from residents on how to best advance art appreciation. The council got an earful.

Robin A. Hodgkin, community arts development program coordinator, acted as moderator and kept the two-hour program rolling. Some 20 Carson Country residents listened to Hodgkin and then told her and her fellow staff members what they thought.

"It was fabulous, great ideas,"said Hodgkin after the meeting broke up. "Every person that takes part means that we harvest more guidance."

Hodgkin said art and artists bring in some $36 million annually to the state, which is reason enough to spread the word about success of the arts in Nevada.

The meeting was part of Values & Visions 2002, the council's plan to find out what Nevadans think about the arts.

After listening to the outline of what was wanted, onlookers broke up into groups to address the problems they had discovered.

Some of the dozens of ideas that floated around included:

-- Betty Anderson of Carson City said the Community Concert program should investigate presentation of local musical groups as well as those selected by an agency. "We also need more local business support," she said.

-- Bob McFadden, owner of the St. Charles Hotel, suggested there was a need for more gallery space in the city as well as a better record of some of the historic artists who have worked in the state.

-- Elinor Bugli of Carson City suggested emphasizing information arts education in the family. "More use of the artist in residence program" by local educators could benefit youths." She decried the lack of coordination in (kindergarten-through-12th-grade) art education.

David Bugli, who conducts the Carson City Symphony as well as the Mountain High Jazz Orchestra, chaired the arts awareness group and suggested wider use of the Internet to create an arts calendar. "Fostering such a calendar would help eliminate those weekends where three events overlap."

At the end of the meeting Hodgkin asked for someone to sum up what art means in the public's everyday life.

Betty Anderson responded: "Life is short, but art is long."

Paul Ford of Carson High School added, " Do you remember how it felt to have your first work of art displayed ... how your first performance felt?"

The council welcomes comments on the Web at www.NevadaCulture.org.