To NFT or not to NFT? That is the question, and more, for Arts and Tech in our Creative Economy

Join Eat More Art Vegas at Art Square for a panel at Tech Alley, 3/18/23.

Join Eat More Art LLC and cNFTcon for a blockchain conversation.

"Culture War Rubble or Creative Renaissance?" Was our headline for the recent recap of the City of Las Vegas' Arts and Culture Summit last month. The Creative Economy will reign supreme in our time at the dawn of the third millennium, but to what end? Will it be an era of advancement fueled by human inspiration in concert with technological discovery, or a rush toward a dark age with ill-informed exploitation of creative enterprise in competition with AI fads and Big Tech?

Creative workers need to learn as quickly as they can about blockchain, NFTs, cryptocurrency, and AI not only to survive financially, but to advance and improve our condition as a society. I have studied and taught enough about Shakespeare's age to know that a renaissance does not come until the Artists of the world grab hold of innovation and make it work for them. I grew up in Silicon Valley in it's early years and I have learned hard lessons about what a double-edged sword the tech industry is to our creative ecosystem. Arts workers who learn early survive and create opportunity. Eat More Art Vegas is on a mission to make that easier for local artists to do just that.

Learning about tech is easier in person where you can ask questions face to face. Here are two opportunities:

Join Eat More Art LLC, cNFTcon, and the UNLV SBDC at Tech Alley, Saturday, 11 AM at Art Square Theatre for an open panel discussion and free networking opportunity. Come earlier for coffee, or stay after for Coastal Mediterranean hors d'oeuvre and networking.

Click here for more info or just show up at Art Square at 11am!

Attend cNFTcon this September 29th through October 1st, 2023. Attendees will learn a number of topics in the space including the basics of blockchain, artificial intelligence, NFTs, DAOs, staking, digital ID, security, Metaverse, and how all of these will change or impact business, government, education, economy and entertainment. Partners include the UNLV Office of Economic Development, zenGate Global, Clay Nation, Forgotten, IAMX, and Beyond Rockets.

Las Vegas Arts & Culture, it's your last chance to BE COUNTED in the AEP6!

Help us prove that local Arts mean business!

The NEVADA ARTS AND CULTURE AEP6 audience survey deadline is May 2023!

WHAT IS AEP6?

Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 (AEP6) is an economic impact study of the nation’s nonprofit arts and culture industry. It is the largest and most inclusive study of its kind ever conducted, with a specific focus on 360 participating communities from across all 50 states plus the District of Columbia.

The Nevada Arts Council, Clark County Public Arts Office, and the City of Las Vegas Office of Cultural Affairs are research partners identified to assist Americans for the Arts (AFTA) with two primary data collection efforts:​

• An audience-intercept survey of attendees to arts and culture events that take place in the community

• A budget and attendance survey of the nonprofit culture organizations in the community.

​Each community partner will receive a customized final report of their DATA in Fall, 2023.

ATTENTION NONPROFIT LEADERS

1. Be on the lookout for the simple ORGANIZATION SURVEY email from AFTA & fill it out.

2. We still need audience surveys through May 2023, so share the QR survey codes at your events!

• The anonymous audience surveys take 3 min tops from the comfort of their smartphone

• Contact Eat More Art LLC admin@eatmoreartvegas.com or Maggie Plaster mplaster@lasvegasnevada.gov with the CLV Cultural Affairs team to get the QR codes

Click here for more info about the nationwide effort to prove the power of our creative economy.

EMAV REVIEW: Inherit the Wind **** Delicious

The war rages on

By Paul Atreides

Author, playwright Theatre critic at EatMoreArtVegas.com

paul-atreides.com

In a stroke of luck—yes, luck—Majestic Repertory Theatre had to look for another venue to mount their production of Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee’s 70-year-old Inherit the Wind. Why was that lucky? Well, because of the reason behind it: Hedwig and the Angry Inch is doing so well that Artistic Director Troy Heard wanted to extend it. But wanted to present Inherit the Wind as planned.

As luck would have it, Vegas Theatre Company (VTC) had an opening in their schedule and the two companies are now collaborating so the production could hit the boards on schedule.

The play centers around an actual event in 1925 that has been labeled the Scopes Monkey Trial. The script may be old but the subject matter is right up to date. The religious right’s claims of a “war on religion” battle the left’s claims of belief in science. In this case, the evolution of man. The war rages on and you thought all this was new.

Under the direction of Heard, the production holds up. He’s made great use of the space provided, staging it in the round. For the most part, he’s led his cast of 22 well.

The standouts, of course, are the two battling men (Erik Amblad as Henry Drummond and Taylor Hanes as Matthew Harrison Brady) who argue for the right to think for oneself, be that religion or science. If you don’t know the outcome of that trial, you’ll find no spoilers here.

Both Amblad and Hanes command the space. At times they bluster, at times they bellow but at all times they’re both so embedded within their characters that to believe them is to simply open your eyes and watch. These two are actors who use their entire instruments, from head to toe.

Glenn Heath as Rev. Jeremiah Brown is a perfect match. Heath is studied when he needs to be and purely in-the-pulpit-on-Sunday-morning as he leads the ensemble of townspeople—a sort of Greek chorus.

Eager to watch the circus unfold, as some talking heads do today, is E.K. Hornbeck, a newsman who arrives in town before the trial. Bringing truth to the journalist, Joe Basso is a joy to watch as he verbally jabs at some of the townspeople as well as the trial participants for the sheer fun of getting a reaction he can put into print.

One actor stands out and shouldn’t. Sherri Brewer as Mrs. Krebbs draws focus when she should be blending in as part of the ensemble, particularly in a scene where Rev. Brown is preaching. The cast sings, mostly softly, on entrances and exits but Brewer’s soprano is such that it stands out well above the rest of the chorus and carries across the room with a vibrato she hasn’t learned to control.

Some actors haven’t quite learned to project and remain in the moment. As a result, when their backs are to a segment of the audience, they cannot be heard. The actual trial took place in Tennessee. According to the program the play is set in “A small town,” and the townspeople's dialects are rather all over the place. Throughout the show, special effect haze is used; at times it’s overly heavy, but rest assured it is not harmful.

Despite some faults, I encourage you to go and see this. Not only as a lesson in how history repeats itself or, as credited to writer and philosopher George Santayana and in its original form, “Those who cannot remember the past are likely to repeat it.” But attending this play is a great way to celebrate the success of the one that drove this to VTC’s venue.

What: Inherit the Wind

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday – Saturday through April 2

5:00 p.m. Sundays

2 p.m. Saturday, March 25

Where: 1025 S. 1st St., Suite 110

Tickets: $20 - $40 (www.theatre.vegas)

Grade: **** Delicious

Producer: Majestic Repertory Theatre; Artistic Director: Troy Heard; Director: Troy Heard; Set Design: The Design Ninjas; Lighting Design: Darren Simmons; Sound Design: Jake Harrell; Costume Design: Candice Wynants; Stage Manager: Zachary Kyser