The Nevada Arts Council has commissioned Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) to study the economic impact of the arts and culture industry in Nevada. The purpose of the study is to measure the economic dimension of the state's nonprofit arts industry and to provide an up-to-date, quantitative illustration of the ways that the arts industry contributes to the economic prosperity of Nevada. Case studies will provide insights into the ways that the arts operate in Nevada's diverse communities and the role the arts industry can play in improving the quality of life for our growing population.

During the month of March, WESTAF Executive Director Anthony Radich and Erin Trapp, Director of Research, talked with artists and arts administrators, and members of the business sector and press in community forums and focus groups held in Reno, Las Vegas and Elko. Intregrating input gathered during these meetings, WESTAF researchers developed two surveys, one for nonprofit organizations and one for artists. Employing a sample survey method, WESTAF mailed approximately 700 surveys to artists, arts organizations, colleges, universities and arts presenters that are part of the Arts Council database.

Data tabulated from the surveys will be used to develop an overview of the size, type and diversity of the economic contributions of the arts, and the cultural resources in the study area. Study objectives include:

• To quantify the current economic impact of the arts in the region
• To identify localized economics-based arguments for support of the arts across the state
• To collect qualitative arts-related economic information from community and arts leaders
• To Identify and analyze the synergies between the cultural and business communities
• To provide information regarding the perceptions that business and communtiy leaders have of the arts community
• To document the role that the arts play in the development and maintenance of the tourism and gaming industries

Trapp and Radich will continue to interview arts community and business sector leaders and work with Reno economists Candace Evart with the intent of preparing a preliminary report before the end of this Legislature session on May 31st. The final report will be forthcoming in early summer.

A major exhibition featuring traditional artists from the first ten years of the Nevada Arts Council's Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program open on May 20th at the Nevada State Museum in Carson City. The exhibit begins with a selection of artifacts from the museum's historic collections, showing the deep roots of the arts in Nevada's indigenous and immigrant communities, then moves on to showcase some of the living traditonal arts in contempary Nevada. Crafts, songs, music, dance, costumes, stories and food from a wide range of cultural groups, including Paiute, Washoe, Shoshone, Mexican, Filipino, Hawaiian, Polish, Scottish, Ukranian, Thai, Japanese, African, Basque and cowboy, will be illustrated with objects, photos, videos and audio presentations. Some of the artifacts on display include Native American beaded baskets and cradleboards, tooled leather, rawhide braiding. Mexican dance costumes, bagpipes, quilts and Ukranian Easter eggs.

A reception for the exhibit is scheduled from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 20. Washoe basketmakers and a cowboy saddlemaker and braider will be demonstrating their skills. Performances on the newly-dedicated outdoor plaza adjacent to the museum will feature Paiute singing, Scottish bagpiping and Filipino dance.

The exhibit will be open for a year in Carson City, and then will travel to Elko and Las Vegas. "Handed Down" is co-sponsored by the Nevada Arts Council and the Nevada State Museum, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Nevada Humanities Committee.

President Clinton's FY2000 budget proposal sent to congress on February 1, includes an increase for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) from its current appropriation of $98 million to $150 million. This is the highest budget level for the NEA ever proposed by the Clinton administration.

"We welcom President Clinton's strong and consistant support for the National Endowment for the Arts." said NEA Chairman Bill Ivey. "The new millennium provides the perfect opportunity for out nation to increase its commitment to strengthening our communities through the power of the arts."

NEA appropriations have been $98 million in FY98 and FY99, $99.5 million in FY96 and FY97 and $162.3 million in FY95.

Concurrently, the NEA announced its new initiative, Challenge America, which would provide $50 million in new funding directed at five issue areas: arts education, youth at risk, cultural/heritage preservation, community arts partnerships and access to the arts. The Challenge America program will distribute funds for these purposes in four ways:

1. Approximately 1,000 communities will receive small to medium sized grants through an expedited review process to make the NEA more accessible to traditionally underrespresented areas of the country.

2. Approximately 120 communities nationwide will receive large grants for comprehensive community-based projects.

3. State arts agencies will receive 40 percent of the funding, in accordance with current Congressional policy, to support activities addressing the five target areas.

4. NEA will fund fifty national initiatives developed in partnership with other national organizations and federal agencies to address the priorities of Challenge America.

Challenge America would provide each state arts agency with an additonal $225,000 for a total budget allocation for states of $11.7 million. States have identified 251 separate initiatives for which they would

Congressional consideration of the NEA budget begins this April in the house and Senate with hearings throughout the next three months before the Interior Appropriations Subcommittees.

Clinton also requested increases for the National Endowment for the Humanities, from $110.7 million to $150 million; and for the museum services program at the Institute of Museum and Library Services, from $23.4 million to $34 million.

Bill Ivey recently announced the appointment of two new program directors at the NEA. Cliff Becker, acting director of literature at the NEA since 1997, has been appointed Director of Literature. Becker will serve as the Endowment's literature expert and authority, providing professional leadership in the field. Joining the NEA staff in 1992, he managed grants in poetry, publishing and professional development. Currently Becker oversees the Literary Journal Institute, a $350,000 project to provide 100 literary magazines throughout the country with strategic planning and technical assistance, and serves as project director for the Favorite Poem Project, which will create an audio and video archive of 1,000 Americans reading their favorite poem.

Mark Robbins, curator of architecture at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio, since 1993, accepted the position of Director of Design, serving as the NEA's design expert and authority. In his past position, Robbins originated numerous exhibitions and design. Trained in architecture, anthropology and film, Robbins is an artist, curator and an associate professor at the Knowlton School of Architecture at Ohio State University.

Web surfers are invoted to visit the National Endowment for the Arts' Web site at http://arts.endow.gov. The side features a monthly on-line arts magazine, a guide to the NEA, an arts resource center and links to other art-related sites.

On March 16, more then 300 arts advocates came to Washington, D.C. to talk to their representatives and senators about the importance of federal funding for the arts. The advocacy visits were aimed at building congressional support for the National Endowment for the Arts. The message delivered by arts advocates described the benefits of a potential increase in federal arts funding and its implications for reaching more communities and bringing the arts to more Americans.

Advocates explained to their legislators how the NEA awards more than 1,000 grants each year to nonprofit arts organizations for projects that bring the arts to millions. Advocates also showed how grants to state arts agencies, representing 40 percent of the NEA's program funding, combine with state legislative appropriations and other dollars to ensure broad access to the arts for communities throughout the state and serve to strengthen the state's arts infrastructure, through a combination of direct grants, technical assistance and services.

Last year, arts advocates scored important victories in Congress by rallying their legislators in the House and Senate to defeat efforts to completely eliminate funds for the NEA. The size of the House vote, 253-173 in favor of continued federal arts funding, demonstrated bipartisan support for the arts on Capital Hill and added new strength to ensuring the NEA's political future.

Advocates in Washington this month made a point of reminding their legislators that the NEA has responded to public and congressional concerns about accountability with some important administrative changes:

1. grantees' reporting requirements have been tightened and final grant payment is contingent upon approval of an interim report;

2. state arts agencies received an increase in the block-grant formula to 40 percent of NEA funds;

3. grants have been eliminated to arts organizations for seasonal support or for subgranting in nearly every catagory, and for direct funding to most individual artists; and

4. the size of the National Council on the Arts has been reduced from 26 to 20 with six positions held by members of Congress.

by C. DeVereaux, Executive Director of Allied Arts Council of Southern Nevada

"This land is your land, this land is our land," sang members of Congress on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. on the sunny afternoon of March 16. Singer Peter Yarrow strummed guitar and led a group of U.S. Senators and Congressional Representatives in an enthusiastic rendention of the traditional folk song as part of National Arts Advocacy Day sponsored by Americans for the Arts.

This was the third Arts Advocacy Day I've attended in Washington, D.C. on behalf of Allied Arts Council and the Nevada arts community. This year I was joined by Joanne Nivison, manager of the Cultural Division, City of Las Vegas, who represented Nevada Arts Advocates, Joanne and I paid a visit to each of our U.S. Representatives, carrying letters from arts supporters in Nevada.

Senators Harry Reid and Richard Bryan, both longtime supporters of the arts and the NEA, confirmed their continued commitment to federal arts funding.

Newly elected Congresswoman Shelley Berkley was not present for our meeting, but we are confident from her past record that she will be an active supporter of pro-NEA legislation. Congressman Jim Gibbons expressed his doubt that a federal arts agency like the NEA could be as effective as a locally-run agency. He also feels the federal budget cannot accomodate any increases directed towards the arts.

The focus of this year's Arts Advocacy Day was how to articulate the need for the budget increase to our elected representatives. Joanne and I attended a number of workshops, lectures and presentations designed to help us with our advocacy efforts.

Arts Advocacy Day isn't all lectures, though. There were plenty of opportunities to experience the very thing we were working to support. In addition to a Congressional sing-along, Peter Yarrow entertained at a breakfast meeting, where we also listened to the Duke Ellington High School Choir. Playwright Wendy Wasserstein gave her very witty view on the state of the arts at the annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Policy, and Billy Taylor's Jazz Trio entertained at the evening reception.

I'm hoping that next year we'll have an even larger delegation from Nevada. Contact me if you'd like more information on this year's event.

Douglas Sonntag, director of the NEA Dance Program, visited with constituents in Las Vegas on March 9 and 10 and traveled to Reno for workshops on March 11 and 12. In his second trip to Nevada in as many years, Sonntag provided an Endowment update and expressed optimism as Congressional support for the NEA increases and new programs are being planned. In meetings both north and south, Sonntag talked about the new Challenge America initiative, and the opportunities it can provide for Nevada arts communities. He outlined current NEA funding categories and briefly discussed the two-year old ArtsREACH program that was designed to increase the level of direct NEA grant assistance to communities in 20 underserved states, including Nevada.

In Las Vegas, Sonntag met with a general audience during a morning session at the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, and at the new KNPR-FM studio later in the day with representatives from eight local arts organizations as potential NEA grant applicants.

The Reno meetings followed the same agenda, with a presentation to a general audience and a series of one-on-one meetings with arts organizations interested in applying for a NEA grant. The Theatre Coalition hosted Sonntag's activities at the Moya Lear Theatre in downtown Reno.

Many thanks to the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, KNPR-FM and the Theatre Coalition for helping out with the NEA meetings. And to those applying to the NEA, especially for the first time, please remember to contact NAC staff for questions or assistance in your grant preparation.

To foster continued growth of business alliances with the arts, which have increased from $22 million in 1967 to a record $1.16 billion today, the Business Committee for the Arts, Inc. (BCA) has launched a Web site http://www.bcainc.org.

The BCA Web site provides comprehensive information to help arts organizations develop successful alliances with business that meet the needs of both entities. Two examples:

• A community theater company in Union City, Tennessee, worked with a local bank to help promote its productions. The performances were sold out and the bank enhanced its image in the community, increasing its asssets by 54% one year and 32% the next.
• In Snowmass, Colorado, arts organizations in the area worked with a hotel to turn a winter ski resort community into a year-round vacation destination. As a result, the arts increased their attendance and the hotel's annual revenues increased by 23%.

The site also offers research findings and information about issues and trends relating to business-arts alliances. For example:

• 65% of all business support to the arts in the United States is credited to small and midsize businessses.
• 92% of business support to the arts is allocated at the local level--a company's headquarters or major operating communities.

The site includes examples of employee programs that foster greater appreciation for the arts, information about BCA member services, BCA Affiliates and international business-arts organizations, as well as privilaged information for BCA members only. It also contains a BCA newsroom featuring current news about business-arts partnerships and a calendar of various business-sponsored arts events throughout the nation.

The BCA Web site was developed by IMBs/390 Division, Hopewell Junction, NY; designed and hosted by Waters Design Associates, Inc., New York, NY; and supported by research conducted by Porchey Research Inc., St. Louis, MO.

The Business Committee for the arts, founded by David Rockefeller in 1967, is a national nonprofit organization that works with business to develop and advance alliances with the arts. BCA provides business with the services and resources needed to develop strategic alliances with the arts that meet business objectives, foster creativity in the arts and in the workplace and enhance the quality of life throughout the United States and abroad.

For more information, please contact Business Committee for the Arts, Inc. 1775 Broadway, Suite 510, New York NY 10019-1942.212/664-0600;Fax 212/956-5980.

Yet another millennium project has been launched, as First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton announced the Mars Millennium Project: A national Arts, Sciences, Technology and Edudation Initiative.

The Mars Millennium Project challenges elementary, middle and high school students across the nation to design a comprehensive community for Mars by working with artists, educators, scientists, architects, designers and engineers to include artd, science and technology in planning for a futute settlement on the red planet. The plan should address the artistic and cultural considerations essential to quality of life, not only the physical and atmospheric realities of living on Mars.

The NEA is investing $500,000 in this project to ensure the active involvement of professional artists, architects and designers. The NEA will also provide instructional materials and additional resources, and sponsor a series of videotaped discussion sessions among artists, scientists and others.

For more information on becoming involved in the Mars Project, please contact Pacific Visions Communications at 310/274-8787, ext 105, or visit the Web site at http://www.mars2030.net.

"Get to know THE ARTS" is a slogan that will soon be blazing across the cultural landscape of Southern Nevada. Allied Arts Council of Southern Nevada has recently unveiled a major community arts marketing campaign designed to promote visibility and accessibility of art and cultural events. The project, the result of an NEA ArtsREACH grant with additional private matching funding, will foster cooperative marketing efforts in as campaign that includes special events, print and broadcast media, brochures, specialty products and other marketing strategies. A highlight of the year-long campaign will be the introduction of two figures, "the arts family," a kind of performance-visual arts duo, who will be out on the arts campaign trail to spotlight opportunities and engage audiences with a message that the arts are available to everyone and that cultural opportunities abound in Southern Nevada.

The Carson City Symphony and Carson Chamber Singers have been selected to participate in Continental Harmony, the american Composers Forum's Millennium Project. This landmark community-based music commissioning and residency program is designed to connect rural and underserved communities with composers. Fifty orginal works by American composers will be commissioned by participating local organizations and will be premiered as part of the program. Composers will create the works, spend time in the host community with civic and educational groups and help musicians prepare the composition for the premier performance during the year 2000. Many of these concerts will be performed on a single day, July 4, 2000.

Patricia Shifferd, project director, commented about Nevada's Continental Harmony community organizations, "The music the Carson City Symphony and Chamber Singers requested is a suite to include both esembles. The panel agreed that this project captures in a fine way the goals and spirit of Continential Harmony, and in combination with the other states' projects, will result in a distintive mosaic of music to celebrate the new millennium.

To select the Continental Harmony sites, a national panel met in St. Paul in mid-December and reviewed more than 175 applications. This January, composer applications were mailed to more than 5300 composers throughout the country. Project staff will be assisting the Continental Harmony host organizations in the selection of composers during the spring months.

The National Endowment for the Arts awarded $500,000 to the American Composers Forum for the Continental Harmony program.

Carson City joins a number of western cities as a host community for the Korean American Cultural Foundation's Korean Festival Tour. Seventy-five dancers, artists, musicians and staff from Yonsie and Hankuk Universities in Seoul, Korea, will embark on a three-month tour this summer of Alaska. California, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah and Hawaii. The Nevada Arts Council, in partnership with local arts groups in Carson City, is sponsoring a week of festivities, August 2-8, that will include an evening dance performance, traditional Korean artist demonstrations and Korean foods.

Mr. Sungkyu Cho from the Foundation in Seoul said, "I feel it is extremely important for our Korean artists and leaders to understand American capital cities and rural America. We are looking forward to entertaining Carson Ctiy, and in turn, you educating us." The artists are planning to visit Virginia City and Lake Tahoe as tourists during their stay.

You can never have enough books. The question remains, however, is there ever enough time to read them all? While you're pondering the answer, check out these new and vintage publications...and more, listed in the NAN classifieds.

It's Simple! Money Matters for the Nonprofit Board Member is for all board members, including those who may not have a clue about budgets or deficits. Using commonly asked questions, authors Richard and Ann Linzer begin with cash flow as a central concept and then examine budgeting, financial planning, cash reserves, endowments and building ownerships. The Nevada Arts Council staff may be prejudiced, but we're sure this will be a great addition for any nonprofit organization or board member. Send $21.00 + $3 postage to R. Linzer, Box 374, Indianola, WA 89342.

No way around it, if you're in the performing arts, you'll probably need a promotional video at some time or another. Creating an Effective Promotion Video: A Guide for Those in the Performing Arts, produced by the California Arts Council in 1994, still provides some helpful hints for the novice, and reminders even for the porofessional. The 21-page brochure is $5.00 a copy and can be ordered by calling CAC at (916) 227-2550.

Need information about programming for at-risk youth? The YouthArts Tool Kit handbook addresses all aspects of establishing and maintaining programs. The Kit contains a video and a diskette with sample forms, contracts and other materials. Order from Americans for the Arts at www.artsusa.org or call (800) 321-4510.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has four new publications for sale. To order any of the following, call (202) 588-6296 or visit the web site at www.InfoSeries.com.

Getting Started: How to Succeed in Heritage Tourism, $15
Touring Historic Places, $10
Public Relations Strategies for Historic Sites and Communities: Offering a Press Tour, $6
Welcoming Visitors to Your Community: Training Tour Guides and Other Hospitality Ambassadors, $6

The Artist in Business is a guide to help artists manage their careers and practice sound business. It provides a framework to undertand the fundamentals of business operations.

The Arts Festival Work Kit provides festival organizers with practical guidance on every aspect of planning an arts festival. Includes plans, forms, check lists and planning tools.

To Order these, please call (413) 545-2360, or write Arts Extension Service, Division of Continuing Education, University of Massachussetts, Box 31650, Amherst, MA 01003-1650.

By the time this newsletter reaches you, the legislature will have on month left to do its work. The 64th Nevada State Legislature's session is capped at 120 days and must approve the state's budget by midnight, May 31, 1999.

In addition to a shorter session, legislators are grappling with a record number of bills and an uncertain budget with which to work. As you may recall, last winter, the Nevada Economic Forum, which by law determines the general fund spending level for the state, predicted a shortfall of revenues. However, with gaming revenues up during the past quarter, there is hope for a healthier budget for the upcoming biennium.

With minor adjustments, the Nevada Arts Council budget remains as outlined in Governor Kenny Guinn's Executive Budget that was presented to the legislature in January. NAC's FY00 budget of $1,829.554 reflects a slight increase from this present year budget and includes costs dictated by inflation and funding to expand the distribution of neon, NAC's arts journal.

In March, Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie (D-Reno) introduced Assembly Bill 362 to appropriate an additional $105,000 to the Arts Council budget for its Arts in Education, Folk Arts and Grants Programs. Steven High, Nevada Museum of Art; Lisa Corcostegui, Zenbat Gara Basque Dancers; Daryl Crawford; Inter-Tribal Council of Nevada; Jill Berryman, Sierra Arts; Craig Pittman, Reno Police Department; and Wendy Felling, arts educator and parent, made presentations in support of the bill at the Assembly Ways and Means Committee on March 18. For more information on AB362, you can contact the Nevada Arts Advocates (formerly Nevada Alliance for the Arts) at (702) 362-8885.

To welcome the new century, the Nevada Arts Council is combining the 1999 Governor's Arts Awards with the 2000 Governor's Arts Awards in a mega-celebration, November 7, in Las Vegas as part of the Arts all Ways statewide arts conference. The Millennium Governor's Arts Awards will honor both sets of individuals and organizations selected as 1999 award receipients and as 2000 awards recipients. Up to a total of five awards will be given in the following categories for both 1999 and 2000 Governor's Arts Awards:

Artists and arts producing organizations active in the field of literacy arts, performing arts, visual arts and media arts.

Artists or groups carrying on a traditional art form of their cultural heritage.

Organizations and individuals who have made a significant contribution to the support of the arts in Nevada.

Business and patrons who have made a significant contribution to the support of the arts in Nevada.

Schools, individuals, organizations or businesses demonstrating leadership and creativity in promoting the partnership of arts and education.

A special Citation for Distinguished Service, including posthumous recognition, may be awarded at the discretion of the council.

Nomination forms will be mailed out on May 1, and due back at the NAC office on June 1. Please take this opportunity to submit your nominations for both the 1999 and 2000 Governor's Arts Awards. and plan to join un on November 7th. Questions? Please call Susan Boskoff at NAC.

The Council's Governor's Awards Committee met in early March to select the two artists who will create the awards given to the 1999 and 2000 GAA recipients this November.

For 1999 recipients, Reno artist Michael Greenspan will create plaster tablets using traditional fresco techniques, employing plaster and encaustics as well as a variety of nontraditional materials and processes. Greenspan's work is featured in New American Paintings, recently published by Open Studios Press. He is represented by Lisa Harris Gallery, Seattle: Stremmel Gallery, Reno and Parchman Gallery, San Antonio.

Gail Rappa, from Tuscarora, will create miniature books for each of the 2000 Governor's Arts Awards recipients. Each book will have a gold and sterling silver cover with varied designs and copper pages embossed with a quote. Rappa has studied with master jewelry designers around the west and currently teaches jewelry making at the Tuscarora Pottery School; and at the Great Basin College in Elko.

To accomodate midyear budget cuts, the Nevada Arts Council 1998 Annual Report will be combined with the 1999 Annual Report, and distributed in August. Grant and program statistics for FY97 (July 1, 1996 - June 30, 1997) are available now. If you would like a copy, please call 687-6680.

Dale Erquiaga was named Acting Director of the Nevada Department of Museums, Library and Arts by Governor Kenny Guinn on March 15, 1999. He replaces Joan Kerschner, who is now director of the Henderson District Public Library System (see following story). Erquiaga most recently worked as director of marketing and community relations for the Howard Hughes Corporation in Las Vegas. Previously, he served as Nevada's Chief Deputy Secretary of State and Deputy Secretary of State for Elections.

Reflecting on his new positon, Erquiaga said, "I have an interest in everything the department does. I genuinely believe in public service and want to hjelp change the state for the better. I couldn't be more proud to serve Nevada in this capacity."

In 1996, Erquiaga was asked by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to serve as an election supervisor in the war-torn nation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. President Ronald Reagan appointed Erquiaga to the public affairs staff of the White House Conference on Small Business in 1995. Other positions include work with the American Red Cross, the Nevada Society of Certified Public Accountants and Bill Martin Public Relations.

Erquiaga edited the 10th edition of The Political History of Nevada and is currently collaborating with former State Treasurer Patty Cafferata and former Congresswoman Barbara Vucanovich on two books: a history of Nevada state treasurers and the congresswoman's memoirs.

Erquiaga holds a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from the University of Nevada Reno. A native of Fallon, Nevada, Erquiaga is the proud grandson of Basque immigrants and the father of two children. He plans to divide his time between Department offices in Carson City and Las Vegas.

After five and a half years as director of the Department of Museums, Library and Arts and 26 years as the Nevada State Librarian, Joan Kerschner accepted the position of director of the Henderson District Public Library System. There isn't enough room in this newsletter to list the successes of the Nevada State Library System under Kerschner's leadership. During her tenure as DMLA director and a member of the Governor's Cabinet, Kerschner thoughfully and methodically established visibility and respect for the newly created department. Please join us in wishing her the best in all her endeavors.

Dale Erquiaga announced on April 1 that Monteria "Monte" Hightower has been named as the new administrator of the state library and archives division, replacing Joan Kerschner. Hightower is currently the Regional Library Administrator for the Las Vegas/Clark County Library, a position she has held since 1994. She was Associate Commissioner for Libraries and State Librarian for Missouri for nine years before arriving in Nevada. She holds a Masters in Library Science degree from the University of Maryland and has held library positions in Seattle, Connecticut and Washington, D.C. In his announcement, Erquiaga said, "Monte brings a wealth of knowledge to this position, as well as the strength of will and sense of humor I am seeking to lead the division into the next phase of its development as a public institution." Hightower is expected to join the Department of Museums, Library and Arts in her new position on May 3rd.

Governor Kenny Guinn recently appointed Dr. Keith Boman of Las Vegas to fill Eric Strain's tenure on the Nevada Arts Council. As a leading cardiologist in Las Vegas for the past eighteen years, Dr. Boman has devoted his career to providing the most complete, compassionate and professional care possible to patients from all walks of life. He is a graduate of Ed W. Clark High School in Las Vegas, received his B.S. from the University of California, Santa Barbara and graduated from the George Washington University School of Medicine. While completing post-graduate training at UCLA, he co-authored the original edition of "Cardiology for the House Officer," the first handbook and guide for residents and interns entering the field of cardiology. He founded his solo practice in January, 1997, with the belief that medicine is an art as much as it is a science. The art, he believes, lies in knowing and understanding his patients as well as his craft. Dr. Boman's lifelong commitment to caring for people extends well beyond his medical practice. He devotes much of his time and energy to caring for the only community he has ever called home. Deeply involved in numerous charities, professional and community organizations, Dr. Boman helped found The Meadows School, the Las Vegas Performing Arts Center Foundation, and was instrumental in the relocation of the Nevada Ballet theatre (formerly the Nevada Dance Theatre).

Suzanne Channell, Community Arts Development Coordinato, recently served as a grants panelist for the Idaho Arts Commission, reviewing applications for Project Grants, Operational Support and School Connections. As well, Suzanne traveled to Little Rock, Arkansas in February to review Project Grants for the Arkansas Arts Council.

Andrea Graham, Folk Arts Program Coordinator, is serving on the Program Committee of the Public Programs Section of the American Folklore Society for its 1999 annual meeting in Memphis.

Jeanne H. Johnson, Folk Arts Consultant, has become a member of the State of the Profession Committee for the American Folklore Society, which is charged with reviewing and restructuring the AFS Annual Meeting.

Laura Rawlings, Arts in Education Coordinator, served recently as a panelist for the Idaho Arts Commission's Arts in Education Grants Program. Laura also assisted the Nevada Department of Education with development of the new performance standards for the visual arts.

Diane Bush, former director of the Contemporary Arts Collective, has taken a position as program supervisor with Clark County Cultural Outreach. Bush, a photographer and curator, brings a wealth of visual arts and program experience to her new job. She will coordinate the special arts education projects, the annual Children's Festival, the two county visual arts galleries and the residency youth summer camps.

Lesley Beardsley has returned to Reno as the Executive Director of Nevada Festival Ballet. With a background in the international world of dance. Beardsley's recent work has been on the corporate side, as Manager of Show Development and Project Manager for Universal Studios, Florida and Harrah's Sky City, Auckland, New Zealand: and Entertainment Company Manager for the MGM Grand Adventures Theatre Park, Las Vegas. Her dance associations in Nevada are extensive and varied, including Opus Dance Ensemble, Las Vegas Civic Ballet and Nevada Festival Ballet. As a professional ballerina and principal dancer, Beardsley has performed in London, Paris, Hong Kong and Australia with the Royal Opera Ballet.

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