State of the arts editor

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

I’m very happy to announce that Kris Vagner has joined the RN&R staff as our new arts editor. She’ll oversee, and often write, our arts features, like Art of the State and Musicbeat, as well as other stories. She actually had the job once before, for about a year circa 2004. Since then, she’s been one of our most reliable freelance contributors. If you’ve read us regularly over the last decade, you’ve probably come across her byline more than twice. For example, she wrote the Arts & Culture feature story about the Biggest Little Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence last week, and even more to the point, she wrote this week’s cover story. Check it out on page 13.

She’s arguably the best writer about visual art that we’ve ever had grace our pages. She writes about art in a way that’s critically informed and aesthetically astute without ever being stuffy, pompous or dry. She’s deeply invested in the local art community. She knows most of the local artists and gallery curators. And, as this week’s cover story demonstrates, she can also write about subjects not directly related to art with clarity and integrity.

We’re lucky to have her aboard.

Drop her a line at krisv@newsreview.com, congratulate her and tell her all about how you’re actually the best artist in town, and how she should really write a story about your paperclip-and-chewing-gum sculptures of giant birds. She loves that.

In other news, don’t forget to vote! Voting has begun for the RN&R’s Best of Northern Nevada readers’ poll. Now’s your chance to vote for Reno’s best personalities, businesses and cultural attractions. It’s the most prestigious local popularity contest, and the most popular local prestige contest.

Visit vote.newsreview.com/best-of-reno-2016 and get in on the action.