Support the arts

We earned an award that’s worth mention. It’s called the Vivaldi Award and is for “orchestrating the promotion of the arts.” John Murphy, the RN&R’s general manager, will receive the award at the 23rd Annual Business and the Arts Luncheon sponsored by Sierra Arts and the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority. He deserves it for his work on and off the job.

It’s nice to be recognized. But it wasn’t always like that. Our 10th anniversary is coming up this year. I wonder how many of you were out there when Mike Norris, Larry Henry and Bill Martin started the Nevada Weekly, this newspaper’s progenitor. I was the grid guy, paid $25 a week to do the music listings. Deidre was around, too. I think Miranda and Kelley were in braces.

I remember how many people said we would never make it—there wasn’t enough art in Reno to do a monthly newsletter, let alone an alternative weekly newspaper. There was hardly a theater community—Brüka wasn’t a year old, there was no Theater Coalition, no Lear. There was a small visual arts community, mostly made up of university types. There was no Artown. There was a monopoly daily newspaper that offered little arts coverage. The Nevada Museum of Art was an ancient seedling.

But somebody wanted more. Must have been you readers. You picked up the paper. You supported us by patronizing our advertisers. And by supporting us and our advertisers, you support the arts. For every ad you or your bosses buy, my crew gets room for a little more arts and news coverage—and the “community” grows.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to give this newspaper credit for the explosion of culture that has happened in Reno, but I know we were a part of it. And I know that because I remember what it was like before we came along. Do you?