How Las Vegas is getting an art museum of its own
Las Vegas will hopefully be getting its very own art museum by the end of 2028, with Elaine Wynn and Roger Thomas championing the cause.
Wynn and Thomas, known for being interior designer for Wynn Resorts, joined Wednesday’s Las Vegas City Council meeting to secure land located in Symphony Park, while tearfully announcing plans for the museum, to be called the Las Vegas Museum of Art, as well as the architect for the project: Francis Kéré.
“We desperately need this [community],” Wynn, who co-founded Wynn Resorts with her former husband Steve Wynn, said. “It’s this concept — creating more community — that has inspired me to marshal one last effort of leadership to the city I love.”
The City Council approved entering into a partnership with the museum and the sale of 1.5 acres of land for a “less than fair market value.”
The 90,000-square-foot proposed art museum will include three exhibitions, gift shop, a cafe and an outside promenade, but no current plan for parking. The museum’s backers have until Jan. 6, 2027, to close on the land purchase and present financial details, but will most likely be sooner with plans to break ground in 2026.
The projected cost for the construction is $150 million, and the total campaign cost of $200 million, with plans to fund via grants, gifts, sponsors and donations. Prior to securing the land, organizers had already reached half of their funding goal. Additionally the museum will partner with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, alongside it’s director Michael Govan and where Wynn serves as co-chair.
Red Ridge Development will be the developers on the project.
Kéré was the first native African to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2022 — which Thomas called the “Nobel Prize of architecture”— and is known for his use of sustainable materials and architecture. The design for the museum will be inspired by Guardian Angel Cathedral located off the Strip.
“Francis is a man of the desert,” Thomas said. ”I believe that only a man of the desert can respond with full authenticity to designing an appropriate building solution for the American desert Southwest.”
Contact Emerson Drewes at edrewes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @EmersonDrewes on X.