Newsgroup: it.fan.startrek
Titolo: Star Trek: The Experience

Sembrava dovesse chiudere per sempre, invece risorge a nuova vita.
http://www.inbusinesslasvegas.com/2008/11/07/retailreal.html
Star Trek, art find new home
By Mark Hansel / Staff Writer
The eclectic mix of new businesses at Neonopolis runs the gamut from the
historic to the futuristic.
A diverse collection of restaurants, an upscale nightclub and the
Spanish-language television station Telemundo are part of the venue that
features a fine art museum, an arts center and soon plans to add the Star
Trek Experience.
The Southern Nevada Fine Arts Museum, which opened at Neonopolis last
month, includes a wide selection of art from the 19th and 20th centuries,
as well as contemporary, regional and local art.
The museum's Barbizon School exhibit features a private collection by the
school of painters named for Barbizon, France. The painters, such as
Theodore Rousseau and Jean Francois Millet, were part of a movement toward
realism in art in the 19th century and flourished from 1830 to 1870.
Downtown art: Joseph Palermo, director of Southern Nevada Fine Arts Museum,
stands in front of an exhibit of Barbizon School paintings at Neonopolis
Oct. 17.
SAM MORRIS / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The museum, which is privately funded, is envisioned as a place where
residents and tourists can experience art for a small fee.
Admission is $3 a visit or $20 for a one-year charter membership with
unlimited visits.
"The admission cost is really nominal," said Joe Palermo, the museum's
executive director. "This was really done with the community in mind."
Palermo has been in Las Vegas since 1963 and says there has always been
plenty of entertainment in the city, but culture has been lacking. After
more than four decades as an artist in town, Palermo was determined to
contribute more than just his creations to the Las Vegas art scene.
"When you reach a certain level in life, and you are involved in the arts,
you reach a point where you want to give back," Palermo said. "Las Vegas is
a great city, and we want to make sure it has all of the things that other
great cities have."
The Southern Nevada Fine Art Museum is new to Neonopolis, but not to the
valley. It opened in 2003 and most recently was in Henderson. Palermo
thinks it has found a permanent home.
"This is a great place for a museum," Palermo said. "We have solid support
from the community as well as from the folks at Neonopolis."
The museum plans to house about four exhibits a year. The inaugural
exhibition includes 20th century modern masters; works on paper from 1920
to 1945, Neo Action Abstraction with works from 2000 to the present and
work by Andrzej Gieraga, a Polish artist, described as a light dramatist in
geometric forms.
The Southern Nevada Center for the Arts is a working artists' showcase.
Located in the old food court, the center will be open to the public.
Several spaces will have windows facing the courtyard. Visitors will be
able to not only view the works of the artists, but also view the artists
at work. Each of the 30 spaces, which have all been leased, will be an art
studio. The 44 artists - some share a space - are a mix of local, national
and international artists working in variety of media.
Carl Corcoran, the center's director, said the idea is based on the Torpedo
Factory Art Center in Arlington, Va. That facility, which was a torpedo
factory, has 500,000 visitors each year.
Corcoran is a working local artist and has leased a space at the center.
Corcoran plans to reach out to the Clark County School District to arrange
field trips for students to both facilities. The hope is that exposure to
the arts will generate interest that will ultimately help the local arts
community flourish.
Exposure to the arts: Carl Corcoran, director of the Southern Nevada Center
for the Arts, in front of what will be his studio in Neonopolis.
SAM MORRIS / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
"We are planning an extensive community-outreach program," Corcoran said.
Rohit Joshi, the owner's representative at Neonopolis, said the art
facilities will draw traffic to Neonopolis and to businesses in downtown
Las Vegas as well. For sometime Joshi has trumpeted the idea that
Neonopolis stood a better chance of success if its merchants generated,
rather than relied on, foot traffic.
"Businesses that depend on the traffic that is here now would probably
always have a hard time," he said.
Now that the focus will shift to attractions as primary tenants with
restaurants and retailers as recipients of that draw, the outlook for
Neonopolis should greatly improve.
The biggest draw could be the Star Trek Experience, which recently
completed a decadelong run at the Las Vegas Hilton.
"The museum and the arts center will represent the past and the present and
the Star Trek Experience will represent the future," Joshi said.
The Star Trek Experience will have five components and most elements could
be completed next year, when a new Star Trek movie is scheduled for
release. Just as the new movie will have some familiar characters in some
unfamiliar roles, the Star Trek Experience will be similar but different
from its predecessor and includes significant upgrades.
There will be a food and beverage component, which will include a
restaurant and lounge and a retail area with merchandise from all
incarnations of the Star Trek concept. Star Trek fans are incredibly loyal
and if the latest movie sparks yet another generation of supporters, the
retail element could be very successful.
A museum that explores the entire history of Star Trek is also planned.
There will also be a 4-D movie theater designed to be an interactive
experience with high-tech seats that will stimulate the senses.
"They will recreate sights, sounds and smells and take your body traveling
through space," Joshi said.
The final element will be simulators - rides that are two levels high in
Neonopolis' center court.
Although the project seems ambitious, especially in a down economy, Joshi
says he has the backers to pay for the project and also the go-ahead from
CBS Pictures, which owns the licensing rights to Star Trek.
There is an ironic twist to the turnaround at Neonopolis.
In April 2007, Las Vegas officials, dissatisfied with the progress at
Neonopolis, secretly met with representatives of General Growth Properties
about the possibility the Chicago-based real estate investment trust might
purchase the structure.
Joshi was completely blindsided by the negotiations and expressed
frustration the city would engage in the backroom discussions.
General Growth ultimately decided not to pursue the purchase, and Joshi
continued his efforts to fill the structure.
Now, as Neonopolis appears poised for success, General Growth is in dire
financial straits and has announced plans to sell its three Strip
properties: the Fashion Show mall, the Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian
and the Shoppes at the Palazzo. The company has postponed plans to become
the retail partner at Echelon Place and has delayed the opening of a
project in Summerlin.
If the city had been successful in its General Growth negotiations and
Joshi had been forced out, Neonopolis might be looking for new owners and
still seeking tenants, instead of seeking new life (and new civilizations).
Mark Hansel covers retail and real estate for In Business Las Vegas and its
sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. He can be reached at 259-4069 or at
han...@lasvegassun.com
.
-- 
Jolan Tru
Filippo "Hytok" Simone
http://perestroika.iobloggo.com/

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I visited the Hilton the former home of the star trek exhibit and it
is very change not to see it. The Hilton did a great job in removing
the exhibit and blending the remaining walls and atmosphere in more
slots.
Several people were inquiring and about the potential new home at the
Neonopolis, so we will see!
Karen
www.lasvegasstripondvd.com