Downtown venue to host arts center

The city of Las Vegas is repurposing the vacant former Eclipse Theatres building in the downtown Arts District into a multi-use arts hub. The new facility will house production studios, workforce training programs, and live performance spaces.

The project is driven by Third Street, a downtown nonprofit arts incubator. The City of Las Vegas Redevelopment Agency has approved a reimbursement agreement to fund the initiative. The total cost for the renovation and expansion is $7.4 million.

The City of Las Vegas is contributing $4.2 million toward the project. Private donations will cover the remaining balance of the budget.

Daz Weller, the founder of Third Street, stated that the project emerged from the needs of the local creative community. Weller previously worked as a theatre actor in Australia before moving to Las Vegas. He identified a lack of opportunities for local artists, which prompted him to establish the organization.

“We really have grown out of the cultural life of Las Vegas,” Weller said. He noted that the group signed a lease on the building at the end of last year after the property became available.

The center plans to mentor local talent through education partnerships with local high schools, the College of Southern Nevada, and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Weller emphasized the desire to nurture local skills rather than relying on outside hires. “Let’s stop importing our talent to serve our industry and actually nurture the talent that we already have here in the city to be able to provide the services that we need,” Weller said.

Jim D’Asaro, a founding board member and chair of the construction committee, is leading the expansion of physical capacity. D’Asaro has decades of experience in the performing arts industry, including roles in production and stage management and as executive director at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills. He stated that the new setup will allow the group to entertain larger productions and livestream events nationwide. “I think in the future we are going to have a much greater capacity to entertain larger productions where we are in this current setup somewhat limited,” D’Asaro said. Crews expect to break ground in approximately eight months to renovate the auditoriums. The doors are projected to open by summer 2028.