On stage or back stage, the arts are Michael Hillerby's life

Petroglyphs outside Fallon symbolize how Michael Hillerby goes about administrating the Nevada Department of Museums, Library and Arts.

He's just as likely to scramble across the state's baked landscape or sing in a Nevada Opera production as he is to face up to the Legislature or shuffle papers in his office.

Hillerby takes a hands-on approach to managing the state's cultural affairs, as he likes to simplify the awkward department name.

Early in his tenure as the department's director, a business meeting with the Stillwater Paiute Tribe in Fallon evolved into a spontaneous invitation to head out right then to the Grimes Point petroglyph site east of Fallon.

He easily could have begged off and headed right back to Carson City after the meeting. Not Hillerby. He took the tribe up on the spontaneous field trip.

Hillerby appreciated the contrast of several-thousand-year-old art and airborne Navy jets nearby. He could equate the petroglyphs with his own efforts to carry out Gov. Kenny Guinn's orders for all departments to conduct a fundamental review of their operations.

"It suddenly hit me that we're so focused on what's essential to our department and that these petroglyphs were just as important to those people," Hillerby said.

"Just their day-to-day survival was a challenge, but they still carved petroglyphs into the rocks. Clearly, it was essential to them to leave a record for us. All this is great, but if we don't go out and see these petroglyphs we're trying to save, then what's the point?"

Hillerby, at age 35, has extensive experience with performing and arts administration. He started in sixth grade with clarinet. Hillerby wanted to play sax in the high school jazz band but so did everybody else.

"But nobody wanted to be a drummer. I did that for a long time," he said.

When Hillerby got to the University of Nevada, Reno he thought his performing days would have to give way to getting a "real degree."

"A friend in a psych class who was in the choir said 'You have an interesting voice. You should sing,'" he said.

Hillerby has sung ever since.

For 15 seasons, he has been part of the Nevada Opera chorus with occasional appearances in minor roles. The duties of the new job, however, kept him from the February opera production and he will miss the next production, but he sees himself back on stage in fall for "Madama Butterfly."

"Hopefully," he said.

Hillerby got an early start backstage as well.

"In high school, I ended up always being the person helping put things together, raising money, organizing band trips," Hillerby said.

He found a way to mix both in his college studies. He minored in music and earned his bachelor's degree in business with "classes that look like an arts administration background."

Hillerby worked for two years with a company that provides management services to nonprofit organizations. He then spent eight years with his father's lobbying firm, Hillerby and Associates.

Hillerby lobbied in front of the Nevada Legislature on behalf of an array of clients, including health care, insurance, architects and dental hygienists.

At the same time, he did contract fund-raising for Nevada Opera and twice served as the company's interim general director for one and a half years.

In 1998, Hillerby filled the newly created post of arts and culture manager for the city of Reno.

"They did a national search and hired me anyway," he said.

He helped produce and manage the Uptown, Downtown, ARTown Festival just as the summer event was emerging as a major attraction for Reno.

Hillerby's 20-month stint coincided with the $2.5 million rehabilitation of a 1910 school building in McKinley Park that became Reno's Arts and Culture Center in his last two months as culture manager.

The governor's office took note of his work and recruited Hillerby to become director of the Nevada Department of Museums, Library and Arts. Hillerby started Nov. 29, 1999.

"Michael Hillerby has a wealth of knowledge and a great passion for the arts and culture as well as a familiarity with the inner workings of state government," Guinn said.

Depending on how the political winds blow, Hillerby could be a long-time department head. He's young, loves living in Northern Nevada, and has reached the pinnacle in arts administration jobs in the region.

"There are not many states that have this combination of cultural activities at a cabinet level," Hillerby said.

The department brings together the Nevada State Library & Archives, the state museums, the historic preservation office and the Council on the Arts. Hillerby oversees a $13-million budget and 158 employees.

Hillerby believes his department is the key to helping people negotiate their way through the Information Age. Library staffers assist people sort through the Internet and museums that tell the story of the state.

"I want to see us make our museums a more important part of the community," Hillerby said. "I think we have to provide exhibits and educational opportunities that are important to people. I think our outreach to schools is vitally important. Its been passive in the past few years. We're looking for ways to get stuff out to schools."

Hillerby believes his parallel life as a performer and arts administrator give him an advantage in managing the state's cultural affairs.

"You are a better administrator when you have a background in the arts," Hillerby said. "It helps you keep focused on the fact that the job doesn't matter. It's the final product that matters. The only reason you're raising money is so the curtain can go up."