History buff's labor of love: Cultural Affairs Chief turned former hobby into career

Even though he has presided over the deepest budget cuts in department history, Mike Fischer says running the Department of Cultural Affairs is a labor of love.

"Once you get it, history is an addiction," said Fischer, who quit a lucrative dental practice in Douglas County to take the job.

Cultural Affairs consists of the Nevada State Library and Archives, museums including the Railroad Museum, the Nevada Historical Society, Historic Preservation Office and Nevada Arts Council.

Fischer said he has been a history addict since attending Reno High School when he and his mother dug up bottles and other artifacts. That led to research to find out when those artifacts were made and who made them.

"It was just a fun place to grow up," he said. "I love being a Nevadan."

He said he also loves helping residents become Nevadans and that his department is the key to doing that.

"I like to say we turn residents into citizens because when they start learning the history, they become interested in more than going home and going to work," he said.

Fischer said he thoroughly enjoyed his dental practice for 31 years.

"I still miss it. I miss the patients," he said.

Practicing dentistry in Douglas County, he said, allowed him to expand his involvement in the community and its history. He said it let him get to know the families there such as the Dangbergs and Settelmeyers who settled the area more than 100 years ago.

"There's a lot of history in our people," he said. "That's why I love the library and archives. This isn't the highest paying job in the universe. You do it because it's your state and you want to make it better."

The appointment as Cultural Affairs director was a chance to "turn my avocation into a vocation."

Fischer, 61, isn't done with the job yet. Gov. Brian Sandoval has named him acting director of Cultural Affairs.

Fischer said he isn't unique, that public service after a successful business or professional career has been a tradition in Nevada.

During the last Legislature, some of Fischer's divisions were cut by more than 40 percent.

"Museum people don't have a furlough day a month," he said, pointing out that those employees work a 32-hour schedule. "They have a furlough day a week."

Through those traumatic reductions, he said he has done everything he can to make sure those divisions, the services they offer and the historic collections survive until funding can be restored.

"I recognize these are difficult times, but keeping the essence of what we do is important," he said.

Fischer said, however, he understands there may have to be dramatic changes in this coming budget cycle.

He said he is working to make sure those divisions can be made whole when the economy permits.

For the public, he said, his challenge is to explain to people "the benefits of what we do."

"We're part of the solution," he said. "What we do can help out. What we do can help a tourist-based economy, especially in rural areas."

He said shutting down libraries and museums is a serious loss to a community.

Citing the proposed downtown project in Carson City, Fischer said arts and culture are also key to revitalizing downtown areas.

"You have to have the cultural attractions that make that downtown vibrant," he said. "Arts and culture are part of a healthy picture of a downtown economy. We weren't meant to drive through places. We were meant to walk, stroll and enjoy."