Worldwide interest in Carson City cultural position

Four dozen people from all the over the country and as far away as Australia have submitted applications for Carson City’s new arts culture coordinator job.

“Recruitment closed on Friday and we got 48 unbelievable applicants,” Joel Dunn, executive director, Carson City Visitors Bureau told the Cultural Commission Tuesday.

The Carson City human resources department conducted the recruitment process.

A job notice was posted on the city website May 20 with a deadline of June 19 to apply.

The position is being created as part of Carson City Arts and Culture Master Plan adopted by the Board of Supervisors in March.

It’s a full-time job with an advertised annual salary between $57,113.06 and $85,669.58.

Dunn said there was some concern the detailed and extensive job description wouldn’t attract enough qualified job applicants.

“The opposite happened,” Dunn said.

The applications are now being reviewed by a panel consisting of Nick Marano, city manager; Supervisor Karen Abowd, who’s also on the Cultural Commission; Stan Jones, who also sits on the commission; Christine Fey, resource development and cultural affairs manager, the City of Reno; Susan Boskoff, executive director, Nevada Arts Council; and Dunn.

Dunn expects the field to be narrowed down to six to eight applicants, who will be brought here for a day of interviews by the panel in July.

The applicants will also make presentations at a public meeting that evening to be held at the Brewery Arts Center and Dunn said feedback from the public will be sought.

An offer letter will go out soon after and the city will hope to have someone in place after a 30-day notice period.

If an applicant from outside Nevada is hired, Dunn said the city hopes to retain Fey to get the new hire up to speed on the northern Nevada arts scene.

But, he said there were also qualified local candidates.

The commission plans to take a tour of the Stewart Indian School once the arts and culture coordinator is on the job.

The commission also received an update on the Downtown 20/20 Group’s project to design historic entranceway arches to be installed at the intersections of Carson and William streets and Carson and 5th streets.

Sam Flakus and Matt Schilling, the project designers, presented preliminary designs of an ironwork and filigree arch, with some sandstone veneer, they said complements the architecture of the Nevada State Capitol.

The commission raised questions about whether the arches would accommodate Nevada Day floats and the designers said they could be designed for an adequate height. Claudia Vecchio, director, Nevada Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, who was introduced as the commission’s newest member, said the plan needed to be fleshed out with cost estimates and other details.

“This is a nice start,” she said.

The commission also sent back the draft design of the cover art for the Arts and Culture Master Plan for revisions and heard an update on the Focus on Carson photography banner, 5 by 50 feet, that’s being hung on the fence around the Hop and Mae Adams construction site at Curry and Telegraph streets.