Nevada Humanities Awards
Reception: Wednesday, April 18, 4:30 – 6pm
Presentation: Wednesday, April 18, 6 – 8pm
at the Nevada Museum of Art
160 W Liberty Street, Reno, Nevada
Nevada Humanities Awards for Carson City
The Capital City Arts Initiative and Mark Salinas, Carson City’s Arts & Culture 
Coordinator, both received awards from Nevada Humanities. Sharon Rosse, CCAI Executive Director, will accept the award on behalf of the Initiative.
On April 18, 2019, the Nevada Humanities, a nonprofit state council affiliated with the National Endowment for the Humanities, presented its Friend and Champion of the Humanities award to the Capital City Arts Initiative and its Rising Star award to Mark Salinas.
Eleven recipients from the Silver State received a 2019 Nevada Humanities Award which recognizes the achievement of “extraordinary individuals and organizations for their outstanding contributions to Nevada’s communities using the tools of the humanities to strengthen and enhance the lives of the people of Nevada.”
Sharon Rosse said, “Nevada Humanities provides solid and ongoing support encouraging cultural enrichment throughout our state. CCAI is thrilled and honored to receive this award.”
Mark Salinas notes, “In my newly created position, I have been tasked with establishing a vision and structure to celebrate, promote, and nurture arts and culture in Carson City. Receiving this award is a recognition that Carson City is/I am on the right track. It is a reminder to keep taking risks and thinking big in terms of new possibilities for Carson City and Nevada.”
CCAI and Salinas also have another Carson City arts achievement in common. Within the past year, both the CCAI and the Carson City Department of Arts & Culture were each awarded grants from the National Endowment of the Arts. The NEA is the nation’s federal arts agency, established by Congress in 1965, to advance arts programming nationally including in Carson City.
The Challenge America Grant awarded to the CCAI will provide funds for a mixed-media exhibition opening in October by Las Vegas artist Justin Favela along with community engagement activities including artist talks plus a commissioned essay by writer Emmanuel Ortega. This is the organization’s fifth successful application to this highly competitive grant.
The Big Read Grant was only awarded to one recipient in Nevada and it provided for 30 days of creative community programming based upon themes found in an American novel. Salinas, in partnering with the Nevada State Museum and the Carson City Library, selected Charles Portis’ True Grit. Those events caught the attention of the Carson City Chamber of Commerce who named it ‘Best Event in 2018’.
Nancy Paulson, City Manager of Carson City welcomes the heightened state and national cultural awareness to Nevada’s capital. “This recognition promotes quality of life, downtown vitality, and community pride,” Paulson said. “Carson City is fortunate to have Mark Salinas and the Capital City Arts Initiative leading the charge in bringing a diversity of contemporary culture to our community.”
The Nevada Humanities Awards was held at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno on Thursday, April 18, 2019, with a reception that began at 4:30 pm; the awards program began at 6:00 pm. The awards presentations were preceded by celebratory poetry readings by Nevada poets. Space was limited. Tickets were $20. Purchase tickets to the award ceremony by visiting nevadahumanities.org by April 11, 2019.
top image: Carson City’s award recipients: Mark Salinas and Sharon Rosse
bottom image: Nevada Humanities award art 