Rita On The Road

Unknown Speaker 0:13
Broadcasting from the entertainment capital of the world. This is Rita on the road in Las Vegas. I'm your host, Rita Pardew on K you win V 91.5, jazz and more. Our mission for this program is to highlight the people in Las Vegas who work tirelessly at nonprofit organizations. On Part One, a conversation with Sonia Feldberg. Volunteer instructor and involved in community engagement with Ali, which stands for Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Part two, we are speaking with Dr. Han Sol, from the Marjorie Barrick Museum, and part three and informative discussion with KU when V membership manager, Monique e Scott, and now part 190 1.5, jazz and more. This is Rita with Rita on the road. And in studio today, our guest is Sonia Feldberg. She's a volunteer instructor, and also works with community outreach with an organization called Ali Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Let's talk about the history of this organization.

Unknown Speaker 1:30
So Ali was founded by a gentleman called Bernard Osher, and him and his wife have started this foundation were seniors. And it's open to the general public, but it is a lifelong learning institution. And it is part of most universities in the US. It is their choice to elect to form an ollie in their university system. We do all interact, act, but we are all independent. Each one operates a little differently, and it is funded through the OSHA foundation.

Unknown Speaker 2:04
This is wonderful. And there is actually an ollie here at UNLV. Correct?

Unknown Speaker 2:10
Yes, absolutely. And it's one of the biggest ones. So we do very well here and we have wonderful classes, from music to math.

Unknown Speaker 2:21
Well, that's what I heard that the classes can range from America's Great Lakes to Alzheimer's disease are from empowering. To learn more about your health or algebra, I mean, so many various topics. So where do you find all these instructors? We're all

Unknown Speaker 2:38
volunteers. Oh, my God is the program runs on volunteerism. And all the instructors do volunteer. We do have special guests on occasion that come in and share their expertise with us. But it is a volunteer program. And that's what I do. I'm a volunteer instructor. And I teach jazz appreciation. Wow.

Unknown Speaker 2:59
And I've heard some wonderful things about what you're teaching. So expound on that. Who all Do you have guest speakers come to your class, I

Unknown Speaker 3:09
have guests pretty much every week. So my class is like a mini concert every Wednesday afternoon. And they are learning about the history of the musicians or the singers journey into how they became who they are today. And also they perform.

Unknown Speaker 3:28
But let's name drop a little bit who are some of because these are professional musicians that are performing here in Las Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world. So let's name drop who's been in your class? So

Unknown Speaker 3:42
Jonathan current is he's marvelous. He's wonderful. He actually taught the class for a while. And I've taken it over. So we've had him a few times. Read a limb comes often. And we also have Christine Shabak, has come in Chadwick Johnson. So pretty much anybody you can think of that's out there working locally here in Las Vegas, we have in there and they do a few an hour and a half of what they feel comfortable doing. It's their time. Well, that

Unknown Speaker 4:16
sounds like very informative, but also has that personalized touch that they can share with your class, what their, what their journey was, what brought them into the field, and how they trained and then how they continue to market themselves and work. And that I think that's half the battle of being a full time musician. You may have the talent, but if you don't know how to connect a network, and from what I've heard, the beautiful thing about your class is that you're helping to build an audience that goes out and then show support for these musicians. Absolutely. Good job, Sonia. Good job. We try. Indeed. I guess we should give out Got the website? Because that's probably the best resource to find information. Yes. So the website would be in fact, I've got an email that how people can get in touch with you. It's ALi at. And that's actually spelling out that at spelt. So Ali at UNLV, and then that symbol for at@unlv.edu. So I'll repeat that that was a little confusing, as I was saying it, but it's Ollie at UNLV. And then that symbol for@unlv.edu. Got it right. There you go. It is. And we should also inform our listeners, let's give them a phone number 702774 Oli, and by the numbers, only that 6554. If you missed it, we'll be giving that email and the phone number again during this interview. Well, let's talk about where do you all meet. So

Unknown Speaker 6:02
we do presently meet at the paradise campus of UNLV. But we will be moving very, very shortly, pretty much across the street. And the new address will be 4350 South Maryland Parkway, which is just kitty corner from the campus, the actual campus. So it is next to the Nevada systems of higher education building off of Rochelle and Flamingo. And we will be there the next semester. We are officially moving over the break and we will be ready for classes in February.

Unknown Speaker 6:39
Terrific. And then that starts what February the 12. I think I I heard that it runs through April 26. Correct. Now in these classes is their homework. No, no homework, just lectures and then interacting with the other correct disappearance. Okay, yes,

Unknown Speaker 7:00
if they choose to go home and do some further retreat, research. That's it. But you know, it's more of a just a fun learning situation. And for knowledge and to meet people. It's also very social. So Oh, that's

Unknown Speaker 7:15
great, too, because we have a huge retirement community here in Las Vegas. And that is great. A nice opportunity to meet your neighbors so to speak. Yeah, I understand that it's available, you can get a rebel card that's I carry one because I work here at KU in V. But is that necessary? And what are the benefits of having a rebel card,

Unknown Speaker 7:41
so the rebel card is not necessary. You don't have to purchase one. But if you do, it does have many benefits. Because you will be entitled to anything a regular UNLV student is entitled to

Unknown Speaker 7:55
Oh, so using the library, and there's, and there's concerts all the time here, Pam Hall and fantastic. Well, I was thinking to I have, I noticed that your slogan or mission statement, whatever you want to say is learn, engage, and you're together. And that's I think you just summarize that by saying it is not only are you your lifelong learner, which is, for me personally, that's one of my goals. I want to be a lifelong learner, but you're engaging and learning new topics, and then hanging up, you're together. That's

Unknown Speaker 8:32
it, we have our new building. In fact, our new building on Maryland Parkway will have an actual break room that's much bigger than the one we have now. We will be sharing the facility with the UNLV outreach program, which we are a division of, and we will have a lovely break room, we will have many more rooms access to rooms for our classes. So that will be very helpful. Fashion classes syncs everything that you need for art classes, so it will really be very nice.

Unknown Speaker 9:05
Well the cool thing about your particular class is that probably after an artist has visited and shared about their career, you can all go together to see that that artists perform.

Unknown Speaker 9:18
And we did and we do we have many classes where they've come to see Jonathan at the Smith Center. And also we go to see Rita Lim and the Tuscany so we do enjoy our outings and

Unknown Speaker 9:29
I'm sure that the artists appreciates having building up their audience. Yes, so that is a positive as well. Well, I'm gonna give out that phone number one more time for our listeners. 70277 for Ali and Ali is spelled o l l i by the numbers only that'd be 6554 and the email address to get in touch with Sonya, if you have any questions would be Ollie that's o ll i and then spell out the word To add a tu in LV, and then use the symbol for at you in lv.edu. Got it? Well, thank you. Our guest for this episode has been Sonia Feldberg. From the ALI organization. Thank you so much. Thank

Unknown Speaker 10:19
you, Rita. It's been a pleasure. And we really want everybody to come out there, our new catalog will be coming out. And that's when you can register if you would be interested in coming to our program. And we would love to have everybody out there.

Unknown Speaker 10:32
And will this actually be for the spring semester? Correct. It'll be for the so the new catalog is coming out for the spring semester. Yes, which starts in February. Perfect. Well, thank you so much, Sonia Feldberg.

Unknown Speaker 10:52
And now, part 290 1.5,

Unknown Speaker 11:00
jazz and more. This is Rita on the road. And today I'm actually visiting at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art on the UNLV campus. And we're speaking with Deon Sol, who is the editor and curator of the museum. Welcome.

Unknown Speaker 11:19
I'm very happy to be here, Raisa, thank you for inviting me. Of course,

Unknown Speaker 11:23
I feel like this museum I visited before. And it's kind of like a best kept secret here on the UNLV campus. And it really needs to be shared with our listeners. So tell us a bit about the history. How long has this museum been in existence here in Las Vegas?

Unknown Speaker 11:44
Well, the building itself was one of the first buildings on the UNLV campus. So it dates back to 1967. At that time, it was a gymnasium. So if you'd been here, then you would be playing basketball or watching basketball. Later on, it became a natural history museum. So there was a lot of things here like stuffed birds and live lizards. Gradually, it began to get a couple of artworks being shown alongside the lizards and other things like that. Oh, my God, no, no. And eventually, about a decade ago, so round about 2011 2012, it transitioned full time into being a contemporary art museum, which is what it is today.

Unknown Speaker 12:25
I love it. I and I appreciate that you took me around to see some of the exhibits. Let's talk a bit about how do you choose these exhibits to come to the museum? That

Unknown Speaker 12:38
is always an exciting question. I mean, we we like to focus on things that are relevant to the community here. So as well as looking for artwork, that's just great artwork, interesting artwork, diverse artwork. We're also looking for ideas in the artwork that would potentially speak to people in Las Vegas, and in Southern Nevada. So for example, we've had shows that focused on the desert, oh, they focused on famous pieces of land art that are in the desert near here that are focused on conserving parts of the desert near here. We've got some work. So in there right now that use things like neon, so things that people who live in Las Vegas sort of casually see every day. And we look for artists who can reconfigure those things, and and do something with them that we don't see. Without that we don't see them doing when we see them out in the city. Exactly. Exactly.

Unknown Speaker 13:36
And are the artists that you're displaying their their work? Are they all Las Vegas artists? Or do you tap into other cities as well? And then they, or is it a collaboration of many, many artists, I guess, oh,

Unknown Speaker 13:54
yeah, we try to get a great mix. So we definitely do focus on local artists that's really important to us. We also look at artists who are outside Las Vegas. So we have artists in there right now, who are from Florida, from New York from Los Angeles. In some case, these are artists who've lived and worked in Las Vegas, and then move to those other places. So we say okay, if you want to take that Vegas spirit and show it in Las Vegas again, even though you're physically in New York, we'd love you to do it.

Unknown Speaker 14:26
Oh, that's wonderful. Well, you have such a variety of things that you're displaying here. And that's what I'd like to talk about what types of programs because I think children especially I'm a children's advocate, and I like to see children encouraged to not only creating their own art, but appreciating the creativity, how these different pieces come together. So what kind of programs do you offer that kids can get involved here in Las Vegas?

Unknown Speaker 14:59
Fabulous question we have, I mean, we have an art bar in our lobby, which is a collection of materials that anybody of any age can come and create with. So that is something that any child can do here at any time. We've also had a program called bus to the barrack, where we actively bring K through 12 classes to the barrack, we give them tours, we have structured hands on workshops for them, that has took a little bit of a hit through the pandemic, but we're in the process of bringing it back again. We've also had more focused collaborations with specific classes, we had one with Valley High School, just last year. And that was a group of students really focusing on a particular artwork, and making art of their own in response to it. And that was just a beautiful experience. Oh, I

Unknown Speaker 15:52
love it. So it's like, seeing an idea, and then just kind of, I'm coming from a music background riffing on the idea and creating their own. That's what I'm talking about. I love that. So the students can appreciate what it takes, you know, the creative aspect of it. I love it. What a great idea. That brings me to another idea about gosh, the outreach opportunities. So that was one high school, do you ever go out places and malls or festivals or anything like that? We

Unknown Speaker 16:29
we do whenever we can. We love outreach. We love doing it. We love being given opportunities to do it. We have done some you know, sometimes schools have evenings where the parents come Oh, right. Open Houses house. thing. Yeah. So we've we've done those at a couple of schools. Sometimes we don't have the time to do as much as we want. But yeah, we love it.

Unknown Speaker 16:54
Okay, well, we're putting it out there. Maybe there will be some opportunities after our listeners hear about this. What about volunteers? Are you do you need volunteers?

Unknown Speaker 17:04
We do absolutely take volunteers. We're a little bit full up right now. But if somebody is out there, and they do want to volunteer, we'd love to hear from them.

Unknown Speaker 17:13
All right. And speaking of that, let's give out a phone number. And how people can reach you and I jotted it down. I think this is it. I know it's right. 702-895-3381. And is there a website as well that we can direct our listeners to go find more information?

Unknown Speaker 17:33
There is it's www.unlv.edu/barrick Museum.

Unknown Speaker 17:40
Excellent. And we'll give that out one more time at the end of our interview today. What about the future? For me the fondness of children developing an appreciation of art. But what about teens and adults and seniors? What types of things do you think and you anticipate in the future that the museum might be involved in?

Unknown Speaker 18:03
I think in the future, we're looking like I said, kind of building back up that bus to the barrack program. So getting more K through 12 groups in here again, we also sort of have an open invitation for anybody to come and do a tour. So if there is a senior group out there, if there is a school group out there, they're very welcome to contact us. And we can talk to them about arranging a time for a tour. And our tours do come with optional workshops. So those are hands on activities that usually revolve around something to do with whatever exhibition is on at the moment. So you get to look at the art, talk about the art, and then make some of the art. We Excellent,

Unknown Speaker 18:45
excellent. You know what we need to give the hours of operation and the address how people can find you here. So when are you open? And I understand it's free entry

Unknown Speaker 18:57
is free. It's absolutely entry entry is 100% free. I mean, we have a donation box. We do love that button. If you'd like to come and just check us out for free at any time, please. Well, not at literally any time. We are open Tuesday to Saturday tend to five every day, you know apart from federal holidays. So closed on Sunday and Monday but otherwise we're open and

Unknown Speaker 19:21
the address how do we find you this UNLV campus has so many buildings and so where exactly are you located? If somebody puts it in their GPS, we are about

Unknown Speaker 19:34
right in the middle of campus. Oh, so if anybody out there knows the lead library, we are pretty much right in front of the lead. The easiest way to find us is to go down University Center Drive and then turn into the campus down Harmon Avenue. And that road dead ends in a parking lot and that parking lot is immediately outside our

Unknown Speaker 19:57
door. Excellent. So So once again the website unlv.edu/barrick newseum phone number 702-895-3381. We've been speaking with Deon soul, the editor and curator of the Marjorie Barrick Museum, anything else that you'd like to share with our listeners, because our time is escaping us?

Unknown Speaker 20:22
Well, since we've got a short period of time, I'll just say we love to see you here.

Unknown Speaker 20:26
Dionne soul, who is the editor and curator of the museum, thank you.

Unknown Speaker 20:36
As promised, part 390 1.5,

Unknown Speaker 20:43
jazz and more, this is Rita on the road. And this is a very special segment, because I have the opportunity right now to speak with one of my colleagues, Bo, Niki Scott, who is our K, u and v membership manager. Welcome Mo, Niki.

Unknown Speaker 21:01
Hey, Reed, thank you for having me.

Unknown Speaker 21:04
Well, I thought it was important that you come on board and explain what the business model is of Public Radio. Because we're not like every other station that you might hear on the radio dial, we have a specific way that we run things here. And I thought if you could kind of break it down. For our listeners, what is membership radio all about? Well,

Unknown Speaker 21:30
first and foremost, read it. It's listener, supported radio station. And what that means is that we survive through the support the financial support, specifically, of our listeners. And, you know, you don't find that on commercial radio stations, commercial radio stations depend on advertisers, we're on our station, you don't hear advertisers, you hear our supporters, even in the sense of businesses, the businesses donate to the station, and we say thank you with underwriting spots. And then twice a year we have membership drives where our listeners will donate money in any amount from, you know, say $5, all the way up to $5,000 or more. So that's how our business model runs. Well, while

Unknown Speaker 22:19
you're mentioning that. I know that you work so hard for those two times a year for a spring membership drive and a fall membership drive. But folks, you can do this any time and we're going to share with you the website kunv.org. I know that there's a page there that explains everything in more depth than what we're speaking about right now today. But you could do this anytime, right? Maneki. This

Unknown Speaker 22:45
is correct. And as you mentioned twice a year we do it big when we're on air we we interrupt programming, we interrupt those songs that people love. And we're asking for people to support and we have a certain goal that we're trying to reach. But throughout the year, we also have sustaining members that donate, let's say, $10 a month, I know how you have a subscription to something a podcast will we have sustaining members that will donate a certain amount every month, we have some that will do $10 We even have members that do $500 a month.

Unknown Speaker 23:17
And the cool thing about being a sustaining member, I think it would also be a cost savings, not only on your time because you don't have to keep thinking about it. You know, each year it just automatically renews. And then that also would be a savings for the station not having to send out billing and that sort of thing. So something for our listeners to consider becoming sustaining members as well as while we're on the topic, why should people support public radio, and specifically K you when V Wow,

Unknown Speaker 23:52
specifically K you envy because we support the students here at UNLV. And Rita, we support students that are in college throughout the state of Nevada, so you don't have to go to UNLV to come in and be trained by our professionals in the areas of broadcasting and broadcast journalism. I

Unknown Speaker 24:13
didn't realize that. Well, you probably have heard my my story, my personal testimony. I 42 years ago, I found UNLV. I was a singer in one of the big production shows here on the strip. And I came over to take just a couple of classes. And lo and behold, K u and v was here. And it launched an entirely second career for me. So I am extremely fond of this radio station because if it hadn't been for the supportive professors and the people working here at the station, I probably would have an entirely different life story. I'd be sharing. So I love this station. Folks. Let me give this website again. MK you in v.org. Not only are you supporting those students and what their future might be, but if you're a big jazz lover, what a legacy you could leave for the music that you love and becoming a member. And gosh, I guess there's all different types of donations that people can make them down. Tell us about the moneykey. So

Unknown Speaker 25:24
besides the monthly sustaining, you can donate a one time gift large or small. You can donate gifts of property. Oh, yeah, yeah, you can leave us in your state. You can donate by way of your employer matching. So there's a lot of employers out there that will match your donation. So we have a page on our website that you can go to and find out if your employer actually matches. If you're a faculty here at UNLV, you can have it come directly out of your your paycheck, and that way you don't you don't miss it at all.

Unknown Speaker 26:01
That is fantastic. Folks, there's so many ways that you can keep this radio station alive and well. K You in v.org moneykey, as our time is kind of getting away from us. Is there anything else that you'd like to share? You know that? What makes this so special for you as well? Yeah. What

Unknown Speaker 26:23
makes it special is the businesses that the community businesses that were able to support, many businesses could not afford to be advertised on commercial radio stations. But they can come here and we can get the word out for them about their businesses at a much more affordable rate.

Unknown Speaker 26:41
That's correct. So becoming a public radio supporter, and through the underwriting process. Awesome. Well, I think you've kind of summarized in a easy way to remember what the business model is of Public Radio. Thank you so much. That was Monique e Scott r k, you in V membership manager, and educating us about the business of Public Radio. Thank you.

Unknown Speaker 27:09
Thank you for having me, Rita.

Unknown Speaker 27:12
Thank you to our guests, Sonia Feldberg. With Ali Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Dion Sol, from the Marjorie Barrick Museum, and KU in the membership manager Monique e Scott. If you missed any portion of the program, you can find it archived on the K u when v.org podcast page until the next time, this is Rita Pardew with Rita on the road on 91.5 Jazz and more

Transcribed by https://otter.ai