Salinas to give CCAI Nevada Neighbors talk

On Wednesday, the Capital City Arts Initiative will present a talk by Carson City’s Arts & Culture Director, Mark Salinas. His illustrated talk, Choices, Chances, and Changes, is part of CCAI’s ongoing Nevada Neighbors series and will take place at 6 p.m. at the Union restaurant, 302 N. Carson St. There will be an informal reception for Salinas preceding the event at 5:30 p.m. No tickets needed; the public is cordially invited.

Mark Steel Wool Salinas is the Director of Arts & Culture for Carson City and a governor-appointed Board Member of the Nevada Arts Council.

In his presentation, Choices, Chances, & Changes (The Soundtrack), Salinas will offer a multi-media glimpse into the personal journey, as arts administrator and contemporary artist, which led him from New York City to Carson City. Sharing audio and visual samples of his own choices, chances, and changes, his talk will provide a background narrative into his administrative approach to Arts & Culture for Carson City and Nevada. The first 20 attendants will receive a limited-edition CD soundtrack interpreting this journey.

Prior to relocating to Nevada in 2016, Salinas lived in New York City for 19 years where he acquired administrative experience at Pace Wildenstein Gallery, the Marian Goodman Gallery, the Brooklyn Art Museum, and the World Trade Center Site Memorial Design Competition.

Combining art world know-how and newly-acquired fashion degrees from New York City and London, Salinas then launched Arrows Up, a commercial design and fabrication business specializing in Retail Displays & Special Events. His “audience-as-ingredient” concept approach attracted clientele such as Chanel, Saks Fifth Avenue, Macy’s, Nike, Y3, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Zac Posen, and even Drag Queen Mimi Imfurst from RuPaul’s Drag Race reality television show.

In hoping to connect his Manhattan commercial success with his own Queens middle-class identity, Salinas founded 7Train Murals, a non-profit mural organization of volunteers assembled to revitalize vacant and vandalized public spaces in neighborhoods connecting Manhattan and Queens along the 7Train subway system. His work initiated more than 8,000 square feet of murals and collaborations with the Boys & Girls Clubs, New York University, St. John’s University, LaGuardia Community College, the YMCA, the U.S. Postal Service, and the Boy Scouts of America. His community service has been recognized by New York City Senators, City Councilmen, and the Mayor. Salinas was appointed to NYC Community Board 2 by Queens borough President Melinda Katz, serving on the Arts & Culture Committee.

Salinas is a practicing artist who holds degrees from Washington University in St. Louis (Sculpture), Parsons School of Design in New York City (Fashion Design), and Central St. Martins in London (Tailoring). He has been awarded public art commissions in Times Square, artist residencies in Scotland and France, and has written numerous successful grants including Carson City’s first National Endowment of the Arts Big Read Grant, awarded in 2017.

As part of his Nevada Neighbors activities, Salinas will give his talk to art students and faculty at an area high school and at Sierra Nevada College.

The Capital City Arts Initiative is an artist-centered organization committed to the encouragement and support of artists and the arts and culture of Carson City and the surrounding region. The Initiative is committed to community planning and building for the area’s diverse adult and youth populations through art projects and exhibitions, live events, arts education programs, artist residencies, and online projects.

The Capital City Arts Initiative (CCAI) is funded in part by the John Ben Snow Memorial Trust, National Endowment for the Arts, Nevada Arts Council, City of Carson City, NV Energy Foundation, Nevada Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities, U.S. Bank Foundation, and John and Grace Nauman Foundation.

For additional information, please visit CCAI’s website at arts-initiative.org.