The Brewery Arts Center (BAC) has been the art hub of Carson City since it first opened its doors in the historic Tahoe Beer brewing facility in 1976. 

Since then, it has offered decades of plays, music, and art classes to capital city residents. 

In 2023, Reno native Spike McGuire took over as Executive Director, and he said he and his team spent the first year simply keeping things as-is to learn the ropes, which they have kept as a go-to while taking over other community events like Sassabration and recently, the Silver and Snowflakes Tree Lighting festival. 

“Last year we didn’t make any changes, and that’s been something I’ve been trying to go by as we take on more existing events,” McGuire said. “I want to spend that transition year doing it just the way they did it the year before so we can really get in, understand the infrastructure and the foundation we’re working with.” 

With their first year of Silver and Snowflakes out of the way, McGuire said this year they soft-launched a new aspect of the event: the Vendor Row. BAC requested to shut down Curry from 2nd to 4th Street for vendors to sell holiday gifts and food trucks to serve hot food and drinks. 

McGuire said the idea is an extension of the Holiday Bazaar the BAC also hosts in November on its campus during which local vendors set up in the exhibition hall and the upstairs ballroom. 

“We really love vendors,” he said. “It’s a great way to showcase more artists and local makers, so we’re really excited we get to tie that into Silver and Snowflakes.” 

He said this year was a trial run, and they’re looking to really expand the market during the festival for next year. 

Sassabration becomes Nevada Pride

Sassabration, hosted by Sassafras in Carson City, has long been Carson City’s only large-scale Pride event, but it too has been handed off to the BAC. 

Starting this year, the date will shift back to Pride Month as the music-and-arts event has been held later in the summer for several years. 

“It was really important to the staff here to bring the event back to June,” McGuire said. “So it’s going to be June 13th, which will be the week before the first Levitt Amp concert. Which will be great for us because we’ll have the stage in place, and it’ll smoothly segue into the summer [concert series].”

McGuire said that the only real distinctive change to the event, which typically includes LGBT-friendly live musical performances and craft/art fair vendors among other Pride activities, is the name. Now that the event is being held at the BAC campus rather than Sassafras, it’s being changed to Nevada Pride. 

The reason, aside from the location change, is because they intend to bring in organizations from across the state — especially the rurals. 

“That’s what we really want to see is to have organizations from Yerington coming out, organizations from Winnemucca, anyone doing anything anywhere. We want them to all be a part of the event, and our social media manager is really doing a great job tying in with all the prides across Nevada, especially reaching into those rural communities.” 

Tamale Festival

This year marked the second annual Tamale Festival, which McGuire said has undergone significant changes after the first year. Namely, because it was such an instant hit — meaning tamales were flying off the shelves, and most vendors had run out within just a couple of hours last year. 

“Last year we thought, ‘oh it’s a first-year event, we’ll get a little crew out and that’ll be cool,’” McGuire said. “And then, so many people came out. Suddenly, thousands of people were here. We had it upstairs in the ballroom, and trying to get people up and down the stairs, it was just a crazy bottleneck.” 

This year, they dedicated the full campus to the event and expanded the festival to include a range of children’s activities and events in partnership with the city, as well as live musical entertainment and expanded artisan crafts, and of course — more room for the star of the show: the tamales. 

New events coming this year

Carson City Lights 

New this year will be Carson City Lights starting in early February. 

McGuire said the event, which will run from Feb. 6-14 at Mills Park, is based around an art installation created by Reno-based artist Pan Pantoja. 

“He made this structure that’s something like 100 feet long and 50 feet wide and 20 feet tall,” McGuire explained. “The structure is wrapped in vinyl and filled with projectors, so it’s 3D projections on all of the walls of this temporary structure.” 

He said the experience is meant to be fully immersive, with only a designated number of people allowed in at one time. While being able to experience the inside of the installation will be a ticketed event, McGuire said there will also be several light sculptures installed on the outside open to the public. 

There will also be two special events during its residency at the park: a silent disco and a Valentine’s Day event. 

For those unaware of the concept, a silent disco is a dance party in which attendees dance to music coming through headphones rather than being blasted over speakers. 

For the Valentine’s Event, the details are still being formed, but McGuire said they’re leaning toward something classic like a candle-lit string quartet or something similar. 

50-year Gala

McGuire said that while the BAC used to host Galas in the past, it’s been quite some time since one was held. 

“But since we’re in the 50th anniversary, this will be a great time to do that,” McGuire said. 

The 50 Year Golden Jubilee Gala will include dinner by celebrity chef Mark Este and yet-to-be-announced celebrity entertainment. 

McGuire said they debated where to host it, but given the celebration is for the anniversary of the BAC, they opted to simply keep the event limited and intimate and host it on campus with dinner in the ballroom and move people through the space to experience other event offerings. 

Ticket sales for the event will begin in January, and the Gala itself will take place on April 11. 

Expanding education

While the BAC is well known as a space for going to a play or attending a concert, one avenue that McGuire said they are very interested in expanding is in education — everything from adult art classes to one-off kids’ craft courses, music lessons, and everything in between. 

“We are very interested in people bringing ideas to us,” McGuire said. “We are highly interested in expanding the education department — there are a total of six staff [at the BAC], and only three of us are full-time. So it’s a lot of plates to keep spinning.”

McGuire said this makes it a challenge for BAC staff themselves to go and hunt up instructors or new courses, but they are always open to those who are interested in hosting classes. 

“That’s how most things take shape at the BAC — somebody comes to us with an idea, and we talk about how we can facilitate it and make it happen,” McGuire said. 

All instructors keep 70% of the total proceeds from their courses, with 30% going to the BAC for facility fees and space rental. 

A new education coordinator is in the process of being onboarded into the new position. They have background in fine arts and recently moved to the area. 

“So I will say that there are about to be big expansions in the education division,” McGuire said. “He’s got an amazing resume and experience in putting together education programming; I think more on the adult end, but we do want to expand on the children’s end, too.” 

Volunteers needed

Many may be surprised to learn that the BAC only has three full-time staff, but that’s because they have such excellent support through their volunteer network. 

“The BAC relies very heavily on volunteers,” McGuire said. “When we do [Levitt AMP] summer concerts, we have between 20 and 30 volunteers.” 

He said they are about to make a big push for more volunteers and to streamline their database to make communications easier and clearer, but volunteers are always being sought and are always very welcome. 

“We’re very flexible on what people want to do and when they want to do it,” McGuire said. “We ask some basic questions about days and times, what skill sets you have, what you’re interested in, and then we figure out how we can plug you in.”  

You can send in an interest form here. 

Looking forward

McGuire said they have exciting projects planned for this year and looking into the future for the BAC, but they’re keeping tight-lipped until the gala in April. 

But he said the community can expect not just exciting changes to the classes and events happening, but to the campus itself! 

You can keep up to date with the BAC by visiting https://breweryarts.org/, and we’ll have more information coming soon on all the happenings coming soon to the BAC! 

You can also check out our events calendar with upcoming BAC classes below: 

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