The Barrick Museum at UNLV is now officially part of the College of Fine Arts, the school announced today. The news comes after Aurore Giguet, the museum’s program director and biggest proponent for the museum’s focus on art, kicked up the art component considerably and scheduled multiple rotating exhibits, something she began as a way to fill the void created by the Las Vegas Art Museum’s closure in 2009.

Until recently — the past three years — Nevadans have had a pretty easy time of it compared with our 49 sister states.

For decades, Nevada’s economy had a reputation for being bulletproof. It quickly rebounded from any economic downturn and continued to grow. A decade ago, Nevada was dealing with the slump after the 9/11 terrorist attacks but would quickly rebound and take off on a torrid pace of growth.

Once a natural history museum, the Barrick Museum on the University of Nevada Las Vegas campus has changed its focus to art in an attempt to fill the void left when the Las Vegas Art Museum closed its doors in early 2009.

If I had a dollar for every time I’d heard somebody suggest Nevada needs to diversify its economy, I’d have enough cash to build a major-league stadium, a high-tech video poker server farm, a solar energy plant big enough to power the entire West Coast and a high-speed train to Anaheim.

Confession: I find it hard to be optimistic about the state’s future.

There’s a lot to chew on in a 178-page report presented to the Economic Development Board on Monday, but that one stood out to me for its short- and long-term benefits.

Nevada’s most substantial look yet at economic development has produced an ambitious road map for diversifying the economy.

A new report aimed at guiding Nevada out of its economic abyss delivers the bad news first.