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Rachel Gomez, CEO of the Arts, Creative & Entertainment Chamber | Circuspreneur Podcast Ep.113
29 Plays2 months ago
#SmallBusinessSupport #CreativeEconomy #FutureOfArts #ArtsAndBusiness
In this episode of the Circuspreneur Podcast, host Shenea Stiletto sits down with Rachel Gomez, CEO of the ACE Chamber, for an in-depth conversation about leadership, advocacy, and the future of the creative economy.
Rachel Gomez brings a powerful perspective at the intersection of arts, entrepreneurship, and community building. As CEO of ACE Chamber, she works closely with artists, small business owners, and cultural leaders to strengthen advocacy, access, and economic opportunity for creative professionals.
This episode explores what it really means to support artists beyond the stage through policy, infrastructure, and intentional leadership. Together, Shenea and Rachel discuss how chambers, creative organizations, and artists themselves can collaborate to build sustainable careers, stronger communities, and a more resilient arts ecosystem.
Whether you’re an artist, entrepreneur, arts advocate, or policymaker, this episode offers a grounded, forward-looking look at how we move the creative economy forward together.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:00:03
Speaker
Hi everyone. Welcome back to the Circuspreneur podcast. I am your host, Sine Stiletto. I want to give a big shout out to our sponsor, Stagelink.com and welcome to the podcast, Rachel Gomez. She is the CEO and founder of the ACE Chamber. Welcome to the podcast. Oh, thank you so much, Sine. I am so excited to be here. Thank you so much for
What is the ACE Chamber?
00:00:26
Speaker
inviting me. The ACE Chamber, a lot of people aren't familiar with it. ACE actually stands for arts, creative entertainment. And it's the first business hub for our creative community here in Las Vegas. Actually, we write we represent all of Nevada, but our growth and so much of our impact is here locally in Las Vegas. So we thought, you know what? I think it's time for us to have our very own business chamber to support and to help our creative community grow. And so I look at you you and and circus arts and all the advocacy work that you are doing and how exciting is that? You know, sometimes we take it for granted and it's like circus arts, that's its own art form. And we look at it everywhere here in Las Vegas and the beautiful costumes, designs, performances from these artists. And we're just so excited to have you as part of as part of Ace Chamber.
Celebrating One Year of ACE Chamber
00:01:20
Speaker
So thank you. Well, thank you. I'm so like grateful. you know i loved the discussion that we initially had you know when you were starting the Chamber. This is the one year celebration. an anniversary of starting the age chamber. So you hit the ground running, Rachel. It's been a really big effort getting the age chamber off the ground, you know, and being a part of this initial phase for me has been really fascinating and a really, you know, awesome opportunity to vocalize support for the circus arts industry because you are here to serve the local industry.
Supporting Local Artists and Cultural Identity
00:01:51
Speaker
Can you speak a little bit about supporting locals? putting local circus artists first and local creatives first. Absolutely. You know, when we look at the growth of Las Vegas, I do a lot of different things, whether it's I have a technology company, I'm a business advisor, but really my heart and my passion is in the arts. is in the creative world, right? And so um when we look at Las Vegas and the growth of Las Vegas, we know we're trying to compete in a lot of areas. We have tourism, we have world-class entertainment, um and now we have professional sports teams. And so what is the key thing that's missing that exists in all the other major metropolitan regions and that's cultural
Creatives as Business Owners
00:02:34
Speaker
arts. And though we have arts as part of entertainment, we haven't really had a chance to hone in and focus and identify and actually create as an identity for Las Vegas. So that was kind of the thought behind the chamber and kind of putting on the business hat, right, the entrepreneurial hat. right um It also offers us the chance to work with our creative community to help them think like business owners, because at the end of the day, creatives are all business owners as well. right Or circuspreneurs, right? Circuspreneurs, I love that!
00:03:08
Speaker
I love it! And that's what we're all about on this podcast because we are small businesses. And so many times, I think folks forget that we're industry. that we're workers, that we're small businesses. And then focusing on that for our industry has been you know a really big push for the Circuspreneur podcast in giving you know workforce skills and you know and and and and I think instilling that capacity inside of circus industry workers that you are a business and that you know the same way that you would develop any other business is the same way you should be looking at your own career and
Industry-Specific Support and Initiatives
00:03:44
Speaker
defined in that way. So can you discuss a bit of the workshops and the different resources absolutely that you know are offered through Ace Chamber and then how you see those evolving and changing as the Chamber grows in support of the local creative and entertainment communities here in Las Vegas and in Nevada. Right? Oh my gosh how exciting is that? So when I first started just about a year ago I did reach out to some of my connections like it at the film office other local you know theater owners and creatives. And I thought, you know, um I'm actively involved with other business chambers in town, um but when they ask about the creative community, they're always, Rachel, will you head our entertainment committee, which meant helping to provide free
00:04:28
Speaker
talent and performances." And it's like, okay, well, I think we're a little bit more than that, right? And so when I spoke to my connections, I thought, hey, what do you guys think about having our own chamber? I know there are a couple of other industry segments in town that have their own business chamber to support specifically ah that industry. Like weddings? ex Exactly, like weddings, exactly, exactly. And so um they were like, you know what, I think that's a really great idea. So just sort of put it together, put all these initiatives down in terms of what are really our goals. One obviously is increased visibility, um increased ticket sales, professional development was a really big one. So thank you so much for hitting on that.
00:05:11
Speaker
When I think about professional development, right, we look at our town and we think, okay, there's opportunities for us to grow ah based on the size of the shows, right, the talent that's coming into town um and kind of connecting on that level.
00:05:29
Speaker
But really, what do we have in terms of professional development for our own skill sets? oftentimes creatives are multi-creatives. Very much so. Right? And so if that's the case, ah you know, we run into um talent artists, actors,
00:05:46
Speaker
ah you know, on screen. And they're also writers and directors and filmmakers. We have to do it all. We have to do it all, right. Especially nowadays. Exactly. Exactly. And so really the idea was what does our industry, not just industry, but our creative community locally, what do we really need? Because Las Vegas is very different from Hollywood, from New York, from some of the other major regions. And so in speaking with our local creatives, you know, these were some of the things that they're really
Leadership and Representation in Arts
00:06:14
Speaker
wanting to see more sustainable opportunities, right? um
00:06:19
Speaker
If they are thinking in terms of, you know, forming their LLC, putting that business hat on, right? Because now we're talking about tax deductions and all of these things that a lot of creatives, it's the opposite side of the brain. They don't want to deal with that, right? It can be so hard and so demanding because we're such a niche field, right? Absolutely. people know like how we move and shake. Absolutely. So it was interesting. it was one of our first professional development workshops. We actually had somebody come in to talk about the business side of things and financial advising and tax preparation. And I saw you know pens to paper, like quick notes. Okay, can you please repeat that? You know?
00:06:58
Speaker
And it was, um I could see that it was information they were craving. Like they knew some of it, but they they don't sit in that realm. And so sometimes they feel really far removed from it and they don't have the confidence to be able to um to handle those tasks for one, and then second, to really think of it as a business. Right, it can be intimidating.
00:07:17
Speaker
Right. And so that was really kind of the goal was what does our creative community need? What do the individual freelancers need? What do our small businesses need in this community? And let's um let's just offer it up. And so here's the thing with the chamber is that as with all chambers and then our chamber in particular, we would be absolutely nothing. We would be able to get nothing done unless we have industry experts oh right on our board. So I'm so proud that we are, this is our our inaugural year, the end of our first year, and we have 15 very strong members on our advisory board. The board is awesome. Yeah, so really incredible and really covering all different segments, because that was the goal for the chamber. We have a lot of arts organizations in town who do really wonderful things, um but oftentimes they represent a specific segment in the
Union-Like Support for Circus Arts
00:08:11
Speaker
arts. And so our goal was really
00:08:14
Speaker
what, let's identify what all of the different segments are and let's see who the leaders are in those segments and let's start leading from that leadership space. yeah like I know that sounds redundant, but yeah. No, but it makes so many so much sense and there's so many ah sectors that don't have adequate representation. absolutely Folks think that we're overtly represented just because you see us in the big shows, you see us on the billboards. You know, we discussed how, you know, the local industry for circus arts does not have a union. And the goal of the Circus Arts Guilds of America that I also founded has been advocating for moral rights, has been doing policy pushes and really trying to get more representation that some of the other maybe creative or art spaces do have. But you were like, this will be a hub for those art sectors that don't feel like they have that strong voice locally and then expanding also to into the national level, which has been the work of the Circus Arts Guilds of America. So I love that really spoke to me when we had that conversation that spoke to me because that's the I think conversation that we have so much in our industry. Not necessarily doing that like, is it going to be an official union? But there that union representation, those union tools, those union capabilities, things of that nature. And you're able to do and facilitate similar things with the chamber, which I think is important to communicate that to folks that maybe aren't fully aware of what a chamber can do and what they can facilitate. Right, Rachel? Absolutely. And I love that because again, you know, there we have so many different segments in our industry. We don't really think about each of them as being an individual. Right. You know,
Building a Cultural Arts Identity for Las Vegas
00:09:45
Speaker
talent or skill set. But when you sit and you watch a performance, you know, it's funny. We watched Wicked. We watched Wicked this last. Yeah. I won't give a critique on it yet. okay yeah know spoil But I will say that it was singing along. Yeah. We know all the songs. But at the end, um at the end, I was like, we have to stay for the credits. And my partner that I was with, he was like, why? Who are you looking for? And I said, everybody. i said, now everybody. Because the thing is, when you watch the credits, you see how much goes into, yeah right? So at least in film, you get to see that. And a lot of our live performances, we don't get to... a chance to sit and wait and watch all of the credits to see how much is involved in these productions. right And so that's really the whole point of the Chamber is let's celebrate all of these different things, these different pieces that make up this beautiful art form. right right And let's just celebrate it. Let's come together, figure out what you need for support. Let's figure out what we need to help grow the industry, grow our economy, our creative economy here in Las Vegas.
00:10:51
Speaker
um And let's see if we can grow it to become a cultural arts identity so we can compete yes with all of the other major metropolitan regions, right? That are cut down. Yeah. And where they say, nah, Las Vegas isn't quite there yet. Right. Right. And we've got professional sports teams. All of them coming. Tourism, entertainment. And we just need that to fine tune yes that additional identity for Las Vegas. And it's great to, you know, throw our sector into that ring so when those important conversations are happening, folks don't beat feel left out. When the sports communities and the arenas, all those things, because we all interact with each other, you know, you'll see circus in the arenas for the sporting events. You'll see us in all of those industries coming through. I mean, there's overlap even with UFC, for example. You know, like I did the MMA awards as a circus performer, right? again, we want to make sure that we are at the forefront of those big conversations happening. So, you know, when they're having, you know, their names and, you know, all those sectors in life, we want to make sure that the arts and then all the niche art forms, I think, are represented in that way. And I'm i'm grateful
Chamber Committees and Advocacy
00:11:57
Speaker
to be on the advocacy ah committee. I am vice chair with Sarah, a you know, founder of Eat More Las Vegas. Eat More Art Vegas, right? Right. I want to say that right. Sorry, Sarah.
00:12:09
Speaker
And I think it's so amazing everyone coming together and getting more of our voices on these committees, a part of these environments, so that we can have so many diverse minds within the conversations that we're having inside of the chamber. We don't just want one representative, everyone. We want multiple voices. So that if you feel like this is my perspective from circus, this is very relevant. We want to make sure that we hit that too. We want to hit all of those marks because we are a very multifaceted environment, industry on you know a local level and then also too on a national and international level because that is our industry. And we want to speak to all those components. I think sometimes when people think local, they think that it can maybe be a little bit stifled. right But I think we want to also show that there are a variety of voices that can speak to those different nuances within our particular sectors. I think that's very important to remind folks and then also to not make it so macro that you're like, where am I defined in this? sure Can I just walk through the door and be a part of the chamber?
Challenges and Goals of Starting the Chamber
00:13:10
Speaker
Yes, you can. Right? Absolutely. And you know, what you brought up a really great point. And and I was going to get to that. I was going to get to that one of you.
00:13:19
Speaker
Because Rachel's got it all, everyone. But one of your questions was um about this being our inaugural year yeah and kind of what the vision was for the rollout, right? Because it's a big in-dep endeavor. When you look at the other business chambers, they've they've been around for a long time, right? And our arts community has been around for a long time. But kind of combining these efforts and creating it as this business hub to support our community is new.
00:13:46
Speaker
And just like a startup business, right, it all takes time and yeah some of that is trial and error but you have to have clearly defined goals in place. And so we did talk about some of the those goals with increased visibility, increase in ticket sales, um and then professional development workshops. But how do we do that? How do we get there? And so really the goal was um let's create committees.
Engagement with Local Government
00:14:09
Speaker
right Right? And from the committee, so every board member um sits on a committee, which is kind of the the vision and the goal, right? So that way, whatever they feel they are most tied to, most aligned with from an effort standpoint, and everybody's busy, yeah just so you just so your audience knows,
00:14:29
Speaker
um Everybody's volunteer, nobody's compensated for anything, so this is really just out of the goodness of our hearts to be able to support our community, but also passion because we love this industry. yes So please, please check it out and support it. But um with that being said, we do have committees and we have board members that sit on these individual committees and Sinead was saying that she is the vice chair for our advocacy committees. So that was a really important one for us. Before I ask you kind of what your goals are for the advocacy committee, just to give you an idea of some of the other committees we have, we do have the professional development committee, we have educational partnerships, community engagement, we have events, and we have a big holiday party coming up next Friday, which we'll get to in just a minute. How exciting! But we think about events as being, oh, that's easy, we just throw a party. Well, yes and no, because this is the creative community, right and so that means we need live performers, we have vendors, you know, coming in. and We get creative. We get creative. Everybody do a shout-out, do a shameless plug of your business and your skill set. Absolutely, that is what it's about. But I do want to go back and ask you about the advocacy committee. You guys are doing a lot of work there. Oh my gosh. I mean, you know, everyone that listens to the Circuspreneur podcast, you know, me and my advocacy. I am just always on my soapbox because that is where, yeah, near and dear to me. I feel like, again, it's something that we have been coalescing and trying to harness a lot of support for in our industry. You know, folks like getting involved and saying, I can be a part of, you know, local legislation you you know, policy efforts, and I can speak that language, right? We can do that and we can advocate for ourselves. So with the Advocacy Committee, we're really looking to see what the industry and what the community wants from us. What do you think we should be focusing on? right building out what are our initiatives for 2026. What is the most important thing that you think the arts community, local entertainment wants us to advocate for? And then also to looking at policy, where can we intersect ourselves in upcoming policy? you know, within the next legislative session. What could that look like? How are they shaping those policies? And are we included? Are the specifics of our industry included? And are the things that are going to help your career, you as a business owner, and then you just defined as a person that needs to have a healthy resource within your everyday life so that you can harness that potential and that creativity?
00:17:05
Speaker
How can we support that through the advocacy committee? So that's just a little bit touching on what we're looking towards and how we're going to focus on the local community in 2026. So, you know, when we when we work with um committees and sometimes I look at this with our industry as a whole, sometimes we get a little too siloed. we actually should be ah this could be our advocacy committee meeting right now.
00:17:31
Speaker
get I think I think so. You know there are a couple of things so those are really great points. So I've been trying to have conversations with the county, with the city of Las Vegas, actually have a meeting with them on Friday morning to talk about extra venue space. You know we know that there's been a lot of support for other growing markets here in Las Vegas including like the tech community. But the creative community has very specific and very different needs. We collaborate. We need that synergy. We need that energy, right?
Access to Financial Support
00:17:59
Speaker
That's like in-person podcast. yeah It's very different. and um But a lot of this is, you know, the city and the and the county, they don't know what we need. right They hear from us in terms of, you know, we're getting ready to possibly pass this piece of, you know, legislation or whatever, vote yes, no, what are your thoughts on it? But we're not really part of the conversation. Right. So I've been reaching out, doing a lot of outreach on that level to make sure that we are part of that conversation. So so there have been um some projects
00:18:31
Speaker
probably too early to talk about, but I know there's some commercial redevelopment type projects going on, and so I've been presenting the Ace Chamber, hey, can we be your cultural partner? Wow. Right, because you need a cultural arts partner for some of this. If you say, we're hearing it a lot, right, we support the arts, we're here, we've got, you know, great live entertainment, all these wonderful things Vegas provides, and so we love the arts, and it's like, okay, show us. Exactly. Show us the money. Or the support. Or the support. Or the space. Or the collaboration. It so many things. Yes. many things. So one of the things we can work on is I know that they will be discussing and looking at new budgets for 2026 at the state level. And know there are certain grants for small business in place, small businesses in place. However, when it comes to the creative community, because of some of those requirements, we don't usually fall Always. Within, right?
00:19:30
Speaker
Yes. and um And so it makes it very difficult for us to qualify yes ah for some of these funding options. So I really want to have discussions because really at the end of the day, what do small businesses need and what do what does our creative community need? The financial support is is critical. It really is critical. We want to say, yes, more opportunities, more sustainable jobs. Absolutely. But a lot of independence um they can't support their art without some sort of financial support. Right. And so that is one of the discussions. So we should talk about that more as well yes ah to make sure that we are included. Yes, we are included. The language is The language is included when they talk about small business. Yes. That we take a look at the specific requirements and critical needs of our industry. And let's just make sure that we're part of that conversation. So.
Vision for 2026 and Community Participation
00:20:25
Speaker
I love all of that. That's so wonderful. We are winding down in the podcast now, Rachel, and we actually have a little surprise coming up for the podcast. cast Everybody viewing, um we are very sick ah very excited here. and you know just to send us off in these last few moments, Rachel, um as our surprise, ah you know, gets itself together here to make its little appearance. You know, what is the vision going into 2026, the strongest for the Chamber? How can we all support the Chamber as the local circus arts community, as the local niche arts community, niche entertainment, niche businesses? What do you need as the founder and CEO of the Ace Chamber of Nevada and in Las Vegas? Thank you so much. that That's a really important question. And you know, we're we're brand new, right? We're brand new. So is it my vision?
00:21:19
Speaker
Partly my vision, but it's really your vision and the rest of the industry's vision. But we need to hear from you. We need you to be active participants in what we are trying to do so that we can best represent you. And we love being active participants, don't we? So join the chamber.
00:21:35
Speaker
Oh my gosh, how exciting is this? Wow, and who knew? We love to participate in the circus. I love it. We love to be involved. We love to collaborate. We love to show up for one another. Absolutely. Yeah. Oh my goodness, how exciting is
Call to Support ACE Chamber and Creative Arts
00:21:51
Speaker
this? I can juggle with two balls.
00:21:54
Speaker
And she's also got daughters at NYU doing Ariel, right? Oh, yes. They're part of the um oh the trapeze school. Oh, my gosh. Yes. Yes. That is a wonderful connection to the circus arts industry. I love that your daughters are doing circus at NYU. Oh, my gosh. And I will say, proud moment of myself was I actually did trapeze once. I did like five flips and then it was like, ah!
00:22:17
Speaker
She's in it, everyone. Rachel knows. So are you guys hiring? I'll be a backup. Thank you, Maria. Thank you, Avi, for making this amazing appearance on the podcast. We really appreciate you as local artists and local circus entertainers. Absolutely.
00:22:35
Speaker
Thank you so much. Thank you. And thank you so much again, Rachel, for coming on the podcast. We are so grateful to have you on today. Thank you so much for the work that you're doing on behalf of the local entertainment and creative entrepreneur industries here in Las Vegas and in Nevada. Your work is fantastic. I'm so excited to be a part of the ACE Chamber. And again, everyone, please, you know, come to the ACE Chamber workshops, get involved and see, you know, how it can benefit you and how it can support your career or just you as a human, as a person, even if you're outside of the creative arts. If you want to support the creative arts, the chamber is also for you. Become a member again. And you, I'm sure, have so many skills that you can probably offer the chamber. They are looking for so much. So until next time, everyone, I'm your host, Sinead Saleto. Thank you for tuning into the Circuspreneur podcast. Again, a big shout out to our sponsor, stagelink.com. Until next time, please stay safe and stay healthy, everyone.
00:23:39
Speaker
Thank you