LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A historical archive preserving the legacies of burlesque performers of the past is getting ready to close its doors.
The Burlesque Hall of Fame in the Las Vegas Arts District will suspend its operations after July 20.
I spoke with the nonprofit museum's executive director to learn about its mission, why it's closing and what's next.
A mission against misconceptions
The Burlesque Hall of Fame takes you on a trip back in time to the origins of burlesque and the art of the tease.
Dustin Wax, the executive director, likes to say burlesque is what put the "sin" in Sin City. But he also says it's so much more than that.
"Burlesque had always been a way at poking fun at the rich and powerful, at commenting on global policies, on national policies, as well as poking fun at the local mayor, the police, or the wealthy industrialists, whatever was making life hard for people on the ground," Wax said.
An anthropologist by trade, he said he's fascinated with the way burlesque provided cultural commentary, but it was baked into something many people dismissed as frivolous entertainment.
"They challenged things they thought were unfair about the way the world treated women, the way the world treated gay and lesbian people, and the way the world treated Black people or Asian people," he said. "They turned that into an art, they turned that into an entertainment experience."
He said burlesque is about empowerment and the struggles of the masses, and educating visitors at the museum about that is how he pushes back on misconceptions that's it's just about sexuality and stripteases.
"There's this kind of gap between the way people see it today, looking back at something that had its peak 50, 60, 70 years ago, and what they actually saw themselves doing," he said.
The Burlesque Hall of Fame allows this art form to reclaim its narrative. The museum is filled with old photographs and newspaper clippings, as well as iconic costumes and props, like Dita Von Teese's original martini glass. Among these artifacts is the true meaning of burlesque and the stories of performers of days past.
The Burlesque Hall of Fame's current location in the Arts District opened in 2018, but the museum's history goes back much further.
Jennie Lee, a legendary burlesque performer, first dreamed of a "Burlesque Hall of Fame" in the 1950s, but passed away before that dream could become reality.
Fellow entertainer Dixie Evans took up that mantle, creating a Burlesque Hall of Fame in Helendale, CA in 1990.
In 2006, it relocated to Las Vegas, and from 2010 to 2017, it was housed in the Emergency Arts building in downtown Las Vegas, before moving to its latest home in the Arts District.
Economic uncertainty
"I swear, we hit January this year, we were doing fine, and all of a sudden, wham, it just dropped,"
Data from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority seems to echo that. The LVCVA's Year-to-Date Summary shows year-over-year declines in visitor volume for each of the first five months of 2025.
Wax also attributes the museum's financial difficulties to Trump administration policies, which he believes are discouraging some visitors from coming to Vegas.
"A big part of our following is Canadian, a big part of our following is LGBTQ, and a lot of them just aren't coming here as tourists," he said.
The tourism slump comes at a time when the museum is already living on the edge.
"We came out of the pandemic kind of having burnt through any reserves we had and have been holding on by our nails ever since," he said.
He adds that uncertainty over federal funding the museum has previously relied on, which may not be guaranteed under this administration, is complicating things further.
"Without having any kind of reserve, it's really hard to plan for a future that seems to change day by day," Wax said.
However, this isn't meant to be a permanent closure; Wax hopes to someday reopen the Burlesque Hall of Fame when "more stable economic and political conditions emerge."
"The goal is hopefully in four, five years, we can spend that time fundraising, building up a reserve, doing capital campaign, hopefully coming back into a situation where we own a space rather than rent," he said.
Same message, different delivery
"It is painful to let some staff go, to lose the sort of home of this space, but I'm hoping in the end we'll be stronger for it,"
In the meantime, Wax said their vast archival collection will be preserved and kept safe.
They will also continue with their big annual event, known as the Weekender, and will look to display temporary exhibits in other spaces and even online.
"If we want all those other things to survive, we're kind of having to cut away a part that we love, but it's the most expensive part," he said.
Although times may be tough now, he said they still have an important message to share with the world and will continue sharing it on other platforms, like Instagram, where the museum has more than 81,000 followers, as well as through local shows and the School of Striptease, which introduces the art of burlesque to new performers and audiences.
"The message they have, the message we have is important. I think it's really important to the world we live in. These are people that challenged social norms," Wax said.
How to support the mission
If you'd like to donate to the museum, click here. To see upcoming events and classes, click here. Click here to view a calendar of upcoming local burlesque shows.
