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Announcing 'Art&Seek'

   |   February 22, 2008   3:33 PM
8 Comments
Categorized Under: Culture, KERA Programming, Local Events, Uncategorized

We’re very excited about this announcement …  read the news release for more:

KERA to Launch Art&Seek

DALLAS/FORT WORTH – KERA announced today it is launching in late May a multimedia, community-based arts initiative that will bring unprecedented attention to the arts in North Texas.

Unified under the name Art&Seek, the project includes the upcoming launch of a new Web site developed as a gathering place for the arts. The site will include an automated calendar where organizations can post their own events as well as original Web content provided by KERA staff and community partners. In addition, the site will be home to the Arts+Culture blog where artists, curators, performers and other arts professionals contribute to discussions about what’s happening in the arts in North Texas. In addition, KERA will provide expanded coverage of the arts on its public radio and television stations through interviews, reviews and special programs.

The creation of Art&Seek reflects the vision of KERA and its President and CEO, Mary Anne Alhadeff, to bring expanded local services and programs to the region. “The arts are happening everywhere in North Texas and KERA is uniquely positioned to show its commitment to community-based content and services through this initiative that involves the public with all of the exciting and diverse opportunities taking place in the visual and performing arts.”

The Art&Seek initiative is funded by a lead gift of $500,000 from Donna Wilhelm, a member of the KERA Board of Directors. Wilhelm says that her support for KERA’s arts initiative comes at a time when the North Texas region is undergoing a huge cultural renaissance. “The abundance and the quality of the arts that we have available to us every day are amazing. Art&Seek will be an important resource for North Texans to expand their cultural horizons and enjoy new experiences. Because of the arts, the whole image of our region is changing.”

In addition to the grant from Donna Wilhelm, KERA received a $33,500 award from the Allen and Kelli Questrom Foundation to fund a planning document that has guided the project.

Two longtime Dallas area journalists have been named to coordinate the arts initiative. Anne Bothwell will serve as Director of KERA’s Arts Unit. She is the former Assistant Arts Editor of The Dallas Morning News, where she supervised popular music and pop culture coverage, created new sections and coordinated award-winning coverage of the South by Southwest interactive, film and music conference. Jerome Weeks recently joined the Art&Seek project as arts reporter and producer. Weeks was the longtime book columnist at The Dallas Morning News as well as interim book editor and drama critic covering theater in Texas, and Broadway and off-Broadway productions in New York.

“KERA is shining a high-intensity light on the arts in our region,” says Anne Bothwell. “Our goal is to weave the value of the arts into the daily lives of everyone.”

The Art&Seek Web site will feature an interactive, easily searchable calendar of arts and culture events around North Texas. Arts groups interested in participating in the calendar listing can email artandseek@kera.org.

KERA’s Arts+Culture blog now exists at www.kera.org/blogs/culture. Arts professionals interested in guest blogging should contact Anne Bothwell at abothwell@kera.org.

  • http://www.contentpilot.net Deborah McMurray

    I think the most exciting thing about this initiative is that it unifies the arts community in Dallas–but it will also celebrate the diversity of our numerous arts offerings and the people who are passionate about them.

    Being more “organized” in sharing our points of view, and logging them via blogs, podcasts and other interactive media will hopefully encourage further debate and discussion among Dallas citizens of all ages.

    Thanks to Donna Wilhelm for her vision, KERA for seeing it through and all Dallas arts lovers and critics for bringing it to life.

  • David Stewart

    This sounds like the right thing at the right time. Dallas is moving into a new era I believe of Arts and Cultural advancement and Ms. Wilhelm and the KERA folks should be highly commended for their leadership.

  • Michael Collier Bradley

    It’s great to see KERA taking the initiative to be a leader in providing a forum for the sharing of information about the arts in north Texas.

    With the development of the Arts District downtown, a world-class home for the Dallas Opera and a world-class conductor heading up the Dallas Symphony, we are clearly set to put Dallas on the international map as a center of artistic excellence.

    The Art&Seek project can only serve to enhance and foster this development. Way to go, KERA!

  • Michael Lane

    Who is Donna Wilhelm? I believe it is wonderful she will match the contributions but let us know a little about her. It is obvious she doesn’t want to be anonymous. Also you should put e-mail not just “mail” in the required information in this comment section. Being over 60 “mail” to me, means licking an envelope and sticking a stamp on it.

  • http://musea.us Tom Hendricks

    From 30+ years of past experience, I can say the art coverage from KERA, has been safe and sanitized. Three main things are missing: any coverage of any new art of this century , any protest of poor art, and any coverage of advocates of changes in the arts.
    That includes all the arts: music, art, literature, film, tv, architecture, dance, and everything else.
    Dallas could be more than a provincial art town. But to do so it has to do less aping of the cost and more awareness of what is going on that is original here.
    Right now the town of Dallas has a world wide tradition of hating the arts, driving the best and brightest away, and refusing any achievements from Dallas artists, until they are long gone, and their worth is safe and established somewhere else.

  • Cecilia Boone

    The potential of this project and its timing bode well for the arts in Dallas. As new arts facilities embolden all artists and performers in Dallas, the ability to communicate with each other freely is an extraordinary gift. Congratulations to KERA and to Donna Wilhelm for their vision.

  • http://ggoarchitects.com Gary Gene Olp

    I have been involved with intense conversations of late about reviving the urban core and the benefits of urban living compared with life in the suburbs.

    One of the most blatant voids in the suburban experience is a near total lack of a rich Cultural and Artistic experience. What makes the situation even more tragic is that it doesn’t seem to be missed?

    This is an incredible interactive initiative that will celebrate and enhance the richness and multifarious life experience available to the citizens of Dallas. I applaud Ms. Wilhelm’s efforts to spearhead this program in concert with KERA! Dallas is a marvelous community with a splendid and exciting future.

  • paul samrane

    First, I wish to give a standing ovation to Donna Wilhelm and the Allen and Kelli Questrom Foundation for their generous funding support to this Art&Seek initiative. I think it’s a wonderful start for a common interest that has huge potential. Everyone can relate to some types of art, which can mean a lot of different things to different people across a vast diversity of cultures, professions, backgrounds and interests. It has potential to connect the North Texas community from children’s drawings to architural designs to e-cards to films, music, amateur paintings, and the list goes on. I can’t wait to see how this website may unfold. Will it conquer the airwaves like another google or utube with such artistic lightings and thunders?