FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 5, 2009
CONTACT:
Meg Fullwood
214-740-9377
mfullwood@kera.org
KERA’s ART&SEEK CELEBRATES FIRST ANNIVERSARY
WITH NEW OFFERINGS FOR WEB, RADIO AND TV
DALLAS/FORT WORTH – KERA’s Art&Seek multimedia initiative for the arts in North Texas is celebrating its first anniversary with a design competition, a new television feature, an exciting partnership with the Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs and additional program content at www.artandseek.org.
In celebration of Art&Seek’s first birthday, designers in North Texas are invited to contribute original artwork for the first anniversary Art&Seek T-shirt. The contest will run from Monday, May 11 to Monday, May 25, 2009. Artwork should be submitted in a jpg format and should not exceed 12 inches in height and width. All submissions should be sent to artandseek@kera.org.
Beginning Friday, May 8 at 7:30 p.m., Art&Seek will increase its television presence by contributing a weekly Art&Seek segment to the KERA television interview series Think. Art&Seek producer/reporter Jerome Weeks will interview guests from the world of arts and culture for the segment, which will be produced by Therese Powell. To suggest a guest for the Art&Seek segment of Think, contact Anne Bothwell, director of Art&Seek, at abothwell@kera.org. Krys Boyd is the host and managing editor of Think. Jeff Whittington is senior producer of the award-winning series.
Art&Seek continues to expand its collaborations with arts groups through its Web site at www.artandseek.org. The Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs is the first organization to partner with Art&Seek to import customized feeds from the Art&Seek calendar to its Web sites. This summer, the OCA’s member organizations will be able to update the Art&Seek calendar and the OCA calendar simultaneously. More than 1,700 arts organizations and venues in 33 counties in North Texas are currently contributing to the Art&Seek calendar, the most thorough free listings service of arts and cultural events in North Texas. Arts organizations that would like more information about the customized feed service should contact Art&Seek Director Anne Bothwell at abothwell@kera.org.
The Track by Track podcast is the latest feature at www.artandseek.org. Met with high praise when it debuted in early March, Track by Track, hosted by KERA’s 90.1 at Night host Paul Slavens, features interviews with North Texas musicians and reviews of their latest compilations. Listen online by visiting www.artandseek.org and clicking the Track by Track tile on the homepage.
KERA Board member Donna Wilhelm is continuing her support of Art&Seek with a matching grant for contributors to the digital arts community. Through the end of this year, Donna Wilhelm will match dollar-for-dollar all individual contributions of up to $1,000 made at www.artandseek.org.
ABOUT ART&SEEK
Art&Seek is a multimedia service that includes radio reports and television features. The cornerstone of the initiative is the award-winning Web site at www.artandseek.org. There you will find feature stories about the arts, a blog with daily arts news, podcasts and the Art&Seek calendar. All arts organizations in North Texas are invited to create a profile page on the Art&Seek calendar and post events free of charge. To create a profile page, please visit: www.artandseek.org/addus.
THE ART&SEEK TEAM
Anne Bothwell is KERA’s director of Art&Seek. A journalist for 20 years, Anne has devoted the majority of her career to editing and shaping arts coverage. During her tenure with The Dallas Morning News, she contributed to the creation of the GuideLive arts and entertainment section of the newspaper and led award-winning coverage of the South by Southwest Music Conference. Jerome Weeks is the Art&Seek producer-reporter for KERA. A professional critic for more than two decades, he was the book columnist for The Dallas Morning News for ten years and the paper's theater critic for ten years prior. He was awarded five Katie Awards by the Dallas Press Club and received a graduate journalism fellowship from Columbia University. Calendar/Content Editor Stephen Becker supervised coverage of movies, television and related blogs in his four years as Assistant Arts Editor at The Dallas Morning News. Betsy Lewis is the Calendar/Production Coordinator and comes to KERA from the Dallas Museum of Art where she was the McDermott Public Programs Intern.
ABOUT KERA
KERA is a not-for-profit public broadcasting organization that serves the people of North Texas. The station broadcasts to the 5th largest market in the United States. KERA produces original multimedia content, carries the best in national and international public television and radio programs, and provides online resources at www.kera.org. The station’s extensive coverage of the arts can be found at www.artandseek.org. KERA also promotes children’s education through television programs and resources for families and teachers. KERA-TV broadcasts on channel 13. KERA-FM broadcasts on 90.1 in Dallas/Fort Worth/Denton, 88.3 in Wichita Falls, 100.1 in Tyler and 99.3 in Sherman.
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