FUNDING THE CAUSE: Arts of Colin County got a shot in the arm last night in announcing that an additional $325,000 in private contributions has been raised for the project. The plan is to build a suburban version of the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts on 100 acres at State Highway 121 and Custer Road. The project will be built in stages; Phase 1 will include a 2,100-seat performance hall, an outdoor performance space and hike and bike trails. Arts of Colin County Executive Director Mike Simpson estimates that the $325,000 raised last night will lead to $9 million to $12 million in savings over the life of the project’s capital campaign.

LISTEN UP: Hunter Hauk over at quickdfw.com has identified a trio of singer-songstresses on the rise. Hunter’s opened my ears to a lot of good local music over the years, so I will take his advice and check out Summer Ames, Camille Cortinas and Becky Middleton. In fact, you can see them all at once when they team up to perform on Sept. 4 at Opening Bell Coffee.You might remember Cortinas from the Artists Spaces video we did on her and her boyfriend, musician Eric Neal.

TUNING IN: Joe O’Connell reports on dallasnews.com that television productions are pouring into Texas. The latest to make the trip east is a TNT pilot produced by husband-and-wife team Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick. This comes on the heals of an ABC series, The Deep End, which will begin production at the Studios at Las Colinas in September.

ETC.: Pianist Adam Golka, who studied in Fort Worth with Cliburn gold-medalist José Feghali, returns to Cowtown this weekend for the All-Beethoven Festival (dallasnews.com) … Undermain Theatre Artistic Director Katherine Owens talks about resurrecting The Black Monk on the This Week in the Arts podcast (thisweekinthearts.com) … Stage West announces the winners of its Texas Playwriting Competition (fwweekly.com).