One hundred arts groups. One day. One-stop shopping for culture at North Park Mall on Oct. 2

Looking to volunteer as an usher? Have a hankering to try encaustic painting? Want to quickly get a bunch of ideas for fun evenings?  You can hook up with all this and more at the first ArtsPark.  North Park (founded by the late Ray Nasher, something of an art lover) and Business Council for the Arts are sponsoring the event.  There will be demonstrations, performances, opportunities to explore new arts, or just get a sense of what North Texas has to offer.

If you go, be sure to stop by Art&Seek’s table.  Jerome, Stephen and I will be there, along with volunteers from KXT and KERA.

Official release and all the groups participating after the jump.

NORTHPARK CENTER & BCA PRESENTS

NORTH TEXAS ARTS AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS

SHARE THE STAGE AT ONE-DAY EVENT, OCTOBER 2, 2010

WHAT: NorthPark Center announces the inaugural ArtsPark presented by NorthPark Center in partnership with Business Council for the Arts. This free, one-day event features 100 arts and cultural organizations from Dallas, Collin, Denton, and Tarrant counties joining together to encourage citizens to make art a part of their everyday lives. There will be opportunities to learn a new creative skill, hone a talent, join a like-minded group, volunteer for a favorite art form and explore what makes North Texas a great place to live. Special live performances, programs, and demonstrations will take place throughout the one-day event and at additional times during the weekend.

WHEN: Saturday, October 2, 2010, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm.

WHERE: NorthPark Center, 8687 North Central Expressway, Dallas

WHO: Arts and cultural organizations from across North Texas, including The 500, Inc.; African American Museum; Allegro Guitar Society of Dallas; Art Conspiracy; Art&Seek; ArtCentre of Plano; Arts District Chorale; Asian Film Festival of Dallas; AT&T Performing Arts Center; Bath House; Big Thought; Business Council for the Arts; CADD (Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas); Children’s Chorus of Greater Dallas; Contemporary Theatre of Dallas; Creative Arts Center of Dallas; Crow Collection of Asian Art; Dallas Architecture Forum; Dallas Area Fiber Artists; Dallas Art Dealers Association (DADA); Dallas Black Dance Theatre; Dallas Center for Architecture; Dallas Children’s Theater; Dallas Contemporary; Dallas Holocaust Museum / Center for Education and Tolerance; Dallas Museum of Art; Dallas Songwriters Assoc.; Dallas Storytelling Guild; Dallas Summer Musicals; Dallas Symphony Orchestra; Dallas Theater Center; Dallas Wind Symphony; Dallas Zoo; Downtown Dallas; EASL; Fresh Fiction (was DFW Tea Readers); Friends of Fair Park; Garland Civic Theatre; Goss-Michael Foundation; Heard-Craig Center for the Arts; International Museum of Cultures; Irving Arts Center; Irving Symphony Orchestra; Italian Club of Dallas; Japan-America Society of Dallas/Fort Worth; KERA; Kitchen Dog Theater; La Reunion TX; Latino Cultural Center; Le Theatre de Marionette; Lone Star Wind Orchestra; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth; Museum of Biblical Art; Museum of Geometric and MADI Art

Museum of the American Railroad; Nasher Sculpture Center; Plano Symphony Orchestra; Preservation Dallas; S.T.A.G.E.; Shakespeare Dallas; Slant 45; South Dallas Cultural Center

TeCo Theatrical Productions, Inc.; Texas Ballet Theater, Inc.; Texas Discovery Gardens

Texas Sculpture Association; Texas Visual Arts Association; The Black Academy of Arts and Letters; The Craft Guild of Dallas; The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden; The Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture; The Dallas Opera; The Encaustic Center; The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza; The Trinity Trust Foundation; The Women’s Chorus of Dallas

The Women’s Museum: An Institute for the Future; The Writer’s Garret; Today Marks The Beginning; Tyler Museum of Art; Undermain Theater; University of North Texas College of Visual Arts & Design; Van Cliburn Foundation; WaterTower Theatre, Inc.; WRR

About Business Council for the Arts:

Business Council for the Arts is a nonprofit business membership organization, founded in 1988 by Raymond D. Nasher and other business leaders in Dallas, committed to improving quality of life and fostering economic development through active and effective business participation of arts & culture.

BCA fosters strategic corporate investment in the arts to build world-class communities with programs and consulting services, which benefit more than 110 member companies and hundreds of arts organizations.  More than 2,500 people participate in BCA programs every year.

BCA aims to build world-class communities in North Texas through the creation of strong business/arts partnerships and effective programs including Leadership Arts, The Obelisk Awards, The North Texas Arts Alliance, ArtWorks and the often-resourced Economic Impact Study of Nonprofit Arts and Cultural Organizations in North Texas created in partnership with Deloitte LLP.

About NorthPark Center:

As one of the premier shopping centers in the United States, NorthPark Center (www.northparkcenter.com) proudly offers shoppers the best of the best in every category represented including the finest in luxury retail and exclusives in the Southwest. Presenting an unparalleled selection of international designers set amid timeless modern architecture and a world-class art collection, NorthPark Center has established a new standard in the United States for innovative retail destinations.

NorthPark Center is owned, managed, operated and leased by husband and wife David J. Haemisegger and Nancy A. Nasher. After a $250 million expansion in 2006, NorthPark Center became the largest shopping center in North Texas and one of the top shopping destinations in the United States. NorthPark Center will continue to open more luxury boutiques, exclusive stores and dining options throughout 2010 and beyond, culminating in more than 235 stores and restaurants.