THE AT&T CONNECTION: AT&T has stepped up its commitment to the arts in Dallas beyond just having its name on the Performing Arts Center. That’s because the company has announced that it will provide free management oversight to five local arts organizations: the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Theater Center, Dallas Summer Musicals, Dallas Opera and the Performing Arts Center. The idea is to streamline some business operations as well as provide a little expertise. All of the details are spelled out on dallasnews.com. UPDATE – A little clarification comes in from Chris Heinbaugh of the AT&T PAC, who clarifies that AT&T is providing “efficiency expertise to help the arts organizations create sustainable business plans” – in other words, consider this more of a consulting arrangement, as opposed to a managerial one.

STRINGS ATTACHED: Dallas Children’s Theater is staging probably the only local Nutcracker that doesn’t involve dancers. That’s because the roles are being performed by Kathy Burks Theatre of Puppetry Arts puppets. Burks and some of her fellow puppeteers explain how they pull off the show’s intricate choreography in a post on DCT’s blog.

THE HOLIDAY DANCE: Speaking of The Nutcracker, if you’re going to see a dance performance between now and the end of the year, that’s probably going to be it. So imagine being involved in dance professionally and going through the Nutcracker cycle every year. That’s been dancer and dance writer Cheryl Callon’s experience since about as long as she can remember, and she writes about her love-hate relationship with the ballet on theaterjones.com.