After decades of effort, the AT&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas has celebrated its ribbon cutting with a week of festivities that began October 11th (read a news story from the Dallas Morning News). Comprising the 2,200 seat Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, designed by Foster + Partners' Pritzker-award winning architect Norman Foster and the 600 seat Dee and Charles Wyly Theatre, designed by REX/OMA, Joshua Prince-Ramus and Prtizker-award winning architect Rem Koolhaas the Center is united by Elaine D. and Charles A. Sammons Park, designed by architect Michel Desvigne in collaboration with JJR in Chicago.

In addition, the 10-acre urban park unites the following facilities:

• Annette Strauss Artist Square, designed by Foster + Partners, an outdoor performance venue that will accommodate up to 5,000 attendees (opening in 2010)
• City Performance Hall, which will include a 750-seat performance hall for Dallas' smaller performance groups (opening in 2011)
• Morten J. Myerson Hall, the I.M. Pei designed concert hall which has which opened 20 years ago last month.

APAC will host The Dallas Opera, Dallas Theater Center, Texas Ballet Theater, Dallas Black Dance Theater, and Anita N. Martinez Ballet Folklorico as resident companies.  In addition, TITAS, Dallas's non-profit presenter of dance, music and the performing arts, and APAC will present a Broadway series with guidance from Shorenstein Hays Nederlander, one of the preeminent theatrical entertainment consultants in North America.  APAC will also present a lecture series, including scientists and explorers in association with National Geographic Live!, and Jazz Roots, a concert performance series that includes the educational and community outreach programs.

AMS provided strategic planning and operational analysis support to the project. With over 500 performances planned for its inaugural season, APAC will be a major attraction for the City of Dallas and the surrounding region. AMS congratulates the Dallas community on opening this landmark center.