Ex-Mixed Martial Arts Champ Sentenced for Police Chase
Former mixed martial arts champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson has been ordered to complete community service for leading Costa Mesa police on a chase in which he rammed three cars.

Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City selects new leader
The Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City announced Thursday that Harlan Brownlee, executive director of Kansas City Young Audiences, has been selected to lead the Arts Council.

Grants awarded to arts groups for 2009 activities
Despite the current economic conditions, the Frederick Arts Council recently announced its highest level of support for local arts groups and other nonprofit organizations in Frederick County About $40,000 will be distributed for arts activities in fiscal 2009 This amount exceeds last year's total by nearly $2,000

Arts Update
AT THE LIBRARY: ?The Allen County Public Library, 900 Library Plaza, Children?s Services will hold ?Musical Fun with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic? at 2 p.m. Sunday. Young Adults? Services has a new arts and crafts project for its ?Totally Terrific Tuesdays,? 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Lively Arts: Take a date, and the little ones, for a jazzy night on the town
TO ADD SOME SPARKLE to the New Year, the City of Pleasanton Civic Arts Presents will host up-and-coming jazz vocalist, Sophie Milman, on Feb. 6 at the Amador Theater.

Community Theatre opens performing arts school
MORRISTOWN - Registration for musical theater and acting classes for The Community Theatre?s winter-spring Performing Arts School session began Jan. 5.

Watchung Arts Center workshops and classes startin January for kids and teens
WATCHUNG ? Registration has is still being taken at the Watchung Arts Center on the Watchung Circle for art workshops classes that start in January for children and teens.

New director wants to revive Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center
Patty Ortiz wants to make the community proud of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center again.

Local bands Fung Shui, Mighty Space Monkeys to play at arts center
WATCHUNG ? Two local bands, Mighty Space Monkeys and Feng Shui, will perform at 8 p.m., Friday, Jan. 9, at the Watchung Arts Center, on the Watchung Circle.

Family Arts Day at museum features 'carnival' theme
EUREKA -- ?Carnival Celebration? is the theme of this month's Second Saturday Family Arts Day, to be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Morris Graves Museum of Art, 636 F St.

Melissa Manchester opens Burnsville Performing Arts Center
Light-rock star Melissa Manchester will perform at the inaugural gala for the new Burnsville Performing Arts Center Jan. 31. Tickets are $100 to $25 and go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday through Ticketmaster. The venue will also host a production of 'Cabaret' Feb. 13 through March 8. The $15 tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. today.

Arts council oversees jazz bids
The Arts Council of Wales is overseeing plans to rescue Brecon jazz festival, it emerges.

Reopened theater stages comeback for New Orleans arts
Closed for more than three years, the 2,100-seat Mahalia Jackson Theater of the Performing Arts is scheduled to reopen Thursday in what city leaders call a symbolic step forward in the city's recovery from Hurricane Katrina.

Divine Performing Arts 2009 World Tour
More than 100 performers will take the stage at the Eisemann Center in Richardson in a collaboration of dancers, musicians and choreographers from around the world for the performances of the Divine Performing Arts on Feb. 2-4.

Demand for New Generation courses surges ? and Arts tops the pops!
The University of Melbourne?s Bachelor of Arts - a cornerstone of the University?s Melbourne Model - is by far the most popular course in Victoria and probably Australia, according to the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Committee?s December ?Pop Polls? data.

Plans stall for arts center on Acoma
Englewood Cultural Arts Center Association let the city community development department know that the organization no longer will pursue plans to build an arts and education center on the land in the 3400 block of South Acoma Street.

UM campus hosts Beaux Arts Festival this weekend
The 58th annual Holtz Children's Hospital Beaux Arts Festival of Art will take place Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the grounds of the University of Miami campus.

Arts center starts the year off with suitcases exhibit
The Ludington Area Arts Center holds its debut event for the year, and first exhibit, starting Friday. The Lives they Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital opens Friday.

Mixed martial arts: Ex-UFC champ pleads guilty to police chase
SANTA ANA, Calif. ? Former mixed martial arts light heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson has been ordered to complete community service and attend therapy for leading Costa Mesa police on a chase in which he rammed three cars.

Grand Junction Arts Center goes solar
GRAND JUNCTION -- Sunny skies are in the forecast for the Grand Junction Arts Center... At least that's what Arts Center officials are hoping for, now that a new solar electric system is in place on the roof of the building.