Vegas PBS launched a new arts series to continue championing the arts in Southern Nevada. Vegas PBS has joined forces with a group of innovative large market PBS stations to launch the “Major Market Group Arts Initiative,” a 28-station collaborative started this year. This collaboration allows the stations to share arts features with one another.

The effort involves stations that will launch or expand local arts coverage to compliment the 500 hours of arts programming offered by PBS each year.

Ultimately, Vegas PBS is hoping a ‘Live from The Smith Center’ PBS series can be developed and funded through endowments, similar to the likes of ‘Live from the Met’ and ‘Live from Lincoln Center,’ which offer four to six national programs per year.

The Major Market Group Arts Initiative will involve stories covering a myriad of aspects of the performing and visual arts and feature interviews with diverse artists, writers, composers and performers. The features will also be geographically diverse and artistically broad, allowing local arts and culture institutions and local funders to present Las Vegas stories to a national audience.

The 2013 weekly Vegas PBS art series involves national and local art stories. Some of the features include the Las Vegas Art Museum, Artist Terry Ritter and her McCarran Terminal 3 artwork, Dia de los Muertos at the Springs Preserve, the local chapter of Raw Artists, and several segments on Cirque du Soleil and its new show, Zarkana.

“Vegas PBS is committed to providing a stage for local artists and arts organizations by showcasing their services to the entire Las Vegas community,” said Vegas PBS General Manager Tom Axtell. “We believe this will grow the audience for live performances in Las Vegas and stimulate interest in music, dance and theater among our local school children.”

PBS overall has dramatically increased arts programming in the last two years and regularly includes ‘local breakout time.’ Last year, Vegas PBS won an Emmy for a compilation of several of the features it produced and re-packaged into a half-hour special, “Vegas PBS Arts Showcase.” Part of the award-winning special featured local artists of the Las Vegas Contemporary Dance Theater and the Nevada Ballet Theater.

“This is an exciting time for Vegas PBS and our community as a whole,” said Axtell. “We are pleased to be at the forefront of this arts movement and look forward to ongoing support from the local community to keep the arts a thriving force in Southern Nevada.”