Networking groups for young professionals are nothing new, but one in Akron that has the arts at its center has a different kind of appeal.

ArtCetera is a project of the Akron Area Arts Alliance. Under the Arts Alliance’s umbrella, it’s reaching out to the younger audiences that every arts group craves.

Lisa Knapp says she and her co-chair, Jacquie Tinnemeyer, love attending arts events, but couldn’t always find someone to go with before they had ArtCetera. And people their age who don’t have an arts background sometimes feel pressured to react in a certain way or to say the right thing about a piece of art, Knapp says.

So, having company their own age helps put everyone at ease. The group’s 23 members have met for dance, theater and music, art walks and a ghost walk. Following events with a trip to a local restaurant or brew pub keeps the networking casual.

More than 12 events are already on the 2012 calendar. Not only do Knapp and Tinnemeyer keep finding new events for their members, but arts groups are starting to seek them out — and they’re making it a good deal.

Next Tuesday, March 20, Akron’s Tuesday Musical Association, a Knight Arts grantee, is offering half-price tickets to ArtCetera members. They’ll hear German chanteuse Ute Lemper perform a “Paris Days/Berlin Nights’’ program with the Vogler Quartet and Stefan Malzew.

If the ArtCetera members haven’t heard classic German cabaret music before, now they will — along with newer classical music that may surprise them, too.

In upcoming months, ArtCetera members will take in a fencing demonstration/networking event. (Thrust that resume! Parry with that 30-second elevator speech!)

They’ll volunteer at a production of “You’re Perfect, I Love You, Now Change” by Actors’ Summit theater, a Knight Arts grantee. And they’ll participate in an improv and public speaking event at the Magical Theatre Company.

ArtCetera originally began in 2002, but for one reason and another, had lost steam. A year ago, the group got a fresh life when the Akron Area Arts Alliance took it under its wing. Knapp and Tinnemeyer recruited young people to start a new iteration of the group, complete with a Facebook page.

ArtCetera isn’t big on rules. It doesn’t even have a set upper limit on how old you can be and still call yourself a ‘’young’’ professional.

Join, or go as a guest. Just have fun, or network if you like. Get good deals on tickets, and have some built-in company when you go to events. It’s not too hard to see why ArtCetera found friends.

ArtCetera,  www.akronareaarts.org/artcetera. For reservations, [email protected].