Joining us today to perform the hammered dulcimer is Maggie Sansone. This ancient Celtic music has been popular for centuries, and continues with the surge in interest in Irish music. Ms. Sansone has performed at the Kennedy Center, CBS's Sunday Morning, and on NPR's All Things Considered. Maggie Sansone's next Celtic concert is June 21st with the Teelin School of Irish Dance in Historic London Town, Maryland, and on July 12th at the Strathmore Mansion in North Bethesda, MD. Her latest CD A Celtic Fair will soon be available through her website, below.

Maggie's Music

Well it's officially summertime, now that Cockpit in Court Summer Theatre has started its season. The offering on the Mainstage is Cole Porter's classic High Society, that story of the countdown to an upper crust society wedding which seems doomed to a series of hilarious twists and turns. Joining us on Artworks This Week is the show's director John Desmone, celebrating his 25th anniversary with this very popular summer theatre. He'll be accompanied by one of the stars of the production, Dyana Neal. Dyana Neal's name is familiar to public radio fans as the very popular host on WBJC (91.5 FM ) since 1993.

High Society runs at Cockpit in Court Summer Theatre, on the campus of CCBC, in Essex, through July 1.

Cockpit in Court Summer Theatre

Hurricane Katrina changed New Orleans—and America—forever that fateful day in August 2005. Film director Jonathan Demme, best known for The Silence of the Lambs, took his cameras to the impoverished 9th Ward to see how the people have managed over the past 18 months. The results are a compelling documentary premiered last week at the American Film Institute's SilverDocs Festival. We had a chance to sit down with Mr. Demme and talk about the film, which will continue to be shown at film festivals, and will come out on DVD in the next year.

The American Film Institute's SilverDocs Festival

This week's Salon Art is by Maria Cavacos. Maria was born and raised in Hampden "Hon", Maryland, but has lived extensively over the globe. Her artistic style, like her life, is a conglomerate of all her worldly experiences. She creates collages of cityscapes, particularly rowhouses and building architecture that captures the details of times gone by. These fanciful collages are made out of tissue paper, Chinese paper, magazine cutouts and original artwork.

A self-taught artist, Maria has been designing her collages for over twenty years. Her artwork can be found on murals throughout Baltimore and at area galleries. Primarily, her art can be viewed at the Art Gallery of Fells Point, 1716 Thames Street. It's open weekdays, noon to 6pm; weekends, 10pm to 6pm. Call 410-327-1272. To view her artwork by appointment in her home studio, email her at cavacos@mindspring.com.

Art Gallery of Fells Point
Magnolia Design Studios

Art Enables provides a venue for developmental and/or mentally-disabled adults throughout the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, to create and market their own outsider and folk art. Professional artists/instructors work with the artists in this program to improve their skills as they pursue their goal of producing quality works of art. Their artwork has become very popular and has been exhibited in many galleries throughout the metro area including recent showings at the World Bank in Washington D.C. and the Children's Medical Center.

The studio is located at 411 New York Ave., NE, Washington, D.C. It's just inside the Beltway and they love visitors. You may view the artwork that they have on hand or commission your own. Contact them by phone at 202-554-9455 or email, info@art-enables.org. They're open from 10am to 4pm, Monday - Friday or by appointment on weekends.

Art Enables
Howard County Center for the Arts

On ArtChat This Week, Nate and Rhea discuss The Sports Legends at Camden Yards museum and how it received some very welcome relief this week. The Maryland Stadium Authority voted to forgive thousands of dollars in back rent and to lower the monthly rent of the struggling museum. Reportedly, attendance at the museum has dropped significantly since 2005 and the museum has been unable to make its $28-thousand dollar monthly rent. The new reduced rent in now $10-thousand dollars a month. Officials hope summer tourism will offer a great turnaround of attendance at the museum. And Sudlersville Train Station and Museum is expanding. It’s in Queen Annes County and is described as an old train station that holds model trains and baseball memorabilia. The Sudlersville Train Station and Museum has received a donation of a parcel of land and the land will become the site of a second building for the museum. The museum, open since 1991, holds baseball memorabilia of baseball player Jimmie Foxx as well as model trains.