While Juneteenth was just officially approved of as a Federal holiday a few weeks ago, there was a different kind of celebration at the Academy Art Museum on Sunday. That was when the AAM noted their tenth anniversary in celebrating this day of acknowledgment of the end of slavery in the United States.

Over the years the Academy has found several creative ways to make Juneteenth memorable for the Mid-Shore, including art exhibitions and onsite art projects, which were seen on Sunday with a visual art project to occupy the AAM’s cube, and the stunning exhibit of the late Black artist and printmaker Norma Morgan.

But after so many years in the making, AAM’s celebration of Juneteenth has also turned out to be one of the best musical events on the Mid-Shore. Assisted with the help of musician Ray Remesch, the art center has developed a well-deserved reputation of bringing to the stage some of the most dynamic and gifted Black artists performing today. They have also found a special platform for some of the region’s promising musicians.

For 2021, that spotlight was put on Dorchester County’s Destinee Edmonds. A fifteen-year-old and rising junior at Cambridge-South Dorchester High School, Destinee, with approving parents seating in the front row, opened Juneteenth with classical renditions of Beethoven, Debussy, and Bach.  Destinee was followed by world-class performers Alison Crockett and Julie Outrage.

The Spy captured Destinee’s surprisingly appropriate and moving version of J.S. Bach’s Prelude in C Major as well as a few introductory remarks from new AAM director Sarah Jesse and retired Talbot County Public School’s Vickie Wilson as M.C.

This video is approximately three minutes in length. For more information about the Academy Art Museum please go here.

As many of our readers know, the Spy has spent a considerable amount of time during the COVID crisis profiling several directors of nonprofit organizations on how they have had to adjust to the new “normal” caused by the pandemic. In most cases, these have been long-tenured, well-seasoned leaders very familiar with the communities they serve. That fact alone has allowed many of them to be uniquely nimble during these extraordinary times.

And yet, there have been a handful of new leaders, beginning their roles in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, and who must move forward without traditional community orientation and with limited training.

One such leader is Shania Gregory. While she has a remarkable history with the YMCA, including childhood memories at the Easton Y, and more recently a long career with YMCA of the Chesapeake, her recent appointment to be the branch director of the Pauline F. and W. David Robbins Family YMCA in Cambridge just happened in July of last year.

But as the Spy discovered in our recent interview with her, Shania, like all her colleagues at the YMCA of the Chesapeake, is not easily discouraged. She talks to us about how she and her team are making it work at Robbin as Shania continues to wait for the day when she starts meeting her new community in Dorchester County.

This video is approximately four minutes in length. For more information about the Pauline F. and W. David Robbins Family YMCA in Cambridge please go here.

As many Talbot County residents have noticed over the last few months, the word “Hopeful” has been appearing on street corners, storefronts, homes, car bumpers, bicycles, and any other hard surface that exists silently and without explanation. That was the simple message that the artist Charlie Hewitt wanted to convey as a public art project as the country faced the dangers of COVID-19 and the impact it has had on millions of people.

Starting in Portland, Maine earlier this year, the “Hopeful” project has now has found its way to dozens of communities where these signs catch both pedestrians and motorists off guard. Those brief encounters immediately asked observers to interpret the word and its meaning without any other assistance from the artist. Was it a statement or was it a question? Or, in the case of Easton’s Dock Street Foundation, was it a call to action?

For Dock Street, the project was seen as a unique way to motivate the community not only to be hopeful but be proactive by donating to the Mid-Shore Community Foundation’s COVID-19 Response Fund. In partnering with MSCF, Dock Street has been using “Hopeful” to raise funds to provide food, shelter, and mental health services during these challenging times. 

The Spy interviewed Charlie a few weeks ago to define his art project and discuss its impact. But we also thought it was a good time to bring back our “Two Friends Talking” hosts Amy Haines and Sue Stockman, whose series last year was on the power and meaning of special words, to discuss briefly the word “hopeful” and what it means to them. 

This video is approximately four minutes in length. To make donation to the Hopeful project please go here.

If anyone is looking for an excellent example of how the COVID-19 crisis has changed our lives and culture, one only needs to know that the Talbot County Free Library recently increased the number of books one can check out to fifty. That’s right; from the days when most could only check out one or two books at a time, you can now show up with shopping bags to bring home dozens of books.

Aimed primarily to help students study at home, this is just one of many ways that the TCFL staff are adjusting to the needs of patrons during the coronavirus crisis.

The Spy sat down with two of the Library’s team working the front lines during this challenging time. Both Laura Powell, TCFL’s Youth Services Librarian, and Jo Powers, its Information Services Librarian, have been working double-time to find creative ways to help students with homework, seniors needing reading material, or making online resources available for those seeking employment or government assistance.

This video is approximately three minutes in length. For more information about the Talbot County Free Library’s eResources offerings please go here.