Starting around 4 pm this Saturday, the friends and supporters of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum will gather in St. Michaels to celebrate at its annual gala. While this tradition has needed to change due to the COVID pandemic, with now a safe amount of social distancing built in the program, the goal remains the same; provide as much philanthropic support as possible to keep the CBMM alive and relevant. 

It is safe to say that most, if not all, of those participating in this year’s “Castaway” gala, understand the full extent of the CBMM’s mission. Still, the challenge for staff and volunteers leaders of this remarkable institution is telling that story to the general public. In many ways, the events and programming at the museum is so great in number and so comprehensive that it can be challenging for many to absorb how wide this range can be. 

To help with this communications challenge, the Spy thought it would be beneficial to focus on just one of those programs that very few associate with CBMM. Rising Tide program, the brainchild of Kristen Greenaway soon after she became the museum’s president in 2015, would be in that category. 

Founded as a program that teaches students basic boatbuilding and woodworking skills, Rising Tide is much more than a recreational outlet for young people. It inspires young kids to develop self-confidence, pride, and facilitates mentorships that provide guidance and support. It can also be seen through the lens of a STEM program, where students become more academically prepared and gain skills in mathematics, engineering, team building, and project management.

A few weeks ago, the Spy spent some time with Jill Ferris, the CBMM’s director of education, who oversees the Rising Tide program, for her own impressions of this remarkably successful after-school initiate.

This video is approximately minutes in length. For more information about CBMM’s gala, please go here.

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.