Two Maryland communities received national recognition for their dynamic arts culture. Silver Spring-Rockville-Frederick was number seven on National Center for Arts Research’s (NCAR) list of the most arts vibrant large cities in the nation and Easton/Talbot County was a top 20 medium and small city. In its recognition of the Silver Spring area, NCAR’s report praised the Silver Spring Jazz Festival, the area’s vibrant theater community, and the American Film Institute and its influential AFI Docs film festival that is produced in partnership with the Maryland Film Office.

In recognizing Easton and Talbot County, NCAR praised organizations including the Easton Choral Arts Society, the city’s Plein Air Arts Festival, the Talbot County Visual Arts Center, the Academy Art Museum in Easton; the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michael’s, and more. NCAR also noted that Easton ranked in the top 10 percent of cities in both state and federal arts dollars in the community.

To increase partnership opportunities with community stakeholders, OTD has been holding tourism workshops around the state. The workshops are aimed at educating business owners and event organizers on the benefits of statewide programs and to offer marketing strategies. Workshops are also an excellent opportunity to get to know local DMOs and find out what assets are available on the county level. If you would like more information, or would like to bring an OTD Tourism Workshop to your community, please contact Heather Ersts, partnership and outreach manager, Maryland Office of Tourism at HErsts@visitmaryland.org.

With this week’s AFI Docs in Silver Spring and next week’s Frederick Film Festival kicking off, it’s a great time to be a film fan in Maryland. AFI Docs, which opens tonight and runs through Sunday, brings the best national and international documentaries to the AFI Silver Theater in Silver Spring. Founded in 2003, AFI Docs has grown to become one of the most important documentary festivals and has been called the "Pre-eminent US Documentary Fest" by Screen International, the "premier showcase for documentary films" by The Hollywood Reporter, and "Non-fiction Nirvana" by Variety. For show times, tickets and more, visit their website.

Following AFI, the 7th Annual Frederick Film Festival — or F3, for those in the know — opens next week with dozens of features, shorts and documentaries on the schedule. F3 puts a distinctly Frederick spin on the festival model with a high school film competition, a kid’s film festival, and “Soundtrack,” a kick-off concert with live music, local beer and, of course, short films setting the stage for the main festival. The festival runs June 26-28. For show times, tickets and more, visit their website.

Maryland’s successful Arts & Entertainment Districts (A&E) program continues to grow with the addition of Chestertown and Grantsville to the roster. Further bolstering the program, popular A&E districts in Berlin and Denton were re-designated for 10 more years, and the thriving Salisbury and Denton districts were approved for expansion. The two, newly designated districts will officially join the program on July 1, bringing the total to 24 official Maryland A&E districts. Maryland’s A&E Districts help develop and promote community involvement, tourism, and revitalization through tax-related incentives that attract artists, arts organizations and other creative enterprises.

TFA would like to congratulate Sandy Hillman Communications which was presented a national Silver Anvil Award for Excellence in the “Events and Observances, More Than Seven Days” category for its work on the Star-Spangled 200 campaign. The Silver Anvil, presented by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), is considered the most distinguished award in the PR industry and is given to parties demonstrating best practices among all PR organizations. The award was presented on June 4 at a ceremony in New York.

Spectacular drew more than 1.43 million visitors to Baltimore in a single week with more than 200,000 making their first visit to Baltimore. The event combined with home games for the Baltimore Orioles and Ravens to create the biggest tourism week in Baltimore history according to Visit Baltimore CEO Tom Noonan. The event was produced with an investment of $4.57 million and, according to the report by Forward Analytics, generated an economic impact of more than $164.1 million, a staggering return. The entire three-year statewide commemoration had an impact of $333 million. Beyond the impressive economic numbers, the events highlighted the importance of tourism as an economic engine for the state and served to create other important benefits for Maryland.

Each week, the Maryland Minute provides highlights and insights on this weekend’s events around the state. Maryland Minute is featured on CBS radio stations in Baltimore and Washington, D.C. and on Baltimore’s WBAL-AM 1090.