Arts

Billions for Star Wars but not one cent for the arts! That apparently is going to be the battle cry of Congress' new Republican majority, heroes all.Conservatives have long accused the National Endowment of the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities of being ''elitist'' institutions dominated by insular liberal cliques remote from the concerns of ordinary Americans.Never mind that most large arts institutions that receive federal subsidies are governed by blue-blooded boards made up of conservative businesspeople and the old-money establishment.

Frederick poet to speak Sunday at monthly forum A poetry forum is scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday at 3844 Mount Airy Drive at Buffalo Road, north of Mount Airy. This month's guest poet will be Daneil Armstrong of Frederick. Participants can read their work. The monthly event features guest poets, an open mike forum, networking, critiquing, publishing ideas and opportunities, art and music, and information about retreats, workshops, conferences and writers groups. Information: 301-829-1962.

During the past quarter-century, the United States has seen something of an artistic renaissance. Across the country, museums attract good crowds, and theaters are often sold out. Music and dance lovers have an unprecedented number of events to choose from. Meanwhile, for those too far from cities to attend events in person, many of these great performances can be seen on public television stations. It is even possible these days for young people to dream of a career in the arts -- a career that will actually allow them to earn a living wage.

When film star Robert Redford was starting the Sundance Festival in Utah in the late 1970s, there were times when he felt like a barker outside a seedy nightclub. "Sundance was a rocky road, and there were a lot of near-fatalities along the way," Redford told about 1,000 arts administrators who gathered in Baltimore this weekend for the half-century summit of the advocacy group Americans for the Arts. "When the festival started, it was just me and two other people. We had one theater, and I'd stand by the front door and urge people to give us a try. I felt like a man who works in a strip joint saying, 'Why don't you come on in?

While growing up in a well-to-do Richmond, Va., family, Rob Levit never knew quite what to do with the surge of energy he often felt racing through him like a current. He hadn't mastered an instrument or learned to paint. He had no hankering to write. So he did the only thing he could think of. He became the class clown. "I was always getting in trouble," says Levit, 44, an improvisational jazz guitarist with 15 music CDs and an international performing career to his credit.

Charles Albert Wunder, a lifelong Baltimorean and avid supporter of the city's arts institutions, died Dec. 20 of complications from metastatic melanoma at Gilchrist Hospice in Towson. The retired life-insurance salesman was 77. Mr. Wunder was born in Baltimore and grew up in a West Baltimore rowhome on Grantley Street with his family, which included two sisters. As a teen, he hitchhiked across town to attend Loyola Blakefield High School in Towson, and was among the members of the first ROTC class to graduate from Loyola College in 1955.

Rachel Hilson , a 15-year-old sophomore at the Baltimore School for the Arts, has landed a recurring role on "The Good Wife," the CBS hit drama now in its second season. She debuts Tuesday as Nisa, a study partner and love interest for Zach Florrick (played by Graham Phillips ), the teenage son of Alicia Florrick (played by Julianna Margulies ). Hilson has already shot three episodes and just got word this week that she'll be shooting a fourth. Quite a big break for a young actress whose other credits are more along the lines of lower-school plays at McDonogh.

The boy in the black leotard was throwing yet another temper tantrum. Seventeen-year-old Bilal Smith had his back to his dance instructor at the Baltimore School for the Arts. As she demonstrated a movement sequence to the class, Bilal bent from the waist, ran his hands up and down his legs and began to rhythmically twitch his buttocks: Left. Right. Left, right, left. The room became silent. "I was just stretching," Bilal said. "You can just leave," the teacher replied.