This summer, the Smithsonian's Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery will remain open until 8 p.m. every Thursday from June 24 through July 29 in celebration of "Art Night on the Mall." Visitors can spend their evenings enjoying a variety of Asian art exhibitions, museum tours, music and dance performances, films, lectures, and children's activities.

The galleries offer an exciting selection of summer exhibitions, including the highly acclaimed "Return of the Buddha: The Qingzhou Discoveries." In its only North American venue, the exhibition presents 35 expertly reassembled sculptures accidentally unearthed in 1996 in Shandong Province, China. Visitors will be inspired by the sublime beauty of these sculptures, while gaining new insight into the history of Buddhist art. Other exhibitions on view include "Caliphs and Kings: The Art and Influence of Islamic Spain," bringing to Washington for the first time 89 objects from the collection of the Hispanic Society of America, and "Faith and Form: Selected Calligraphy and Painting from the Japanese Religious Traditions," a magnificent collection of richly illuminated sutras texts, portraits of Zen masters, and mandala paintings lent by private collectors Sylvan Barnet and William Burto.

Special Art Night gallery tours, Flamenco music and dance, Indian cinema, and exhibition talks are also some of the exciting public programs visitors can enjoy at the Freer and Sackler. In addition, children can learn about different Asian cultures and take part in hands-on activities in ImaginAsia, where participants ages 6-14 explore an exhibition and create a related art project to take home. For more information on these programs, the public can contact 202. 633.1000 or visit the galleries' web site at www.asia.si.edu.

Performances

• Arab Fusions: Simon Shaheen and Qantara
  Thursday, June 17, 7:00 p.m.
  Freer steps (rain location: Meyer Auditorium)
  Enjoy this eclectic eight-piece band as it delivers an unbridled fusion of Arab, jazz, Latin, and Western classical music, exploring the Moroccan origins of flamenco and finding common ground between Latin music and Egyptian pop. Qantara features one of America's leading Arab musicians, the violin and 'ud (lute) virtuoso Simon Shaheen, a past winner of the National Heritage Fellowship, America's highest award in the traditional arts. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition "Caliphs and Kings: The Art and Influence of Islamic Spain."

• Flamenco Music and Dance
  Thursday, July 15, 7:00 p.m.
  Meyer Auditorium
  Dancers Anna Manendez, who has performed with the Washington Opera and the Baltimore and Detroit Symphonies, and Edwin Aparacio, who toured nationally with Romeria Flamenca, are joined by New York-based vocalist David Castellano and guitarist Richard Marlow for this event highlighting Latino performers in the U. S. who excel at this traditional Spanish art form. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition "Caliphs and Kings: The Art and Influence of Islamic Spain."

• The Chinese Folk Dance Ensemble
  Thursday, July 22, 7:00 p.m.
  Freer steps (rain location: Meyer Auditorium)
  Enjoy dances invoking the Buddhist deities and celestial musicians of fifth-century Chinese cave paintings, as well as springtime farming celebrations of northeast China, performed by this award-winning company based in New York's Chinatown and made up of performers trained on stages and in academies across China. The New York Times praised their performance as showing "amazing skill" in creating "exquisitely described cursive patterns" that mimic clouds, waterfalls, and ocean waves. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition "Return of the Buddha: The Qingzhou Discoveries."

• Music of the Sephardic Jews: Marc Hazan and Company
  Thursday, July 29, 7:00 p.m.
  Freer steps (rain location: Meyer Auditorium)
  Based in New York City, this five-member ensemble is led by vocalist Marc Hazan, a native of Fez, Morocco, and a specialist in the evocative, note-bending modes of Judeo-Arabic and Judeo-Spanish festival songs. Singing in Ladino and Arabic, Hazan is accompanied by Middle Eastern flute (ney), dulcimer (qanun), violin, and tambourine (riqq). Marc Hazan made his Washington debut at the 2001 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Presented in conjunction with the exhibition "Caliphs and Kings: The Art and Influence of Islamic Spain."

Films

• The Cup
  Thursday, June 24, 7 p.m.
  Special guest: Gaetano Kazuo Maida, executive director, International Buddhist Film Festival
  Khyentse Norbu, a renowned Buddhist lama regarded by many to be the reincarnation of a revered 19th century saint, directed this sweet, engaging comedy about a group of mischievous, soccer-obsessed child monks determined to smuggle a television into their monastery so they can watch the World Cup. Featuring wonderful comic turns by a cast of actual monks from the monastery where the movie was shot, this film—the first ever produced in Bhutan—examines the tenets of Buddhism through gentle humor and the awe-inspiring beauty of Bhutan's landscape. Join Gaetano Kazuo Maida for a discussion after the film. Bhutan, 1994, 94 min., Tibetan with English subtitles.

• An Evening with Sharmila Tagore and Gautam Ghosh
  In the Forest . . . Again
  Thursday, July 1, 7 p.m.
  Indian cinema icons Soumitra Chatterjee and Sharmila Tagore and other actors from Satyajit Ray's classic film Days and Nights in the Forest reunite in Goutam Ghosh's new film, a stunningly beautiful idyll. Now older and wiser, the four surviving main characters from Ray's film return with their families decades later to the forest where they had their adventures. Familiarity with Ray's film is unnecessary for understanding this meditation on human connection. 2003, 126 min., in Bengali with English subtitles.

Lectures & Talks

• Point of View: Return of the Buddha: The Qingzhou Discoveries
  Thursday, July 15, 6:00 p.m.
  Sackler level one
  Join Kate Lingley, specialist of early Chinese art, as she discusses the wide range of patrons who sponsored Buddhist sculptures in the sixth century, from emperors and empresses to aristocrats, government officials, and groups of ordinary lay Buddhists. Currently an Ittleson Fellow at the National Gallery of Art, Kate Lingley will address the aims and aspirations of the donors, their choices of subject matter, themes and styles, and the ways in which they represented themselves in the artworks that they sponsored.

Tours

• Highlights of the Freer Gallery
  June 24, July 1, July 8, July 22, 6 p.m.
  Freer Information Desk

• Highlights of the Sackler Gallery
  June 24, July 1, July 8, July 22, 6 p.m.
  Sackler Information Desk

• Storytelling Tours
  July 15 & July 29, 6 p.m.
  Freer Information Desk
  Enjoy stories highlighting some the objects represented in the Freer Gallery.

• Caliphs and Kings: The Art and Influence of Islamic Spain
  July 15 & July 29, 6 p.m.
  Sackler Information Desk

ImaginAsia Children's Programs

• Year of the Monkey
  Thursdays, July 8 & 15, 6 p.m.
  Sackler classroom
  Search the Sackler and Freer galleries and learn the importance of celebrating the New Year in Chinese culture. Return to the classroom to make Chinese puppets to take home.

• Gifts for Kings and Queens
  Thursdays, July 22 & 29, 6 p.m.
  Sackler classroom
  Examine the exquisite hammered silver and gold work in "Luxury Arts of the Silk Route Empires" and make a silver pendant to wear home.

The Freer and Sackler galleries together form the national museum of Asian art. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. every day except Christmas Day. Admission is free. This summer from June 24–July 29, the galleries remain open on Thursday evenings until 8 p.m. for "Art Night on the Mall." The galleries are located near the Smithsonian Metrorail station on the Blue and Orange lines. For more information, the public may call (202) 633-1000 or TTY 202.357.1729, or visit the special, exhibition-related section of the galleries' web site at www.asia.si.edu.