LITTLE ROCK — I neglected last week to advise you about AETN Arts Fridays. We’ll catch up today.

Through Aug. 10, PBS will air the PBS Arts Summer Festival and AETN will toss in the locally produced AETN Presents for good measure.

AETN Presents will air at 6:30 p.m. and the PBS Arts Summer Festival programs will follow at 9.

AETN Presents features a variety of arts and cultural subjects and includes the series On the Same Page and On the Front Row.

Good stuff? You bet. Previous performers in the series include the Cate Brothers, Trout Fishing in America, 3 Penny Acre, Dale Hawkins, The Claudia Burson Trio, The Salty Dogs and Epiphany; and authors Buzz Bissinger, Wells Tower, Billy Collins, John T. Edge and Kenneth L. Smith.

The PBS Arts Summer Festival “expands the scope and diversity of the arts on television ... and takes viewers across the country and around the world.”

The festival explores almost 20 cities around the globe, offering an in-depth look at music, theater, art, architecture and cultural history.

Our host is Anna Deavere Smith. She played the hospital administrator Gloria Akalitus on Showtime’s Nurse Jackie.

If you didn’t catch the festival last week, you’ve only missed one episode (it was about a high school mariachi band), but you can get on board Friday.

Here’s the PBS Arts Summer Festival lineup for the rest of the series.

Friday: Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World. Narrated by Susan Sarandon, this film takes viewers to nine countries and through 1,400 years of cultural history to explore the artistic and architectural riches of the religion.

Airing earlier at 6:30 p.m. will be AETN Presents: On the Front Row With the Boondogs.

July 13: John Leguizamo’s Tales From a Ghetto Klown. This profile of actor/playwright John Leguizamo looks at his unorthodox rise to success while capturing his struggles to mount his one-man Broadway show.

At 6:30: AETN Presents: On the Front Row With Pam Tillis

July 20: Homecoming: The Kansas City Symphony Presents Joyce DiDonato. Architect Moshe Safdie’s new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, Mo., provides the backdrop for this performance/documentary profiling Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, the young musicians of the Kansas City Symphony, and artistic director and conductor Michael Stern.

At 6:30: AETN Presents: Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys

July 27: Havana, Havana! This music documentary features Cuban drummers, guajira guitarists, and Cuban musician Raul Paz as he brings together fellow musicians Descemer Bueno, Kelvis Ochoa and David Torrens to give their first concert for the Cuban people.

At 6:30: AETN Presents: On the Front Row With Go Fast

Aug. 3: The Barnes Collection. This is an exclusive look at Dr. Albert Barnes’ collection of thousands of works of art by some of the most famous names in art history, such as Picasso, Cezanne, Renoir and Matisse.

Aug. 10: Tanglewood 75th Anniversary Celebration. Located in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts, Tanglewood hosts one of the world’s most renowned music festivals and serves as the summer home for the famed Boston Symphony Orchestra.

The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. E-mail:

mstorey@arkansasonline.com

Weekend, Pages 24 on 07/05/2012