MARIACHI HIGH

In a part of America that rarely makes headlines, there is a small town with a group of teenagers who will inspire, surprise and bring you to your feet with their astonishing musical virtuosity and the music they make. MARIACHI HIGH spends a year in the life of the champion mariachi ensemble of Zapata High School on the Rio Grande in south Texas.

The PBS Arts Summer Festival expands the scope and diversity of the arts on television, with a multi-part weekly series and new original online content that takes viewers across the country and around the world. Award-winning television, film and stage star Anna Deavere Smith (“Nurse Jackie,” “The West Wing”) will serve as weekly host for the Summer Festival, which begins Friday, June 29, 2012.

In addition, PBSArts.org will host weekly curated immersive, themed exhibits that take consumers beyond the television experience and into the creative process itself, and PBS will create innovative classroom tools to help fill gaps in arts education.