State fellowships in music, vistual arts and literature were announced this week. Photo by Cotton Bro Studio/Pexels
A Wilmington composer was given the Delaware Division of the Arts’ top fellowship award in its 2024 list of state artists.
Mark Hagerty was named the 2024 Master Fellow, an honor that somes with a $12,000 stipend for the artist. He was chosen from applications of those who previously had won an Establshed Professional Award and covered the fields of dance, jazz and music.
He is one of 20 Delaware residents from up and down the state to be honored with the state-funded fellowships in three categories, chosen from a field of 149 applicants.
An award-winning, highly individualistic composer. Hagerty’s work is inspired by theoretical physics and chaotic systems. He increasingly is dedicated to using music in the service of social change and has an ongoing collaboration with the urban spoken-word Twin Poets, Delawareâs poets laureate.
Hagerty was classically trained as an instrumentalist and singer and studied composition at Oberlin in Brandeis before following his own path outside of any tradition or institution.
Early in his career, he was awarded the prestigious Joseph H. Bearnâs Prize from Columbia University for his “String Quartet: Formations.” He previouls received a state Individual Artist Fellowship for “The Realm of Possibility,” a multi-movement piano work of flexible form, the recording of which received 5-star ratings in Fanfare for its ârevelatory new sounds,â âelements that are by turns dramatic, amusing, thrilling, and lovely,â and its âplateaux of great beauty.â
The state fellowships com with a stipend and requirement to create an opportunity for the public to experience their work. Established professionals are given $8,000 and Emerging professionals are given $5,000, which can be used to futher training, provide work material or otherwise advance their careers.
Individual artist awards
The Established Fellows include:
- Maya Belardo, jazz: performance, Wilmington
- David Burslem, visual arts: sculpture, Arden
- Lori Crawford, visual arts:Â interdisciplinary, Dover
- Richard Hill Jr., jazz: composition, Wilmington
- Shakira Hunt, visual arts: photography, Wilmington
- Michael Kardos, literature: fiction, Rehoboth Beach
- Victor Letonoff, literature: creative nonfiction, Lewes
- Rebecca Raubacher, visual arts: painting, Rehoboth Beach
- L.J. Sysko, literature: poetry, Wilmington
- Trebs Thompson, visual arts: crafts, Newark
The Emerging Fellows include:
- Doug Cannon (Pultixima), music: composition, Wilmington
- Samantha Facciolo, literature: fiction, Long Neck
- Brandan Henry, visual arts: works on paper, Wilmington
- Aaron Hoffer, visual arts: painting, Dover
- Mariano Mallia (Di Gabriele), music: contemporary performance, Wilmington
- Joyce Enzor Maust, literature: poetry, Dover
- Jennifer Morrell, literature: creative nonfiction, Wilmington
- Amber Spivey, dance: choreography, Newark
- Julieta Zavala, folk art: visual arts, Newark
Honorable mentions include:
- Kari Ebert, established, literature: poetry, Dover
- Bronwen Hazlett, established, visual arts: photography, Dover
- Virginia Lockman, emerging, visual arts: photography, Wilmington
- Michael Tanis, emerging, visual arts: sculpture, Wilmington
The deadline for the FY 2025 Individual Artist Fellowship applications is Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024, at 11:59 p.m.
Betsy Price is a Wilmington freelance writer who has 40 years of experience, including 15 at The News Journal in Delaware.
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