LU musician awarded state fellowship

APPLETON - A Lawrence University faculty member has received an $8,000 Wisconsin Arts Board fellowship.

Patty Darling is director of the Lawrence University Jazz Band and a lecturer in music. School officials said she is one of nine recipients of a fellowship through the board’s Individual Artists Program. She is the only composer to receive a fellowship.

The fellowship is designed to support the creation of new work, complete work in progress, and/or pursue activities that contribute to the recipient’s artistic growth. Darling says she will use her fellowship to prepare a dozen of her existing original works for publication, to compose four new educational compositions for middle school and high school jazz ensemble that will be performed in December by several local schools and develop a personal website to bring her compositions and recordings to a larger audience.

Awards were determined by three panels of arts professionals, based primarily on the artistic quality of the applicants’ work samples.

Darling, a 1985 Lawrence graduate, was selected from 141 applicants statewide.