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CONTACT: Missy McTamney
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College Park. MD -– Three distinguished University of Maryland faculty are the recipients of a 2014 Individual Artist Award (IIA) from the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC). Linda Mabbs (voice) and Robert DiLutis (clarinet) from the School of Music, and Sharon Mansur (dance) of the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies were selected by MSAC for creating works of exceptional quality in a variety of artistic disciplines. The grants range in value from $1,000 to $3,000.
About the Individual Artist Award
The Maryland State Arts Council is committed to the artists at the heart of Maryland's thriving creative sector. Their annual Individual Artist Award recognizes the important contribution artists and their works make to the cultural vibrancy of Maryland.
Each year, IIA awards of up to $6,000 go to artists from across Maryland selected by a blind, out-of-state jury on the basis of artistic merit alone. In partnership with the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, the IAA committee reviews nearly 400 applicants in 18 artistic disciplines. The MSAC has published a full list of grantees on its web site.
About Robert DiLutis
Robert DiLutis is Associate Professor of Clarinet at the UMD School of Music. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School and previously taught at the Eastman School of Music
DiLutis made his Carnegie Hall Recital debut in 1989, and has toured with the New York Philharmonic. His IAA application included works for solo clarinet. DeLutis plans to use his grant funds to curate a new concert series with the Riverdale Arts Council at the Riverdale Mansion that will feature SOM students and alumni.
About Linda Mabbs
Internationally recognized soprano Linda Mabbs has sung with many of the worlds’ leading orchestras and collaborated with such esteemed conductors as Sir Neville Marriner and Leonard Slatkin.
Named a Distinguished Scholar/Teacher by the University of Maryland in 2000, Professor Mabbs has taught master classes around the world. Mabbs’ application included recordings from the Art of Argento Festival, which she spearheaded, and her grant will support the publication of her latest recording of works for soprano by composer Benjamin Britten.
About Sharon Mansur
A dance artist and educator, Mansur’s focus is on improvisation, site-specific performance installations and the work of the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies. She recently collaborated with Irish contemporary dance artist Nick Bryson entitled INSERT [ ] HERE, for which she won a UMD Creative & Performing Arts Award.
Mansur is director of mansurdance, an experimental multi-media performance project. Her IAA application included solos from cimmerian light (2011), Underneath (2011) and residue (2012), which she choreographed and performed.
Congratulations to these talented UMD artists and their innovative work.
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Located on the University of Maryland campus and a part of the College of Arts and Humanities, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center is a premier presenting arts venue and collaborative laboratory shared by the School of Music (SOM), the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS) and the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library. The Center made its debut in 2001 and has grown into a national model for campus performing arts centers, presenting performances and programs by visiting artists as well as by students and faculty of SOM and TDPS in an environment of creative learning, exploration and growth. The Center remains active in the larger university community through its innovative partnerships and extraordinary experiences.
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The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center is supported by a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive. An agency of the Department of Business & Economic Development, the MSAC provides financial support and technical assistance to nonprofit organizations, units of government, colleges and universities for arts activities. Funding for the Maryland State Arts Council is also provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.