Twenty Delaware artists are being recognized by the Delaware Division of the Arts for the high quality of their artwork. The Division received work samples from 149 Delaware musicians; writers; and folk, media, and visual artists. The work samples were reviewed by out-of-state arts professionals who considered the demonstrated creativity and skill in each artist’s respective art form. The twenty artists were awarded fellowships in the following categories – one, Masters; ten, Established; and nine, Emerging. Four applicants were awarded Honorable Mentions. The selected fellows reside throughout Delaware including Arden, Dover, Lewes, Long Neck, Newark, Rehoboth Beach, and Wilmington.

Awards are given in three categories: $12,000 for the Masters Award, $8,000 for the Established Professional Award, and $5,000 for the Emerging Professional Award. Fellows are required to offer at least one exhibit or performance during the upcoming year, providing an opportunity for the public to experience their work.

“Individual Artist Fellowship grants recognize Delaware artists for their outstanding work and commitment to artistic excellence,” said Jessica Ball, director of the Delaware Division of the Arts. “The financial award allows them to pursue advanced training, purchase equipment, and materials, or fulfill other needs to advance their careers.”

The Masters Fellowship is open to different artistic disciplines each year. For FY 2024, Masters Fellowship applications were accepted in Dance, Jazz, and Music from artists who had previously received an Established Professional Fellowship. In addition to exemplifying high artistic quality, Masters Fellowship applicants must demonstrate their involvement and commitment to the arts in Delaware and beyond.

Mark Hagerty is the DDOA FY 2024 Master Fellow in the field of Music: Composition. Hagerty is an award-winning, highly individualistic composer who pursued classical training as an instrumentalist, singer, and composer and then determined his own path, outside of any tradition or institution. His music has found enthusiastic audiences from Carnegie Hall to Iceland to Shanghai to Rio de Janeiro. While much of his work is inspired by theoretical physics and chaotic systems, he is increasingly dedicated to using music in the service of social change, including ongoing collaboration with the urban spoken-word Twin Poets, Delaware’s poets laureate.

Hagerty studied composition at Oberlin and Brandeis. Early in his career, he was awarded the prestigious Joseph H. Bearn’s Prize from Columbia University for his String Quartet: Formations. He received a past Individual Artist Fellowship from the Delaware Division of the Arts 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 “revelatory new sounds,” “elements that are by turns dramatic, amusing, thrilling, and lovely,” and its “plateaux of great beauty.”

Listed below are the Delaware Division of the Arts FY 2024 Individual Artist Fellows:

Masters Fellows

Mark Hagerty, Music: Composition, Wilmington

Established Fellows

Maya Belardo, Jazz: Performance, Wilmington

David Burslem, Visual Arts: Sculpture, Arden

Lori Crawford, Visual Arts: 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

Emerging Fellows

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

M. Amber Spivey, Dance: Choreography, Newark

Julieta Zavala, Folk Art: Visual Arts, Newark

Honorable Mentions

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

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To contact an individual artist, please email or call Roxanne Stanulis, Program Officer, Artist Programs and Services at Roxanne.Stanulis@delaware.gov or 302-577-8283.

The next deadline for the FY 2025 Individual Artist Fellowship applications will be Thursday, August 1, 2024 at 11:59 p.m.

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The Delaware Division of the Arts, a branch of the Delaware Department of State, is committed to supporting the arts and cultivating creativity to enhance the quality of life in Delaware. Together with its advisory body, the Delaware State Arts Council, the Division administers grants and programs that support arts programming, educate the public, increase awareness of the arts, and integrate the arts into all facets of Delaware life. Funding for Division programs is provided by annual appropriations from the Delaware General Assembly and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. For more information about the Delaware Division of the Arts, visit arts.delaware.gov or call 302-577-8278.

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