September 19, 2008

The Award for Performing Arts Category for Music Composition:

Charles L. Booker, Jr., a resident of Arkansas for the last 10 years, has a varied and extensive history of composing, performing and conducting music that has taken him around the world. Currently serving as an associate professor and director of bands at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith, he is a former U.S. Army bandmaster. He studied band in high school in Texas, received his master of music in instrumental conducting from the University of Texas at San Antonio and pursued further studies at Conductors Collegiums at the University of North Texas. He has had work commissioned and performed by the U.S. Air Force Academy Band, Fort Lee, Virginia Army Band, South Jersey Area Wind Ensemble, University of Central Arkansas, and by the University of Arkansas Fort Smith for the investiture of the new chancellor. He was a performer and conductor of Army bands in Louisiana, Germany, New York City and a director of the Jazz Ambassadors in Washington, D.C.

About the award:

Arkansas Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship awards are unconditional, nonmatching awards made directly to individual artists. These awards are $4,000 to each recipient in recognition of artistic abilities. Awards are based on the creative excellence of works submitted for review, and they are awarded to a limited number of artists of outstanding talent. This year, the Arts Council will present nine awards totaling $36,000. The artists will be recognized in a ceremony during the Governor’s Arts Awards luncheon on Tuesday, October 21, 2008, during the ArtLinks 2008 conference at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.

The three categories this year are performing arts: music composition; literary: novels, and visual arts: sculpture.

website: www.arkansasarts.com