Young Man from Windsor Receives Pryor Award

WINDSOR, CT — The Greater Hartford Arts Council is proud to announce that Jahrrad Davis-Marcellin of Windsor was recently honored with the Pryor Award.

The award, which was established earlier this year and named for the Pryor family who are longtime supporters of the arts and education in our region, recognizes two participants from the Greater Hartford Arts Council’s Neighborhood Studios program who exemplify the values of Neighborhood Studios. These values include: Growth, Independence, Self Confidence, and Teamwork.

Maya Concepcion of West Hartford also received the award.

Neighborhood Studios is a summer arts apprenticeship program which provides an opportunity for teens to learn an art form under the guidance of a professional artist, as well as offers an opportunity for personal growth. The winners of this scholarship are teens who grew as artists and as individuals. They encouraged and supported their fellow apprentices, they contributed to their studios as a whole, and they go above and beyond the expectations of a Neighborhood Studios apprentice.

Jahrrad, an apprentice at Artists Collective’s Youth Jazz Orchestra, plans to use the funds from the Pryor Awards towards his college education. He will begin his studies at the University of Hartford this fall, where he will major in Jazz Studies at the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz.

“He has always been conscientious and serious from the moment he arrived to work with the orchestra,” said Rene McLean, Master Teaching Artist of Youth Jazz Orchestra. “Jahrrad has become an incredible saxophonist, confident in his voice as an artist recently winning a New England-wide improvisation contest at the 2017 Hershey Park Music Festival.”

Story and photo courtesy of Greater Hartford Arts Council