Lakeshore Wind Ensemble Association Wesley Teply Community Service Award in the Arts 2023 Recipient, Linda Drumm Luchsinger

Linda Drumm Luchsinger has been chosen by the Lakeshore Wind Ensemble Association Board of Directors to receive the 2023 Wesley Teply Community Service Award in the Arts. The award was established in 1999 to recognize individuals who have substantially contributed to the arts in the greater Manitowoc area.

Linda is a Manitowoc native and graduate from Lincoln High School. She played band from elementary through high school and in the symphonic orchestra. She attended UW-Manitowoc (the “center” as it is often referred to) and UW-Madison, receiving honors and a double major in Spanish and Latin American Studies. She taught several years for the “Foreign Language in the Elementary Schools” program and at the junior high schools.

In the fall of 1985 Linda (clarinet) and her husband Richard (trombone) joined the Lakeshore Wind Ensemble, founded in 1984 by Professor Michael J. Arendt. In 1987 she was elected to be the first president of the newly formed Lakeshore Wind Ensemble Association, whose goal was to promote and support the LWE. In 1989 she was hired by Professor Arendt to be the music librarian, a position which soon expanded to becoming the LWE Administrator – a position she held until her retirement in 2014.

Linda is very proud of her daughters, Nancy Leigh and Brenda Luchsinger, as well as her grandson Garrett Leigh who are all musicians and have played or are currently members with the Lakeshore Wind Ensemble, Lakeshore Big Band, pit orchestras and community bands.

Linda also served as the first Theatre Facility Coordinator in the newly constructed University Theatre in Lakeside Hall of the UW-Manitowoc campus. She received the UW-Manitowoc Fine Arts Award in Music in 2010 for faithfully serving the campus and community with her work as Administrator of the UW-Manitowoc Lakeshore Wind Ensemble, Lakeshore Wind Ensemble Association, UW-Manitowoc Fine Arts Administrator and University Theatre Manager. The “Arts on Campus” program she headed for several years reflected her care and love of the “arts” both on campus and in the community.

Upon notification, Linda responded, “I am in disbelief. My work for the Lakeshore Wind Ensemble and University Theatre have always been works of love. The musicians I have come to know in the Lakeshore Wind Ensemble and Lakeshore Big Band, the many students that I have known, either through their attendance at UW-Manitowoc or as contestants for the Young Artist Competition, the staff at the campus and at the Capitol Civic Centre, have all enriched my life immeasurably. Professor John Wright, who was the theatre professor on campus, gave me guidance and was always ready for my theatre questions. And, above all, my heartfelt thanks for Professor Michael J. Arendt, whose dream was to bring talented musicians together to enrich themselves and their audiences with beautiful music. His legacy continues.”

Linda received the award at “The Winds of March” concert on March 4, 7:30 pm at the Capitol Civic Centre in downtown Manitowoc. View past award recipients at www.lakeshorewindensemble.org.