Lauren Kinsella with the award. Photo credit: David Myers

Mary James writes:

Lauren Kinsella has won the £10,000 Jazz Composition Fellowship in the annual Arts Foundation Awards 2017. Tori Freestone, Chris Montague and Percy Pursglove were the runners up each receiving awards of £1,000 from Guest of Honour Will Self at the annual Awards at Conway Hall, London on Wednesday 25th January. In the opening address Will Self stressed that the awards were important because they enabled artists to avoid commodification which “eats away at the soul”.

Kinsella said “I am absolutely humbled to receive such an award and to be shortlisted with such amazing artists” and dedicated the award to her father, who is seriously ill. She said the award will give her time to work on a new project of which details will be announced in the coming months.

The award is part of a three year partnership between the PRS for Music Foundation and the Arts Foundation. Previous recipients of the Jazz Composition Award include Ingrid Laubrock in 2006 and Tommy Smith in 1995.

The runners-up

Mary James, who lives in Gloucestershire, is a jazz promoter and artist manager. Twitter @maryleamington

Lauren performs with Swiss vocalist Sarah Buechi’s String and Bones quartet at The Intakt Festival at the Vortex in April. (DETAILS). The quartet consists of Buechi, Kinsella, Hannah Marshall on cello and John Edwards on bass, and features Buechi’s new compositions . They also perform in Shoreditch Church on April 19 in a double bill with pianist Veryan Weston. Kinsella is currently recording the second Snowpoet album.