"It's not real," jazz violinist and Detroit native Regina Carter was saying Tuesday, still numb a full week after being awarded a $500,000 no-strings prize for creative genius from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation of Chicago.Known as the "genius awards," the 25 annual stipends have been handed out since 1981 to recognize exceptional achievement in all fields of professional endeavor. The 2006 awards were publicly announced Tuesday.
"It's like the spirits are saying, 'OK, we see you, and now it's time to really pay attention to what you want to do,'" says Carter, 40.
As it happens, the critically acclaimed violinist and graduate of Cass Tech High School knows exactly what that is. She wants to go back to school and study music therapy.
"I want to learn how to use music to help people and incorporate those ideas into a program of my own," she explains. "I've wanted to do this for a long time, but I really didn't know where I was going to get the money."
Carter, who lives in New York City with her husband, drummer Alvester Garnett, has a couple of weeks to come back down to earth before hitting the concert circuit again with a series of appearances from Los Angeles to Seattle.
Tuesday, the award winner was back in Detroit, sorting through the household left by her mother, who died in 2005.
"My mother was very big on school," says the violinist, who holds a performance degree from Oakland University. "She also believed in being focused."
When Carter was growing up, her mom would tell her to be clear on what she wanted and walk the path to get there, says the violinist, who holds a performance degree from Oakland University.
"When I began to do that, I started to see some of my dreams become reality."
Lawrence B. Johnson / Special to The Detroit News
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