ORONO – Danny Williams of Orono, a longtime and enthusiastic supporter of music and arts at the University of Maine, is the 2005 recipient of the Vincent A. Hartgen Award.

He has been involved in promoting the arts and music programs on and off the UMaine campus for many years, according to Leonard Minsky, chairman of the University of Maine Patrons of the Arts organization. Williams, he said, “is more than eminently qualified for the Vincent A. Hartgen Award. His enthusiasm for the arts is legendary.”

The Hartgen award is an honor bestowed annually by the Patrons of the Arts since 1999 on individuals who distinguish themselves in advancing the community of the arts on campus. Hartgen, who died in 2002, founded the University of Maine Art Department in 1946 and co-founded the Patrons of the Arts. Last year’s recipient was Janet Rourke of Orono.

Williams grew up in Bangor, earned a bachelor’s degree in music and a master’s in higher education administration at UM, and now is director of annual and reunion giving at the UMaine Alumni Association.

An original advisory board member of the Maine Center for the Arts, Williams co-chairs the center’s gala committee and has or continues to serve on several other MCA committees. He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, and has been the music director for several UM performing arts productions, including: “Pump Boys and Dinnettes;” “Kiss Me Kate;” “Cabaret,” where he also played the role of Herr Schultz; and “The Rocky Horror Show.”

Williams was a founder of the University of Maine Black Bear Men’s Chorus in 2001, and is music director. The chorus comprises nearly 50 men from the UMaine campus and surrounding communities and performs in the school of performing art’s concert series.

Williams also directs “The Landlords,” a small men’s glee club, which performs for area civic groups and community organizations. He sings with the St. John’s Chamber Choir in Bangor.

As an undergraduate at UMaine, Williams was in six performing ensembles, and one of eight men who reintroduced the Maine Steiners to campus after a 20-year hiatus. For his involvement and contribution to UMaine in the performing arts, Williams received an Outstanding Achievement Award in arts and communications as an undergraduate and graduate student. He remains the only UMaine student to have won the award at both degree levels.

For the past four years, with his colleague Liz Downing and wife Emily Cain, a state legislator from Orono, Williams has written and directed a show performed by UMaine students at the Stillwater Society Dinner – which, through song, recognizes and honors up to four prominent UMaine alumni.

MCA director John Patches said: “Danny has been a valuable asset to the University of Maine arts community and the Maine Center for the Arts for nearly a decade. His leadership and commitment to the area of arts outreach has allowed literally thousands of young people to have an artistic experience who may not otherwise have such an opportunity.”