St. Olaf College music faculty member and Minneapolis composer Mary Ellen Childs has received a "New Residencies" award from Meet the Composer Inc. The three-year residency, one of only five awarded nationally in 2001, supports partnerships among composers, professional arts institutions and community-based organizations.

New Residencies allows a variety of community-arts partners to host composers of all styles of music in three-year residencies. Composers create music to celebrate the culture of the community, organize cultural events, teach, promote local heritage and help make music a positive force in community life.

Childs, konwn for creating exuberant instrumental works and bold, kinetic compositions that integrate music, dance and theater in unexpected ways, will be in residence in Minnesota with The Southern Theater, a presentation of the Twin Cities' most exceptional artists, working in all performance media. She will also be in residence with the St. Olaf Music Department, in collaboration with its Art, Dance, Theater, and Interdisciplinary Fine Arts departments, and in residence with the Eden Prairie High School band program, with its traditional large ensembles, innovative chamber music groups and percussion ensemble.

Among her anticipated projects are collaborations with visual artists; a series of "Street Noise" public space performances; new works written especially for band by Eden Prairie High School and St. Olaf College; and a full-evening performance by Childs' performing company "CRASH" at The Southern Theater.