Every year, Inspire Arts & Music recognizes individuals who have made a significant impact on the arts with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Special attention is given to those who have spent their lives influencing and impacting youth through the arts.
This year, Inspire Arts & Music is proud to recognize: Kathy Kerrins, Dan Lutz, Pat Tierney, and Bob MacCormack. This incredible group will be recognized at our 13th Annual Concert in the Park this summer in Downtown Boston.
Meet our honorees below!
Kathy Kerrins – Volunteer, Blessed Sacrament Color Guard & Boston Crusaders
Kathy Kerrins is a lifelong performer, educator, judge, and volunteer in the marching arts.
Over the years, Kathy has left her mark on a number of local ensembles and thousands of students, all beginning with the I.C. Reveries out of Revere, MA. Kathy was recruited by a middle school friend to join the Reveries Color Guard. While the friend eventually moved on, Kathy stayed dedicated to the Reveries, spending an impressive seven years with the ensemble.
After retiring as a performer, Kathy began a successful education career both as a public school teacher, and as an instructor in the marching arts. For nearly 40 years until her retirement, Kathy served as an elementary school teacher in the Revere public school district. After the dismissal bell, Kathy would head to rehearsal to teach color guard for a number of local ensembles including the Malden Ambassadors, East Coast Jazz, North Star, Somerville Cavaliers, Blessed Sacrament, and several scholastic programs. While teaching, Kathy adjudicated band, drum corps, and indoor on the local and national level, including WGI from 1982-2005.
Today, Kathy is an unsung hero of the marching arts in Massachusetts. Year round, Kathy volunteers her nights, weekends, and weekdays to New England’s events and ensembles including Blessed Sacrament Color Guard, Boston Crusaders, the New England Scholastic Band Association, and all the events, programs, and rehearsals in between. Kathy goes above and beyond to ensure each program operates efficiently and successfully, dedicating her time and opening her home to anyone in need. If there is a show going on, you can bet on seeing Kathy in the background making it run seamlessly. “It’s just who I am,” Kathy says. At her heart, she just wants to keep the activity going.
Dan Lutz – Director of University Bands, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Daniel P. Lutz is the Director of University Bands at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. In the performance area of Department of Music, he serves as Conductor of the Wind Ensemble, Jazz Rock Big Band, Director of Pep Bands, and Director of the much-acclaimed Marching Band.
Lutz is a composer and arranger in a wide array of media. With hundreds of works to his credit, commissions have included wind band and orchestral works, pieces for jazz ensembles, theatre, corporate video, and commercial radio and television.
Commissioned works for wind band include the compositions "Dichotomy... Impressions of Kerouac" inspired by the writings and life of the poet and Lowell native Jack Kerouac,
"Hemispheres" a work for middle school band inspired by the functions of the regions of the human brain, and a new work, “Seeds of Revolution” inspired by the ideas that ignited the pursuit of our nation’s independence. In the educational community, Mr. Lutz has served as guest conductor at numerous state music educators festivals in addition to the Massachusetts Music Educators Association Regional Honor Bands in the Northeast, Southeast, Eastern, Central and Western Districts. In his role as Director of University Bands at UMass Lowell, he has received the University's Student Government Award for teaching excellence and for Advisor of the Year. Under his direction, the UMass Lowell Bands perform throughout New England. Accolades have included performances for the President of the United States, the Governor of Massachusetts, and numerous television appearances.
For more than forty years, Dan Lutz has directed various musical ensembles and has served as a clinician addressing composition and musical performance throughout the United States and abroad. Dan is a member of the Massachusetts Instrumental and Choral Conductors Association Hall of Fame and the Massachusetts Drum Corps and Music Educators Hall of Fame.
Pat Tierney – Realtor, Insight Realty Group
A Bostonian all her life, Pat and her husband Joseph Tierney were born in South Boston and moved to Hyde Park where they raised their three children. After adopting Hyde Park as home, Pat and Joe embraced the community as they continued their careers – Joe in politics and Pat in real estate. Pat co-founded the women-owned Stanton and Tierney Real Estate office in Logan Square before launching her own office, Tierney Realty Group. In 2020, she joined Insight Realty Group on Fairmount Ave.
Pat is heavily involved in the Hyde Park community, serving as a member of the Fairmount Hill Neighborhood Association, Hyde Park Main Streets, Hyde Park Board of Trade, Former Chairperson of the Hyde Park YMCA, and the steering committees of many neighborhood events, like Hyde Park’s 150th Celebration. She has played a key role in strengthening the local community and supporting long-standing businesses while embracing the new.
A passionate supporter of the arts, Pat is deeply involved in the artist community from music and theater to the visual arts. Her building provides low-cost retail space to “The Switch”, an Artist Cooperative, enabling local artists a chance to display their work while giving the community another artistic venue. She is a longtime supporter, volunteer, and fundraiser for Riverside Theatre Works, helping to provide a safe, inspiring space where children can grow, explore, and express themselves. Through her work and community support, Pat is helping revitalize Hyde Park as a bustling hub of the arts.
Over the years, her civic involvement remained strong, including service as a City of
Boston Zoning Commissioner, City of Boston Fair Housing Commissioner and Chairman of the Government Affairs Committee for the Greater Boston Real Estate Board. In her early career she was elected as Democratic State Committee Woman for our district.
Bob MacCormack – Entrepreneur & Philanthropist
Bob MacCormack is New England plumbing contractor, developer, and lifelong supporter of the arts.
In 1979, Bob founded MacCormack Plumbing, a family business which he proudly grew alongside his wife, brother, and sons over many decades. After dedicating himself for nearly 40 years to MacCo, Bob began concentrating his efforts on other ventures. He now spends his time managing and developing golf courses (including Canterbury Woods and Pembroke Pines) and his development company, Keystone Builders, which focuses on new residential and commercial properties.
While reaping the benefits of his hard work and success, he has continued to serve his community and causes. Over the years, Bob has been involved in several non profits which have provided housing for disabled adults, therapy for disabled children, and care and servicing needs for young mothers and children in Africa.
A lifelong supporter of the arts, Bob was active in drum corps from fourth grade through early adulthood. Bob spent his early years on the field with the Bedford Militiamen and North Star Drum and Bugle Corps, even meeting his wife at a drum corps show. Years later, the experiences and life lessons Bob developed in drum corps continue to stay with him to this day. Now as a fan and a supporter, Bob continues to raise up the activity he grew up in, helping provide students the same opportunities he was afforded on the field.
Bob is a proud and dedicated father, grandfather, and husband, working alongside his wife, brother, and sons in many of his ventures.
