The University of Florida is posthumously recognizing Tom Petty’s contributions to music by honoring the late Heartbreakers leader with an honorary Doctor of Music degree. His brother Bruce will accept the diploma at the school’s spring commencement on Thursday. The university is also partnering with Petty’s estate on what they’re calling the Tom Petty Endowment for Guitars & Innovation, benefitting its School of Music’s Guitar and new Music Business & Entrepreneurship programs.
“I don’t think anyone in our family, including him, thought that he would be linked with the University of Florida this way,” Bruce Petty said in a statement. “It’s such a powerful thing, it was his life-long dream, and I know he would just be over-the-top, crazy happy about it.”
“We in the UF School of Music and College of the Arts are privileged to honor Tom Petty with an honorary doctorate degree in Music, celebrating not only his extraordinary achievements as an artist, but the ways in which his music has and continues to unite us as a community,” University of Florida School of Music director Kevin Orr said.
Orr added, “Tom Petty’s tireless defense of the rights of performing artists, and his compassionate advocacy for the wellbeing of his neighbors in every community where he lived, are embodied by the students and faculty of the UF School of Music: commitment to one’s artistic passions, even in the face of challenges; the safeguarding of creative work to ensure unique and lasting impact; and indeed, the power of music to advance causes for the greater good in society.”
Petty’s estate donated $100,000 to the new endowment. The family is also raising money for the endowment by selling reprints of Shepard Fairey’s An American Treasure poster (a portion of which goes to the fund). People wishing to add to the fund may do so at the university’s website.
The Cade Museum, located in Petty’s hometown of Gainesville, Florida, will celebrate Petty’s doctorate by screening the 2021 documentary Tom Petty: Somewhere You Feel Free on Thursday. Filmmaker Mary Wharton will participate in a Q&A there. Before the screening, UF School of Music students will present songs from Petty’s Wildflowers album arranged for a string quartet. The Cade will also open a Wildflowers exhibit later this year in association with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
If you can’t book a last-minute ticket to Florida, the Somewhere You Feel Free doc is available to stream below for free. The film chronicles the making of Petty’s beloved Wildflowers album.