Classical Commissioning Grant Program

Overview

Chamber Music America’s Classical Commissioning Program provides grants to professional U.S.-based presenters and ensembles whose programming includes Western European and/or non-Western classical and contemporary music. Grants are provided for the commissioning and performance of new works by American composers. The program supports works scored for 2–10 musicians performing one per part, composed in any of the musical styles associated with contemporary classical music.

Chamber Music America encourages commissions by emerging and mid-career composers.

Eligibility

_You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website._

* Eligibility: Ensembles

* An ensemble is eligible if

* it is a professional group with a commitment to Western European or non-Western contemporary classical music (as demonstrated on a submitted work sample)
* it consists of fixed personnel and instrumentation or is part of a flexible roster or a collective that performs in varying configurations of no more than 10
* in the case of a duo, performs as equal partners, rather than as soloist and accompanist, and consistently publicizes itself as a duo
* the leader/primary member of the ensemble is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident (non-profit status is not required of ensembles)

* Eligibility: Presenters:

* A presenter is eligible if it:

* is a 501(c)(3) organization or otherwise eligible for charitable contributions for federal income, estate and gift-tax purposes;
* presents classical, contemporary, other music genres, and/or multi-disciplinary performing arts programs.

* Presenters and Ensembles

* must be based in the U.S. or its territories
* must be CMA Organization-level members
* must have no overdue reports or financial obligations to CMA
* must have waited one full grant cycle after completing any previous CMA commissioning project before re-applying

* Eligibility: The Composer

* must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident
* may not have outstanding commitments to this commissioning program, or to New Jazz Works
* may be a member of the applicant’s ensemble
* is an individual, not a group

* The Composition

* The proposed new work must be:

* a new concert-music piece written for 2–10 musicians and scored for one musician per part (a conductor, if used for the performances of the work, is considered one of the 10 musicians)
* in the form of a notated score (the composer retains all rights)
* finished and two copies of the score–one in print and one digital–submitted to CMA by September 30, 2020
* booked for its premiere by February 1, 2021
* performed at least three times in public in the U.S. or its territories by June 30, 2021
* performed exclusively by the commissioned ensemble (including guest artists) through June 30, 2022

Ineligibility

* The program does not fund previously written works, works in progress, arrangements of previously written works, compositions that are soloistic in nature (such as concertos), music for dramatic works (staged or unstaged), chamber opera, incidental music for other media or fees for non-musician participants in the proposed work.

* If the work is to be written as part of a collaborative project involving other artistic disciplines, it must also be a stand-alone work for concert performance.