Created by its namesake in keeping with his lifelong devotion to contemporary music, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music seeks to encourage and improve public knowledge and appreciation of contemporary American music.
Through its Performance Program, the fund supports performing and presenting organizations whose artistic excellence encourages and improves public knowledge and appreciation of serious contemporary American music. General support grants of up to $20,000 will be awarded to professional performing ensembles and presenting organizations with a history of substantial commitment to contemporary American music and as well as plans to continue that commitment. The program also provides project support for exceptionally important activities related to contemporary American music proposed by professional performing ensembles and presenting organizations that do not normally feature contemporary American music in their programming.
Support window: Support will be given only for activity that occurs in the current season. Thus, for the 2020 grant round, support will only be given to activity that occurs between September 1, 2020 and August 31, 2021. Multi-year projects will be considered if they begin in the current season, but projects that began in an earlier season generally will not be eligible for support.
Project Support applicants: An eligible project is a clearly defined endeavor that includes one or more performances of contemporary American music and, often, other activities related to the performance(s) that improve the public’s knowledge of such music. Projects featuring only one contemporary American work on a single concert program are not eligible for support, unless authorized in advance by the Grants Manager.* An aggregated list of contemporary American music activities spread intermittently over the course of a season would not be eligible for Project Support, but could be considered for general operating support if a multi-year history of substantial commitment to contemporary American music is demonstrated as an integral part of the season.
*New guideline for 2020
Grants will not be made for the purpose of commissioning composers. Organizations requesting support for the performance of a new work that is part of a commissioning consortium should contact the Grants Manager for further advice.
The Performance Program supports the electronic dissemination of live performances, whether as a simultaneous transmission or via a recording of a live performance, by means including broadcasting and streaming. Expenses such as recording and electronic distribution costs can be considered as eligible costs in a request for general operating or project support when included live performance. Stand-alone recording projects (e.g., an “album”) are not eligible for support in this program.
To be eligible, applicants must be tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and have a performance history as an ensemble or presenter of at least two years at the time of application.
Click here for more information
