NewMusicBox Guest Editor Series Continues with Gabriela Lena Frank and her Creative Music Academy 

Written By

Jill Strominger

New Music USA announces Gabriela Lena Frank and her Creative Music Academy as NewMusicBox’s latest Guest Editor with a focus on Eco-Citizenship  

New Music USA‘s web magazine NewMusicBox today continues its new ongoing Guest Editor series, which aims to celebrate a plurality of voices from across the nation and will feature exclusive content written, produced, or commissioned by a rotating artist or organization. Our second partnership is with the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music [GLFCAM], a nonprofit founded by composer Gabriela Lena Frank that is centered around nurturing creativity and eco-citizenship in emerging and mid-career composers. NewMusicBox, edited by Frank J. Oteri, amplifies creators and organizations who are building a vibrant future for new music in all its forms, and has provided a vital platform for creators to speak about issues relevant to them in their own words since 1999. 

The GLFCAM partnership will run through July 2023 and feature 12 essays and musical compositions from eight participants in GLFCAM’s Composing Earth commissioning program, which is for composers who recognize that climate change — climate disruption — is a bona fide civilizational emergency. Contributors include Nicolás Lell Benavides, Dustin Carlson, Michael-Thomas Foumai, Iman Habibi, Erika Oba, Timothy Peterson, Matthew Evan Taylor, as well as Gabriela Lena Frank.  

The first piece is an inspirational letter by Gabriela Lena Frank to her Creative Music Academy participants in which she explains the struggles she had composing a new work in response to the California Wildfires. Frank’s essay is available to read now here.

The Guest Editor series, which was launched last September with a wide range of content from the Los Angeles -based online radio station dublab, has been the first such collaboration in NewMusicBox’s now 24-year history and reflects New Music USA’s aim to deepen its impact across the many diverse music communities across the United States. This aim is also demonstrated by NewMusicBox’s ongoing “Different Cities, Different Voices” feature that spotlights music creation hubs across the nation. 

New Music USA and Gabriela Lena Frank have a rich history together. Gabriela has had two three-year Music Alive residencies, a program run by New Music USA with the League of American Orchestras, first with the Annapolis Symphony and then with the Detroit Symphony. In recent years, she has focused on giving back to the community as a mentor and New Music USA has supported her in these endeavors as well by providing funding to GLFCAM and Composing Earth.  

“We are very excited to launch our second guest editor series with the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, a program whose commitment to eco-citizenship is refreshing and inspiring,” says NewMusicBox editor Frank J. Oteri. “We are more aware than ever before that we must change the way we interact with our environment if we want NewMusicBox, or anything else for that matter, to still be around in another quarter century. The essays from composers involved in GLFCAM’s Composing Earth Program, which we will be sharing with you on these pages in the coming months, will hopefully make us all more mindful of how we can be better artist-citizens and caretakers of our precious planet.” 

 

“Here at GLFCAM, we’ve witnessed and experienced the devastation of the climate crisis with ever greater alarm,” shares GLFCAM’s Gabriela Lena Frank. “There exists the need to become climate aware in our personal as well as artistic lives, teaming with scientists to message stories that impel action towards a vibrant and just earth. We are honored to share testimonials, through New Music USA’s NewMusicBox, of a selection of our composers currently on their personal journeys as artist-activists.” 

The GLFCAM Guest Editor content will be accessible for free at newmusicusa.org/newmusicbox starting today. The site also features NewMusicBox videos, podcast episodes, articles, artist interviews and more dating back to 1999.  

About NewMusicBox  

Published by New Music USA, NewMusicBox is a web magazine that amplifies creators and organizations who are building a vibrant future for new music in all its forms. The NewMusicBox Guest Editor series features exclusive content written, produced, or commissioned by a rotating artist or organization, and aims to celebrate a plurality of voices from across the nation. Learn more at newmusicusa.org/newmusicbox.

About New Music USA 

New Music USA supports and amplifies the sounds of tomorrow by nurturing the creation, performance, and appreciation of new music for adventurous listeners in the United States and beyond. We empower and connect US-based music makers, organizations, and audiences by providing funding through our grants; offering support and fostering new connections through our programs; deepening knowledge through our online magazine, NewMusicBox; and working as an advocate for the field. New Music USA envisions a thriving and equitable ecosystem for new music throughout the United States. Learn more at newmusicusa.org. 

About the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music 

Founded in 2017 by internationally acclaimed composer and pianist Gabriela Lena Frank, GLFCAM helps composers of any aesthetic and demographic, and from emerging through mid-career levels, to develop self-determined 21st century lives. GLFCAM’s mission centers on the creative habit, community, and eco-citizenship, forming years-long relationships with composers. As a result, composers are provided a rich array of opportunities such as collaborating on new works with renowned performer-mentors; taking online classes and practicums; composing large scale symphonies under fair commission rates with readings of the work-in-progress; teaching in youth music programs in underserved rural areas; participating in a multi-year peer-supported study group on climate intelligence and the arts; and becoming skilled communicators – cultural witnesses – in both spoken and written word. GLFCAM alumni are leading composers in the international music fields as well as teachers and professors, non-profit administrators, therapists, hospice workers, and civic volunteers. Learn more at glfcam.com.

An essential component of the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music’s Climate Commitment, Composing Earth is a commissioning program for composers who recognize that climate change — climate disruption — is a bona fide civilizational emergency. Composing Earth asks for a two-year commitment from Composer Alumni of GLFCAM. In the first year, composers receive a study stipend to participate in a monthly discussion group with peers, Gabriela, and renowned scholar/communicator of climate science (and music lover) Dr. Rob Davies. These meetings provide an opportunity to review articles, books, documentaries, and online resources regarding the climate crisis, allowing the composer time to find their own personal stories which inspire their commissioned work in the second year. Along the way, “weekly musings” are sent out every Wednesday by a member of the cohort to the full group. Some of these musings, whether in the form of personal letters and other times developed into soulful essays, are featured in the series below. Inaugurated in 2021, Composing Earth has realized three Cohorts through its program, totaling nearly thirty artists, with a fourth already scheduled to begin in January of 2024. Anyone interested in embarking on the journey to eco-ethics as an artist is invited to sign up for GLFCAM’s weekend online course open to the general public, Climate Intelligence and Action for Artists, on June 3-4, 2023.  

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