The New Music Organizational Development Fund offers grants to non-profit organizations, performance groups, dance organizations, festivals, presenters, and venues who need support to sustain their programming of new music, nurturing of music creators, and other services in the evolving circumstances of the pandemic. This program is for outstanding organizations which work regularly with, and support the development of, music creators and artists and offer a crucial resource to their community. The main criteria for this fund are: artistry, impact, need, equity and inclusion.

Approach

We aim to support and represent a broad range of organizations across different US cities and music genres. Additionally, we would like to build connectivity amongst the organizations we support to facilitate shared learning, exchange of ideas, and opportunities.

We ask each organization to present their year-round work on or offline, including

• Music program planned
• Opportunities provided to artists and music creators
• Community of artists served (we support music creators/artists based in the US and US territories)
• Audiences the activity will reach

We are particularly interested in supporting organizations which are having a deep and consistent impact on their community of artists and music lovers. For this reason, we are asking applicants to submit an endorsement from a member of their community. This could be an artist. Stakeholder, or audience member (see below).

Successful applicant organizations will exhibit some or all of the following traits:

• Committed to relationship building and collaboration with artists and other organizations in the community
• Commitment to commissioning new work
• Commitment to programming new music and providing opportunities for creators throughout the year/season
• Offers learning, engagement, and/or development opportunities and is committed to building future audiences for the organization’s work.

Funding

The funding we provide can be used for general operating costs which support the organization’s regular programming of, and collaboration with US/territories-based composers and artists. It does not need to be tied to any specific project but we are asking you to tell us about the programs, events and initiatives that New Music USA’s support best aligns with.

During New Music USA’s 10^th Anniversary, we aim to fund approximately 70 to 100 organizations with an average award of $7,000. You may apply for up to $20,000. During this year, our funding comes from New Music USA’s endowment, annual trust/foundation funders, and additional anniversary donations from the community. The number of grants we give will depend on how our fundraising campaign progresses.

Funding Transparency

Both the New Music Creator Development Fund and the New Music Organizational Development Fund are made possible by the generous funders who either donated to our endowment or generously donate to New Music USA annually. Some of these funders had or have specific requests regarding the kinds of work we support because of their geographical location or specific area of interest. We are providing the facts and figures below so that all applicants have a better insight into these restrictions, which influence the applications our advisors select. Please note that applications may cover a number of the categories listed below; others may not fit with any.

• Award rates are generally between 5% and 10% of the overall applicant pool (this means we support around 1/10 of the applications we receive each year)
  • Roughly 25% of the applications we fund must include the creation of new work (e.g. commissions and the facilitation of brand new pieces of music)
  • Roughly 25% of the applications we award must include creation or programming of live music for dance (creation, performance, choreographer, and dancer fees)
• Geographical restrictions are as follows:
  • 49% of our grants budget is available without geographical restriction
  • 35% is restricted to New York City based artists/organizations
  • 11% is restricted to New York State based artists/organizations
  • 2% is restricted to New Jersey based artists/organizations
  • 2% is restricted to California Bay Area based artists/organizations

Further questions or information:

• Please see the FAQs.
• Please email grants@newmusicusa.org; please note that due to the high volume of inquiries please allow 48 to 72 hours for a response.
• New Music USA hosted a free webinar + Q&A about the program and application on March 10 at 2PM ET. The video is available to view on our YouTube channel.

New Music USA extends deep gratitude to the panelists who reviewed the 2021 Organizational Development Fund applications: Kati Agócs, Sidra Bell, Theo Bleckmann, Samantha Boshnack, Kirsten Broberg, Heather Buchman, Andrea Clearfield, Dan Kellogg, KT Nelson, Chris Kim, Laurie San Martin, Odeya Nini, Miles Okazaki, Jane Rigler, Ashley Shabankareh, Wayne Wallace, Melissa Wimbish, Jocelyn Zelasko.

New Music USA also acknowledges and is grateful for the support of its Endowment Donors, including The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Helen F. Whitaker Fund, Baisley Powell Elebash Fund, Hewlett Foundation, Fidelity Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, and Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts.

Support for New Music USA and its many programs and activities is provided by foundations, corporations, government agencies, and hundreds of individual contributors. Find out more here.