$130,000 New Music Solidarity Fund offers $500 emergency grants to performers

The New Music Solidarity Fund will distribute at least two hundred and sixty, $500 emergency assistance grants. Any musician who has had a project involving a living composer canceled because of the pandemic is invited to apply. The New Music Solidarity Fund opens to applicants on March 31, and will run until April 30. Grants will be available on a first-come, first-served basis as funds last.

Eligibility

1. Are you a musician working in new, creative, experimental or improvised music and are you a freelance artist, i.e., non-salaried by an institution?
2. Have you had a COVID-19 related cancelation of project(s)/performance(s) involving music by a living composer?
3. Is your immediate livelihood threatened by these cancelations?

If you answered yes to all of these questions, you are eligible to apply for a $500 emergency assistance grant from the New Music Solidarity Fund. Please note that funds will be allocated on a first come first serve basis to everyone in need. We plan to fundraise through April 30 to support as many people as we can.

Applications for the Solidarity Fund will be accepted beginning at 12 p.m. Eastern time on March 31.

The New Music Solidarity Fund was made possible through the collective organizational efforts of Marcos Balter, Julia Bullock, Claire Chase, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Du Yun, Judd Greenstein, Reena Esmail, Nico Muhly, Andrew Norman, Christian Reif, Christopher Rountree, Caroline Shaw, Conrad Tao, and Seth Parker Woods. These artists, along with other artistic and administrative colleagues in the field, sought to extend help to less-secure individuals within their community.

Beyond this emergency bridge fund, the organizers and contributors hope to lay the grounds for a new financial and cultural framework that ensures the stability of musicians in the new music scene. “Self-preservation can’t so much be on the minds of musicians,” says soprano Julia Bullock, “because one of the fundamentals of music making is acknowledging that we are providing a service for one another. At this immediate time, the support of this fund is financial, but I hope it will resonate well beyond that, once more people know the feeling of solidarity amongst artists.”

“Many new music performers are freelancers,” says composer Marcos Balter. “These are incredibly courageous artists who take enormous risks to advocate for music of our time, music that already exists on shoestring budgets and minimal financial support. A single cancelled performance can have a huge impact on someone’s livelihood. Time and time again, these musicians have been there for us composers and new music lovers. Now is the time for us to show our gratitude and to stand by them in solidarity. I’m deeply touched but not at all surprised that so many artists have answered our calls for contributions. We are a diverse but deeply united family, and we will get through this together.”

“As artists who have dedicated our lives to the music of our time, our lifeblood is the live performance of new and untested work,” says flautist Claire Chase. “This pandemic poses an existential threat to that most essential work of our community of artists. And yet at the same time, it reminds us anew of just how vital that activity is. After all, it is at difficult times like these that the human need for new, resonant art that is responsive to the needs of the moment makes itself felt most viscerally. And that is what people in the new-music community, both onstage and off, do so generously, selflessly and courageously: respond to the needs of the moment.”

“Right now the future of our community hangs in the balance,” says composer Andrew Norman. “It is up to each of us to do what we can to ensure that the art form we all hold dear has a future beyond this moment of global crisis. We must support those who have enriched our lives and touched our hearts with their music, those whose livelihoods are now threatened by the realities of a worldwide pandemic. We may not be able to congregate to experience the magic, the power, the cathartic truth-telling of live musical performance right now, but we can show our solidarity with and support for those musicians in need by donating to this fund and other worthy causes.”

Norman continues, “I have been truly moved by the depth and breadth of generosity we have seen from artists in our community in the last week. We are all struggling. We are all in precarious and uncertain positions, and yet so many people in the field have done the risky and selfless work of putting the needs of the collective above their own. This speaks to the collaborative nature of music making. We are nothing without each other. We will get through this together and we will never again take for granted the ability to gather as a community and make music for and with one another.”

Chase adds, “I am gobsmacked by our community’s willingness to jump in at this moment, no questions asked, and to respond to the needs of our most vulnerable members. Importantly, this is not a charity fund. This is a solidarity fund. We stand with each other, and will keep each other standing until we are on the other side of this. And you’d better believe we’re going to keep making noise!”

Bullock adds, “For those of you who are performing music written by living composers, whose work has been cancelled, because of this crisis: please apply! These funds are here for you! For individuals who share other music in this diverse landscape, let’s continue to organize about what we can do that is proactive and necessary!”

Special thanks to New Music USA for their administrative support.