Membership transfered to American Composers Forum on July 1, 2011
Thank you for visiting the American Music Center (AMC) and for your interest in becoming a member! There have been some recent changes at AMC.
On May 2, 2011, during the AMC Annual Meeting and Awards Ceremony, AMC’s membership voted on and overwhelmingly approved AMC’s intent to merge with Meet the Composer (MTC) to form a new national service organization – New Music USA! You can read all of the exciting details here: www.newmusicusa.org.
In tandem with the merger, and beginning next month on July 1, 2011, AMC’s membership services transfered to the American Composers Forum (ACF). Please be assured that AMC’s member benefits will continue but they will now be administered through ACF. In light of this, we highly encourage you to sign up or renew your membership with ACF at www.composersforum.org
We hope you find this information helpful and we thank you for contacting us. As New Music USA begins its mission, we look forward to strengthening our passion and dedication to composers, performers and all those who support and love new music in America.
Thank you!
MEMBERS VOTE TO APPROVE AMC-MTC MERGER!
Dear Friends,
On behalf of Chair Steven Stucky, Vice Chair Kristin Lancino and the entire board of directors, I am writing to announce the results of the vote to approve the merger between the American Music Center and Meet The Composer, held at AMC's Annual Meeting last Monday, May 2, and by proxy.
As dictated by the AMC bylaws, for the merger to be approved, at least 100 affirmative votes (by ballot or proxy) were needed, with at least two-thirds of these being affirmative votes.
The results of the vote are as follows:
Out of 111 members in attendance at the meeting, 80 voted yes and 3 voted no. 109 proxies were received, with 103 yes, 6 no.
Grand total: 183 voted to approve the merger, 9 voted against it.
Congratulations, all!
We thank you for your feedback throughout this process, and for your support in bringing us to this historic moment. New Music USA will have one unified, stronger voice for our community, able to project our message even better in an increasingly noisy, and increasingly crowded marketplace of ideas.
After July 1, any unexpired months on your membership will be automatically transferred to the American Composers Forum who will in future administer your membership benefits. We will jointly be in touch with you in the summer with updated information on how to access your benefits.
We look forward to working with you in the future.
With gratitude and kindest regards,
Joanne Hubbard Cossa
President and CEO
American Music Center and Meet The Composer, Two of America's Leading New Music Organizations, Announce Intent to Merge
American Composers Forum Will Assume Membership and Professional Development Services From American Music Center
On April 1, the leaders of all three organizations held a joint town meeting in NYC to discuss plans and answer questions. The archived footage of the presentation has now been posted here if you missed Friday night's live stream.
The American Music Center (AMC) and Meet The Composer (MTC), two of America's three leading organizations in the field of new music, announced today their intention to merge into a new advocacy and service organization. New Music USA will reach composers, performers, and listeners in all 50 states and project a more visible and audible profile for new American music all over the world.
New Music USA will operate in two broad program areas, grantmaking and media. The media programs will embrace new media in its many forms as a vehicle for connecting musicians and audience members. The grantmaking programs will build on the rich histories of support within each organization by working to galvanize composers, ensembles, and communities to create, embrace, and disseminate the diverse and exciting new music of today. The American Composers Forum will take on AMC's former membership services, addressing the stated desire of composers across the country for a single comprehensive membership resource.
Based in New York City, New Music USA is expected to open for business before the end of 2011 with Ed Harsh, current president of Meet The Composer, as its president and CEO. He will work in tandem through the end of the year with American Music Center's president and CEO, Joanne Hubbard Cossa, who has already announced that she will retire in December.
"The anticipated merger of Meet The Composer and the American Music Center brings together the collective vision and newly focused intensity of two organizations with a great and intertwined history," explains Harsh. "Joining forces will give us powerful new capabilities both to support the artists who create new work and to grow the market for that work."
"We're not just combining forces here, we're combining passion," adds Cossa. "We'll be multiplying more than financial clout; we're also multiplying our shared dedication to the art form, to those who make it, and to those who enjoy it."
After the merger is approved by AMC&'s members and the court, New Music USA will be led by a single board comprising members of AMC's and MTC's current boards. MTC Chairman Frederick Peters is being tapped as chair, and composer Steven Stucky, AMC's current chair, is slated to serve as vice chair.
The work of New Music USA will be grounded by an endowment of approximately $16 million. AMC's Counterstream Radio and the Online Library are being folded into NewMusicBox to make a single mega-information media site, and MTC's Meet The Composer Studio will continue to develop, illuminating the life and work of composers in new ways. New Music USA's media programs are projected to receive more than 65,000 page views monthly. On the grant-making side, the new organization will continue all of MTC's and AMC's current core programs, which are projected over the next year to affect about 1,600 composers and ensembles, to result in 145 commissions or premieres of new works, and to support about 15 new recordings.
The three national organizations currently serving the new music field are the American Music Center, Meet The Composer, and the American Composers Forum (ACF). With the realignment into two organizations, AMC will transfer its membership services to the Minnesota-based ACF, headed by President and CEO John Nuechterlein. The ACF will thus become the leading national new music membership organization and provider of professional development to composers, while continuing its own work in commissioning, residencies, and its innova® recording program.
"The American Composers Forum has had a successful history of partnering with our New York colleagues to provide a comprehensive slate of services to the field," comments Nuechterlein, "and we're delighted that relationship will continue. We're committed to ensuring a vibrant ecosystem of support for both our members and their communities."
"The members have spoken and we are responding to their needs," AMC's Cossa continues. "AMC and ACF jointly surveyed their constituents in 2008 and 2010, and easier access to benefits was a clear issue. By working with the ACF, we can now offer composers, performers, scholars and arts professionals one-stop shopping for information and other services."
All members will have access to a comprehensive opportunities database, member profile pages, and professional development resources, as well as the ability to upload works into the Online Library, without having to belong to two different organizations.
Town Meetings for the new music community are being planned around the country, in order to answer questions and gather feedback. The first of these meetings will take place in New York City on Friday, April 1, at the Thalia Café at Symphony Space. Subsequent meetings are scheduled in San Francisco on April 15 and Chicago on April 29. The leaders of all three current organizations, Cossa, Harsh, and Nuechterlein, will take part.
The rich history of the American Music Center, Meet The Composer, and the American Composers Forum is filled with luminaries of the new music world. "Nearly every notable composer working in America has been involved in these organizations," notes Harsh. "Aaron Copland was among the American Music Center's founders in 1939. Our three organizations are a virtual 'Who's Who' of music in America."
"All of us at MTC are proud to be part of this historic merger," comments Peters. "New Music USA will bring together the unique strengths of its two constituent organizations to develop audiences dynamically by underwriting the creation of new music and the musicians and ensembles that perform it."
"New media is the vehicle for creating new markets for new music, and it will be a privilege to carry this important work into the future with colleagues as dedicated as Fred Peters and Ed Harsh," remarks Stucky.
We want to hear from you! We’re here to serve the new music community, so send your questions and comments about the merger process to us at allison@amc.net. We'll use your responses to create an FAQ list, and add to it as new thoughts come in. Thanks!
American Music Center announces 2011 Award Winners!
The American Music Center is pleased to announce the American music trendsetters who will be celebrated at AMC’s 2011 Annual Awards Ceremony held on May 2nd in New York City. The 2011 Awards recipients are:
Founders Award:
John Harbison
Letter of Distinction:
William Bolcom
Copland House
Trailblazer Award:
So Percussion
New Music Educator Award:
The Walden School
AMC President and CEO Joanne Hubbard Cossa comments, “The American Music Center has the happy duty of recognizing those who make the biggest contribution to new American music and each year it is our great pleasure to do so. Once more, we are astounded with the talent, dedication, and zeal exhibited by this group of honorees. They have dedicated their lives to energizing and advancing the field, and their myriad contributions speak to their excellence, innovation, and commitment to service.”
She continues, “The American Music Center is thrilled to confer its Founders Award on John Harbison. A beacon in the field and recipient of many previous awards, he not only composes and conducts, but shares his wisdom and talents with others through teaching.
“This year’s Letter of Distinction will be awarded to William Bolcom and Copland House. William Bolcom’s enduring legacy is a source of inspiration for all who have come in contact with his talent in both composition and the classroom. Both a historic landmark and a haven for those wanting to hone their craft, the Copland House preserves the spirit and history of the field. It is our great honor to recognize these two Awardees.
“Our previous Trailblazer Award winners have all shown dedication to their field and craft, abundant energy, as well as the emergence of a new and powerful voice, and So Percussion is no exception. The field of new American music is benefiting greatly from their innovative talent and we are pleased to honor their previous accomplishments and look forward to hearing more from this passionate ensemble.”
Ms. Cossa concludes, “The Walden School is the recipient of our New Music Educator Award, honoring their creative philosophy and curriculum, as well as their contribution toward motivating and mentoring decades of successful students.”
Awards will be presented on Monday, May 2, 2011, at the Chelsea Art Museum in New York City from 5-7pm to an audience of American Music Center members and guests.
For complete press release and 2011 Award honoree biographies, click here.
AMC Annual Report 2010
The American Music Center's 2010 Annual Report is now available. Click here to view or download.
Minneapolis Encore!
Music Director Osmo Vanska conducts the Minnesota Orchestra
Photo: Stephanie Berger, Courtesy: Minnesota Orchestra
Once again, AMC is going to the heartland to partner with the Minnesota Orchestra for the 2010 Composer Institute.
Founded and curated by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Aaron Jay Kernis, the Composer Institute embarks on its 10th season as a professional training program which provides composers with a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in the world of new American orchestral music. The week-long program offers seminars, targeted workshops, mentoring sessions, and rehearsals which culminate in a public subscription concert led by Minnesota Orchestra music director Osmo Vänskä.
Chosen from a pool of 167 candidates, seven composers of varying musical styles were chosen from around the US to have their works featured on the orchestra’s “Future Classics” Concert on October 29th:
Taylor Brizendine: Mandragora Officinarum
Polina Nazaykinskaya: Winter Bells
Clint Needham: The Body Electric
Ben Phelps: Overture Maximus
Narong Prangcharoen: Namaskar
Wang Jie: Symphony No.1
David Weaver: Mutatis Mutandis
During the week, composer Taylor Brizedine will blog for NewMusicBox.org, AMC’s awarding-winning online new music magazine.
The American Music Center Honors Esa-Pekka Salonen
and Peter Martins at New York City Ballet World Premiere
AMC's Ed Yim presents Letters of Distinction to Esa-Pekka Salonen and Peter Martins. Photo: (c) Paul Kolnik.
On June 22nd, the American Music Center (AMC) presented Letters of Distinction to two outstanding leaders in contemporary American music: composer/conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen and choreographer/New York City Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins. Salonen and Martins were honored on stage at Lincoln Center's David H. Koch Theater before the world premiere of Martins’s new ballet <>Mirage, which was conducted by Salonen and featured the score of his Violin Concerto in its New York premiere.
Ed Yim, AMC Vice Chairman, presented the awards noting that, “Every year, the Center awards its Letters of Distinction to recognize individuals who have made significant contributions to our field....That one gentleman hails from Finland and one from Denmark only makes the presentation of the American Music Center’s award more meaningful. American music — indeed American art — has always been about the embracing of different nationalities in our uniquely blended national context…
On the evening of the world premiere of Mr. Martins’s ballet and the NY Premiere of Mr. Salonen’s Violin Concerto, both created for American companies by true champions of new work, it is my distinct honor on behalf of the board and artists of the American Music Center to award our Letter of Distinction to these two distinguished men.”
Click here for Mr. Yim's complete congratulatory comments.
Click here to read the original press release.
March 2010 Composer Assistance Program Grants Announced
$47,075 Awarded to Composers for the Realization of their Work in Performance
The American Music Center (AMC) is pleased to announce grant awards totaling $47,075 to 35 composers through the March 2010 round of the Composer Assistance Program (CAP). The awardees are American composers ranging in age from 24 to 85 residing in 13 states and abroad.
AMC annually awards grants that assist composers by helping them realize their music in premiere performances. Composers are now also able to receive travel assistance to attend the premiere of the awarded work. The grants are intended to help composers take full advantage of performance opportunities that will enhance their careers. This round’s ensembles and organizations premiering or featuring public readings of CAP-supported works include: So Percussion, the Detroit Symphony, Emerson String Quartet, New York City Opera VOX Contemporary American Opera Lab, and the Da Capo Chamber Players.
Click here for the full press release.
Advocacy News: Virtual NPAC goes live!
The National Performing Arts Convention (NPAC) (a consortium of national performing arts service organizations) introduces two online resources: the redesigned NPAC site and Virtual NPAC — a virtual interactive arena for the performing arts community.
Virtual NPAC (VNPAC)— a unique, lively, interactive web-based gathering for the performing arts community — goes live today June 14th, and can also be accessed directly through the NPAC site. VNPAC will bring together highlights from the annual national conferences and constituencies of NPAC partners where they can share and learn from each other like never before. Virtual NPAC features live-streamed sessions, recorded presentations, discussions, tweets, blogs, vlogs, and more from the American Music Center, Chorus America, Dance/USA, the League of American Orchestras, OPERA America, and Theatre Communications Group.
NPAC invites readers and conference attendees to participate in Virtual NPAC by posting to the site and have their voices heard at this unique online convening!
Virtual NPAC and NPAC's updated website were created in response to NPAC’s successful 2008 national convening in Denver, where constituents requested improved access to essential online tools that effectively serve the diverse and interrelated needs of performing artists. The updated NPAC site features a vast array of curated resources which focus on NPAC’s five priority areas: advocacy, artists, diversity, education, and technology. Users are encouraged to share comments, suggestions of additional resources, and post requests for information.
The American Music Center Announces New CAP Recording Grant
Funding will be provided for recordings of music by living American composers
The American Music Center (AMC) is pleased to announce a new funding initiative to support recording projects, made possible with funds from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust and the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University. AMC will award up to 10 grants between $5,000 and $10,000 in 2010.
Expanding upon AMC’s vital Composer Assistance Program (CAP), which has supported countless premieres by living composers for nearly five decades, the new CAP Recording Grant will help advance the careers of early and mid-career composers by providing direct assistance for recording projects. Physical, digital, and in some cases streamed releases of recordings will receive funding.
Click here for the full press release.
Click here for the guidelines and application.
New Affordable Insurance Benefits Exclusively for ASCAP members
ASCAP and MusicPro Insurance have worked hard to provide members with better ways to deal with high insurance costs. There are two new options for 1) affordable group rated health cost reimbursement and 2) discounted auto and home insurance. Both of these new group programs are exclusively for ASCAP members and their families.
Click here for more information.
American Music Center Live Music for Dance Program
Awards New Grants
$170,800 to Support Live Music and Newly Commissioned Music for Dance in New York City and New Jersey
The American Music Center (AMC) has made grants totaling $170,800 to 35 dance companies in New York City and New Jersey as part of the 2010 round of the Live Music for Dance Program. The program helps dance companies meet the expense of musicians’ rehearsal and performance fees, as well as composer commissioning fees for performances happening in New York City or New Jersey. Over the past 24 years, Live Music for Dance has distributed over 530 grants totaling more than $5 million to over 250 dance companies. For the sixth year in a row, thanks to a generous grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the program has included a separate funding category earmarked for New Jersey-based dance companies.
Click here to access the press release.
2010 American Music Center Awards Announced
American Music Center Honors Luminaries in Contemporary American Music
The American Music Center has announced the honorees who will be acknowledged at its 2010 Annual Meeting and Awards Ceremony on May 3 at the Chelsea Art Museum in New York City. Francis Thorne will receive AMC's Founders Award in recognition of his lifetime achievement in the field of new American music. AMC Letters of Distinction will be awarded to Jack Beeson, Fred Ho, Meredith Monk, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and The Society for New Music. In addition, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) will be given AMC's Trailblazer Award. (Francis Thorne and Esa-Pekka Salonen cannot be in attendance and will be presented with their awards on other occasions.)
Click here to read the article on NewMusicBox.
Click here to access the press release.
The American Music Center Responds to the NEA's
2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts
(December 17, 2009) On December 10th, the National Endowment for the Arts released findings gathered from its 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA). NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman and Senior Deputy Chairman Joan Shigekawa convened over 40 arts and service organizations, including AMC’s CEO Joanne Hubbard Cossa, in round-table discussions. The convening was webcast live on the NEA’s “Arts Works” blog at www.arts.gov, and is now available for online viewing and comment.
The SPPA report confirms facts well-known in the arts community—performance attendance is down, audiences are aging, the arts struggle with harsh economic realities—and comparisons to studies done periodically since 1982 are instructive about the challenges inherent in a changing world. But the new music community can be heartened by other indicators. Taking Note: A Study of Composers and New Music in the United States (www.amc.net/takingnote/taking note.pdf) —co-commissioned by AMC and the American Composers Forum in 2008 from the Research Center for Arts and Culture (with the generous support of the NEA) — showed that:
• Compositional activity has increased in the last five years according to three-quarters of the American composers surveyed;
• Composers are utilizing new technologies to connect with audiences directly, and growing numbers are establishing careers through these connections.
In order to be comparable to earlier NEA studies, SPPA used the same arts categories that have been used since 1982, including “classical” music and “jazz”, and added a new category, “Latin music.” As valuable as this research is, Ms. Cossa noted during the discussion “as stylistic boundaries continue to blur, such categories may not measure all the participation in artful music… the terms ‘classical’ and ‘jazz’ are increasingly problematic for many of the creators in our field,” she observed.
It’s also worth pondering how much creative participation is influencing listening participation, and not underestimating the ‘convenience’ factor of technological performance. In the December 2009 NewMusicBox interview with Roger Reynolds, Mr. Reynolds states “… the likely future of music is much less a locus of clear points than it used to be... music is likely to be a behavior that spreads into other venues, into other media, mixed with other media, in contexts that we don’t now think of as music presentation contexts....”
“For now,” Ms. Cossa concluded, “we can be grateful that the NEA is not only a grantmaker, but an important resource for our field and a partner in our work.
Have you heard? AMC has a new address!
We've moved into our new office, and AMC’s new address is:
American Music Center
322 8th Avenue, Suite #1401
New York, NY 10001
212.366.5260
AMC's New Office Hours
Dear Friends:
This is a short note to tell you that while we're weathering the economic storm, AMC is making the cost-effective measure of reducing our office hours. Beginning July 1st, our official hours will be 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, Mondays through Thursdays, and our office will be closed on Fridays.
While this is a temporary step, we pledge to continue our commitment to our members and to the new music field; and, we thank you for your support as we work to serve you.
NewMusicBox Celebrates 10 Years Online
Would you have expected music to be where it is today if you had been asked in 1999?
May 1, 2009, marked the 10th anniversary of the founding of NewMusicBox (www.newmusicbox.org), the web magazine from the American Music Center. When it launched, it did so both in response to the shrinking space devoted to music in the mainstream media and in order to harness the opportunities presented by ever-expanding internet technologies. Over the past decade, the site has published 121 in-depth talks with people making new music across a wide spectrum, as well as over five hundred essays, nearly one thousand interactive blogposts, and thousands of news items.
Click here for the full press release.
Are you “Taking Note?”
The American Music Center and American Composers Forum (St. Paul, MN) are pleased to present Taking Note: A Study of Composers and New Music Activity in the United States. Taking Note is the first major undertaking of its kind in decades, and was conducted by the Research Center for Arts and Culture at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Click here to learn more.
Joanne Hubbard Cossa (AMC CEO) shares, “Music—all genres and styles—has changed dramatically in recent years, and the landscape for composers has become increasingly complex. Increased access to a wider variety of musical influences is also changing the very nature of the music that composers create.
For an overview of Taking Note, go to the Executive Summary at: www.amc.net/takingnote/taking note executive summary.pdf. To read the entire study, go to: www.amc.net/takingnote/taking note.pdf.