Do you have health insurance? Future of Music Coalition needs your feedback.
Are you a musician or songwriter? Do you have health insurance? The nonprofit Future of Music Coalition is conducting an online survey during the month of March to assess how many musicians have health insurance. Click here to participate in this survey.
Your answers are anonymous and confidential, and the survey should take about 10 minutes to complete. We urge you to participate so we can really understand the needs of our music community.
AMC Seeks Development Intern (Unpaid)
The American Music Center is currently looking for an intern in its development department for 10-12 weeks this spring. This internship is a great opportunity for individuals interested in learning about special events, individual donor research, and day-to-day fundraising activities.
Responsibilities include:
* Assist in the planning, production, and promotion of the Annual Meeting and Awards Ceremony, which will take place on May 3, 2010
* Assist with individual donor prospect research and data management
* Assist with department mailings as needed
Candidate requirements include:
* Excellent organizational skills
* Strong computer skills, including MS Office, Photoshop, and HTML
* Strong oral and written communication skills
* Minimum 10 hours' availability per week (Monday-Thursday)
The position is available immediately and will last until approximately late May, at which time the intern will receive a 1-year complimentary AMC membership.
Interested applicants may apply by sending a letter of interest and resume to Peter Shavitz, Director of Development, at peter@amc.net.
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.”
AMC Visits the Left Coast
AMC Board member Gil Rose (left), CounterstreamRadio station
manager Molly Sheridan (middle), and AMC CEO Joanne Hubbard Cossa
(right) during AMC’s LA meet-up at The Edison.
Photo: Steve Stucky
We’re back from visiting the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the closing weekend of their wonderful “West Coast, Left Coast” festival. The concerts and symposia were enthusiastically well attended; and NewMusicBox and CounterstreamRadio media directors Frank Oteri and Molly Sheridan moderated engaging and spirited pre-concert talks with John Adams, Mason Bates, David Harrington, William Kraft and Thomas Newman. ***
The LAPO generously gave our members discounted concert tickets and free symposia admission and hosted our board meeting in Walt Disney Hall. The Sundance Institute threw a great party for us to meet local composers, and Gloria Cheng, Gabriela Lena Frank and Derek Bermel performed at a musicale for local patrons of new music. Thanks to all of you who helped us organize our visit and to all of you who came out to meet our board and staff.
AMC takes pride in being a national service organization, and while much of our work is in the virtual realm, we’re trying to get around the real world as well. In November we were in Minneapolis; last year we were in Denver. Hope to see you on your turf soon!
*** Both Oteri and Sheridan’s pre-concert talks were recorded and are now available for online listening.
1) Frank J. Oteri talks to Mason Bates, Thomas Newman, and David Harrington of the Kronos Quartet (http://www.laphil.com/tickets/program-detail.cfm?id=1957)
Thursday December 3, 2009 -7:00 PM
http://www.laphil.com/media/audio/ubl/ubl_091203.mp3
Friday December 4, 2009 -9:45 AM
http://www.laphil.com/media/audio/ubl/ubl_091204.mp3
2) Molly Sheridan talks to John Adams and William Kraft (http://www.laphil.com/tickets/program-detail.cfm?id=1958)
Saturday December 5, 2009 -7:00 PM
http://www.laphil.com/media/audio/ubl/ubl_091206.mp3
Sunday December 6, 2009 -2:00 PM
NOT YET ONLINE
AMC Announces October 2009 Composer Assistance Program Grants
$31,000 Awarded to Composers for the Realization of their Work in Performance
The American Music Center (AMC) is pleased to announce grant awards totaling $31,000 to 28 composers through the October 2009 round of the Composer Assistance Program (CAP). The awardees are American composers ranging in age from 24 to 78 residing in 12 states.
Click here for the full press release with a list of the grantees.
We’re back from Minnesota!
We're back from an exciting week at the 2009 Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute! With its many seminars, mentoring sessions, hands-on training — and lovingly dubbed “composer book camp” by the Institute’s participants, the week culminated on November 21st, as music director Osmo Vänskä led the Future Classics concert which showcased seven new works and included two world premieres.
Beginning November 30th, Classical Minnesota Public Radio hosts its first-ever, week-long stream of this year’s Future Classics concert. Recorded live and hosted by Alison Young, MPR’s site features each work highlighted with an accompanying composer interview. So…go ahead — log on and listen!
(http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/11/22/minnesota-orchestra-composer-institute-2009)
Advocacy Item: Americans for the Arts Emerging Leader Program Survey
In celebration of the Emerging Leader Network’s 10th Anniversary, Americans for the Arts and the Emerging Leader Council have launched a survey to help identify the current professional development needs and trends of emerging arts leaders.
The Emerging Leader Program works to identify and cultivate the next generation of arts leaders in America; and is an ideal way for new leaders to share their interests with others. While the program itself targets individuals 35 years of age or younger, leaders of any age can participate. The 15-minute survey can be completed in one sitting, since questions and responses cannot be saved or accessed at a later time; and your specific answers to this survey will remain anonymous.
Make your voice heard! CLICK HERE to access and complete the survey. (Or visit: http://research.zarca.com/clients/99234452/survey.aspx?sid=32&lang=0.)
Auction Closed! Thank you for your participation!
The American Music Center's 70th anniversary auction is now closed. Thank you all for taking the time to point, click and bid in order to support the Center and its ongoing programs which build a national community of artists, organizations, and audiences creating, performing, and enjoying new American music.
Congratulations to everyone who:
* placed a winning bid
* generously donated an item for auction
* invited family, friends and community to make their bid
AMC goes to California!
“The West Coast, Left Coast festival is a celebration of music that is, in a sense, native born, arising from the curious and unique nature of the California sensibility.” — John Adams
This December, the American Music Center is heading to LA to partner with the Los Angeles Philharmonic during its "West Coast, Left Coast" festival (November 21-December 8).
In the course of this multifaceted event, the LA Philharmonic will present a series of concerts and symposia covering the wide-ranging Californian new music scene. Programming includes the performance of works by David Newman, Jerry Goldsmith, Ingram Marshall, Franz Waxman, Lou Harrison, John Adams, Mason Bates, William Kraft, Harry Partch, Frank Zappa, Paul Dresher, and Esa-Pekka Salonen, and showcases the Kronos Quartet. Other activities include chamber concerts and pre-concert talks moderated by AMC's new music media directors Frank J. Oteri and Molly Sheridan.
NewMusicBox and CounterstreamRadio will also organize a meet-and-greet during the festival's final weekend, so stay tuned...more details to come!
Greening the Performing Arts
In cooperation with the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts and Booz Allen Hamilton, AMC invites you to participate in this first study of greening in the performing arts industry. Whether you’re a composer, performer, educator, publisher, your input matters. The survey will only take 15 minutes of your time but will add great value to the overall mission of understanding how our industry is progressing on this important subject.
This survey hopes to assess efforts to implement green initiatives and to quantify best practices and challenges regarding the impact of an individual’s or organization’s initiatives on its broader community.
The results of the survey will be shared at the APAP Conference in New York this coming January. We ask that you respond to the survey by November 13, 2009 in order that we may share the result of the survey by the end of 2009.
To access the survey just click on this link: www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=hF0dg9Ud4gJE0TgDSn_2bmfg_3d_3d.
All responses to this survey will be kept confidential and results will only be used in aggregate.
AMC encourages your participation.
AMC returns to the Composer Institute!
Music Director Osmo Vanska conducts the Minnesota Orchestra
Photo: Stephanie Berger, Courtesy: Minnesota Orchestra
We’re off to Minneapolis again to partner with the Minnesota Orchestra for the 2009 Composer Institute.
Created as a professional training program for emerging composers of orchestral music, the yearly week-long program offers seminars and work sessions directed by founder and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Aaron Jay Kernis. This year’s Institute showcases seven young composers whose works will be conducted by music director Osmo Vänskä. The Minnesota Orchestra’s subscription concert — “Future Classics” — takes place on November 21st and features three world premieres. It will be the fourth ”Future Classics” program to be broadcast by Minnesota Public Radio.
The seven composers hail from locations throughout the U.S. and abroad, and represent a variety of musical styles. The program includes:
Angel Lam: In Search of Seasons
Spencer Topel: Incendio (World premiere)
Roger Zare: Aerodynamics
Fernando Buide: Antiphones
Kathryn Salfelder: Dessin No. 1
Carl Schimmel: Woolgatherer’s Chapbook (World premiere)
Geoff Knorr: Shadows of the Infinite
During the week, composer Spencer Topel will blog for NewMusicBox.org, AMC’s awarding-winning online new music journal.
For complete details, visit the Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute.
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 Joins the Performing Arts Alliance
The American Music Center recently joined the Performing Arts Alliance (PAA) in Washington, DC. This makes it possible for the Center to take a more active role advocating for the needs of the new music field in Washington, and it provides free personal membership in PAA to all AMC members.
PAA — a national network of more than 4,100 members — advocates for the development of national policies that support artists, their audiences, and professional nonprofit arts organizations by directly presenting important issues before Congress and key policy makers. PAA encourages its members to be informed and active and sends timely e-mail updates and action alerts on federal legislation, regulations, and other significant government opportunities and issues, while also providing tools which enable its constituents to easily contact their members of Congress. For more information, visit: www.theperformingartsalliance.org.
AMC’s advocacy efforts are also highlighted in the latest issue of NewMusicConnoisseur, slated for release on August 1st.
AMC at 2009 IAMIC Conference
From June 4-10, 2009, the American Music Center participated in the 2009 Conference of the International Association of Music Information Centres (IAMIC), a world-wide network of organizations that document and promote the music of our time. The 2009 Conference took place in two cities in Canada: Toronto, Ontario; and Vancouver, British Columbia. During the course of the conference, there were a wide range of meetings, seminars, and concerts. Highlights from the conference were videotaped and are archived on a special web-streaming site hosted by the Canadian Music Centre, including excerpts the first-ever IAMIC Remix Concert (which featured five Toronto-based DJs remixing contemporary music submissions from 12 countries, among them American composer Joseph Bertozolli's Bridge Music). In addition, Eric Chasalow's Dream Songs, featured in the AMC Online Library, was chosen to represent the United States on the 2009 IAMIC List—this year's list is devoted to 21st century orchestral music. Visit here for more details about the 2009 IAMIC Conference; for more information about IAMIC, visit the IAMIC website.
AMC's New Office Hours
Dear Friends:
This is a short note to tell you that while we’re weathering the economic storm and continuing to serve you, AMC is making the cost-efficient measure of reducing our weekly hours of operation. Beginning in July 2009, AMC’s official office hours are Mondays through Thursdays from 10:00am to 6:00pm.
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.
AMC Annual Report 2008
The American Music Center's 2008 Annual Report is available to view. Click here to view or download.