BMI Foundation Announces Multi-Year Grants for Non-Profit Music Organizations Across United States
New Music Grant Recipient Organizations (Row 1, L-R) Little Orchestra Society (photo by Samantha White), Yarn/Wire, National Alliance for Musical Theatre (photo by Ric Kallaher);
(Row 2, L-R): Third Coast Percussion (photo by Saverio Truglia), Girls Write Nashville, Musicambia (photo by Peter Merts)
NEW YORK, NY - November 5, 2025 - Deirdre Chadwick, President of the BMI Foundation, Inc., has announced changes to the format of the BMI Foundation New Music Grants Program. The program will now provide up to three years of support to qualifying music organizations across the United States, adjudicated by a panel of Artistic Consultants made up of musicians and music industry veterans.
Established in the 1980s, the New Music Grants Program is the BMI Foundation’s flagship organizational grant program. Since its inception, the Foundation has given millions of dollars in general operating support to small budget 501(c)3 organizations specializing in the creation and performance of new American music as well as music education across the United States. In this major update to the program, the Foundation is extending these grants to be renewable over three years. Organizations must have budgets under two million dollars, and can receive up to two consecutive cycles (six years) of support.
Past recipients of the New Music Grants have included Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Girls Write Nashville, National Alliance for Musical Theatre, Reaching Youth Through Music Opportunities (RYTMO), The Jazz Gallery, Third Coast Percussion, Wild Up, and many others.
Artistic Consultants for the updated New Music Grants Program will include Dan Atkinson (Athenaeum Music & Arts Library), Jennie Oh Brown (Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras), Neil Gillis (CollectivRights Management), Eric Jacobsen (Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra), Jennifer Kessler (CANVAS), David T. Little (Mannes School of Music), Nari Matsuura (Citrin Cooperman), Lucy Shelton (Manhattan School of Music), Matthew Evan Taylor (University of California, Berkeley), Raff Wilson (Seattle Symphony), and Lidiya Yankovskaya (Chicago Opera Theater).
About the BMI Foundation, Inc.
The BMI Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded in 1985 to encourage the creation, performance, and study of American music. The Foundation’s programs include competitive scholarships for songwriters and composers, operating grants for nonprofit arts presenters, and support for innovative music education initiatives in schools and communities across the country. For more information about the work of the Foundation, please visit our website at www.bmifoundation.org. For exclusive news and content, follow @bmifoundation on Instagram and like BMI Foundation on Facebook.
