BMI Foundation Awards 2016 Grants to Music Nonprofits Nationwide

Willie Mae Rock Camp's Jumpstart program gives girls age 5-7 the opportunity to write their own music and experiment with sound and movement through a wide variety of fun activities. Pictured is Jumpstart band Mexico Snowflake.

The Apollo Theater presents JazzReach's acclaimed live educational program for young audiences, "Stolen Moments: The First 100 Years of Jazz."

National Sawdust is an artist-led venue where emerging and established artists can share their music with serious music fans and casual listeners alike. Photo by David Andrako.

International Contemporary Ensemble is dedicated to reshaping the way music is created and experienced, advancing the music of our time by developing innovative new works and new strategies for audience engagement.

Education Through Music-Los Angeles partners with Paramount for the 6th Annual Music Unites the World Festival.

The BMI Foundation’s 2016 General Grants Program has awarded funding for over fifty music education programs, service and artistic development organizations, and performing arts presenters throughout the United States. The awards provide operating support for a range of contemporary performers, instructors, and preservationists spanning all genres of American music. Below is a complete list of 2016 BMI Foundation General Grant recipients.

“We proudly continue our decades-long tradition of supporting organizations that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to the vitality of American music,” said BMI Foundation President Deirdre Chadwick. “This year’s worthy recipients include GRAMMY-winning ensembles, tuition-free youth orchestras and bands, world-class artist residencies, and programs that are supporting, supplementing, or replacing public school arts curricula. We applaud these initiatives and look forward to increasingly diverse and expanded philanthropic partnerships in the future.”

As part of its General Grants Program, the BMI Foundation has also named leading contemporary choir New York Virtuoso Singers (NYVS) as its 2016 Jeffery Cotton Award recipient. Established in honor of the late BMI composer Jeffery Cotton, the award is intended to defray the cost of rehearsing and presenting a second concert performance of a chamber or orchestral work by an American composer. A reprise performance of Katherine Hoover’s Requiem, composed in response to the events of September 11, 2001, will be presented by NYVS this fall.

The BMI Foundation General Grants Program provides essential funding for nonprofit organizations committed to furthering the creation, performance, and/or study of contemporary American music. The program is administered on an annual, competitive, and invitation-only basis. Awards are determined by the Foundation’s General Grants Committee with the aid of internationally acclaimed musicians and music industry executives serving on the Artistic Advisory Panel. Established in 1985, the General Grants are the very first program created by the BMI Foundation. Since its inception, the program has invested over $3,000,000 in the legacy and innovation of American music.

BMI Foundation 2016 General Grant Recipients:

Community Music Programming and Presenters
Amas Musical Theatre
American Opera Projects
Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music
Community MusicWorks
Ebb & Flow Arts
Look & Listen Festival
Market Square Concerts
Music at the Anthology
Music from Angel Fire
National Alliance for Musical Theatre
National Sawdust
Pacific Serenades
Present Music
PROTOTYPE: Opera/Theatre/Now
Seal Bay Festival of American Chamber Music
Tribeca New Music

Composer and New Music Advocacy
American Composers Forum
American Composers Orchestra
New Music USA
Young Concert Artists

Contemporary Music Ensembles, Orchestras, and Choirs
Alarm Will Sound
American Modern Ensemble
Boston Modern Orchestra Project
Boston Musica Viva
Cygnus Ensemble
The Crossing
Eighth Blackbird
Either/Or
Ensemble Dal Niente
Fifth House Ensemble
International Contemporary Ensemble
New Century Chamber Orchestra
New York Virtuoso Singers
Nouveau Classical Project
newEar contemporary music ensemble
Poné Ensemble for New Music
Riverside Symphony
Tucson Symphony Orchestra
Voices of Change
Wet Ink Ensemble

Music Education and Mentorship
Atlantic Center for the Arts
Composers Conference and Chamber Music Center
Concert Artists Guild
CULTIVATE at Copland House
Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center
Education Through Music-Los Angeles
JazzReach
Kidsville
Learning through an Expanded Arts Program
Music-Theatre Group
Music Unites
New York Youth Symphony
Time In Children’s Arts Initiative
The Walden School
Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls