New Music Grants
and Jeffery Cotton Award
The Crossing - photo by John C Hawthorne
Recipient of New Music Grants
BMI Foundation awards annual grants to 501(c)3 non-profit organizations with the mission to further the creation, performance and study of contemporary music. All provided funding is unrestricted, and given directly to organizations. Program-specific funding is not provided; in order to qualify for funding, organizations must meet all the below requirements.
Eligibility Requirements
In order to qualify, all organizations must:
be registered 501(c)3 non-profit organizations.
At this time, the Foundation is not funding K-12 educational organizations, such as booster clubs or schools.
have a total budget under $2 Million. This must be the total budget of the organization as reflected in the organization’s 990. Organizations with total budgets over $2 Million do not qualify and will not be considered.
have a mission that is focused on the creation of new music.
Organizations will apply in one of two categories: Education or Performers/Presenters.
For more information on the requirements for different types of organizations, please see the information below.
Requirements for Music Presenters and Performers
All of the above organizational requirements;
At least 50% of the music performed during the organization’s season must be from within the last 50 years, as evidenced by the most recent or upcoming repertory list;
Repertory should be from a diverse group of composers.
Requirements for Music Education Organizations
All of the above organizational requirements;
The mission of the organization should include training in the creation of new music, such as programs in songwriting, composition, or jazz creation;
Preference will be given to organizations which make an effort to provide training to students attending Title 1 schools or with economic disadvantage.
Organizations can only apply in a single category.
Funding decisions are made by the distinguished songwriters, composers and publishers who serve as the Foundation’s Artistic Consultants.
By invitation only. To be considered for an invitation, please complete this form.
SELECTED PAST AWARDEES
Amas Musical Theatre - premiere of Hip Hop Cinderella
Musicambia
Alarm Will Sound - premiere of Paper Pianos. Photo by Michael Valiquette
MATA Festival (2022) - photo by Paula Court
Experiments in Opera - Everything for Dawn (Meroe Adeeb, Joshua Conyers, Laura Strickling, Aaron Engebreth), photo by Reuben Radding
Alarm Will Sound - premiere of Paper Pianos. Photo by Michael Valiquette
National Alliance for Musical Theatre - performance of Perpetual Sunshine, photo by Ric Kallaher
Alarm Will Sound - Photo by Michal Ramus
Amas Musical Theatre - premiere of Hip Hop Cinderella
Ebb & Flow Arts - Music of the Spheres
Little Orchestra Society - students dance to new rhythms they have composed and performed.
Either/Or Duo - performing murmurs y Rebecca Saunders (Composers Portraits)
The Next Festival of Emerging Artists - Composer-Choreographer Workshop
Amas Musical Theatre - premiere of Hip Hop Cinderella
MATA Festival (2022), photo by Stephen Pisano
National Alliance for Musical Theatre - performance of Baked, photo by Ric Kallaher
New York Youth Symphony
MATA Festival (2022), photo by Steven Pisano
The Crossing - photo by Becky Oehlers Photography
The Next Festival of Emerging Artists
National Alliance for Musical Theatre - rehearsal, photo by Ric Kallaher
The Little Orchestra Society - students explore new instruments to use in their compositions.
The Crossing - photo by Clara Weishahn
The Jazz Gallery
The Next Festival of Emerging Artists
The Walden School - a student composing
The Crossing - photo by John C Hawthorne
Yarn/Wire - photo by Evy Ottermans
American Composers Forum - Composing Inclusion premiere, photo by Chris Lee
The Walden School
Argento Chamber Ensemble
NOW Ensemble
Jeffery Cotton Award
The Jeffery Cotton Award is a grant for which presenting organizations may apply as a part of their proposal for the BMI Foundation New Music Grants.
BMI composer Jeffery Cotton (1957-2013) won three BMI Student Composer Awards, was a Fulbright and Guggenheim fellow, and was the recipient of the Walter Hinrichsen Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, among many other honors.
During his tenure as resident composer for the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble in New York, Jeffery established the “Second Helpings” concert series, which offered reprise performances of recent works in novel performance spaces. This innovative series addressed the issue of momentum for new musical compositions, which are often successfully premiered but never heard again.
The Jeffery Cotton Awards are intended to defray the cost of rehearsing and presenting a reprise concert performance of a chamber or orchestral work by an American composer that was previously premiered in a different city or concert season.