New Music Solidarity Fund launched to support freelance artists
New Music Solidarity Fund is launched (Photo credit: New Music USA)
NEW YORK, NY (March 24, 2020) — More than 100 artists, arts leaders and professors in the field have announced the New Music Solidarity Fund, an initiative that aims to grant emergency funding to musicians impacted by COVID-19. At the time of the announcement, more than $130,000 has been pledged. The fund will be administered through New Music USA, and all donations are fully tax-deductible through New Music USA’s 501(c)3 status. The fund is accessible here and will run until April 30.
The New Music Solidarity Fund will distribute a minimum of 260, emergency assistance grants in the amount of $500 each. Any musician who has had a project involving a living composer canceled because of the pandemic is invited to apply. The New Music Solidarity Fund opens to applicants on March 31 and will run until April 30. Grants will be available on a first-come, first-served basis as funds last.
The New Music Solidarity Fund was made possible through the collective organizational efforts of Marcos Balter, Julia Bullock, Claire Chase, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Du Yun, Judd Greenstein, Reena Esmail, Nico Muhly, Andrew Norman, Christian Reif, Christopher Rountree, Caroline Shaw, Conrad Tao and Seth Parker Woods. These artists, along with other artistic and administrative colleagues in the field, sought to extend help to less-secure individuals within their community.
Beyond this emergency bridge fund, the organizers and contributors hope to lay the grounds for a new financial and cultural framework that ensures the stability of musicians in the new music scene. “Self-preservation can’t so much be on the minds of musicians,” says soprano Julia Bullock, “because one of the fundamentals of music making is acknowledging that we are providing a service for one another. At this immediate time, the support of this fund is financial, but I hope it will resonate well beyond that, once more people know the feeling of solidarity amongst artists.”
“Many new music performers are freelancers,” says composer Marcos Balter. “These are incredibly courageous artists who take enormous risks to advocate for music of our time, music that already exists on shoestring budgets and minimal financial support. A single cancelled performance can have a huge impact on someone’s livelihood. Time and time again, these musicians have been there for us composers and new music lovers. Now is the time for us to show our gratitude and to stand by them in solidarity. I’m deeply touched but not at all surprised that so many artists have answered our calls for contributions. We are a diverse but deeply united family, and we will get through this together.”
“As artists who have dedicated our lives to the music of our time, our lifeblood is the live performance of new and untested work,” says flautist Claire Chase. “This pandemic poses an existential threat to that most essential work of our community of artists. And yet at the same time, it reminds us anew of just how vital that activity is. After all, it is at difficult times like these that the human need for new, resonant art that is responsive to the needs of the moment makes itself felt most viscerally. And that is what people in the new-music community, both onstage and off, do so generously, selflessly and courageously: respond to the needs of the moment.”
Donate to the New Music Solidarity Fund now.
Apply to the New Music Solidarity Fund starting on March 31, 2020.