Chamber Music America's Classical Commissioning Program

Chamber Music America's Classical Commissioning Program provides grants to United States-based presenters and professional contemporary classical and world music ensembles for the commissioning and performance of new works by American composers. The program supports works scored for two to ten musicians and composed in any of the musical styles associated with contemporary classical music.

Grants include a composer's fee of up to $20,000, a $1,000 honorarium for each ensemble member (up to ten) for rehearsing the new piece, and copying costs of up to $1,000.

To be eligible, an ensemble must be a professional group based in the U.S. or one of ts territories with a commitment to contemporary classical or world music; consist of "fixed" personnel and instrumentation or be part of a flexible roster or a collective that performs in varying configurations of no more than ten; perform as equal partners (in the case of a duo), rather than as soloist and accompanist, and consistently publicize itself as a duo; and be a CMA organization-level member. Ensembles may not apply to both CMA's Classical Commissioning and New Jazz Works programs during the same grant period.

A presenter is eligible if it is based in the U.S. or one of its territories; is a 501(c)(3) or other not-for-profit organization; presents classical, contemporary, other music genres, and/or multidisciplinary performing arts programs; and is a CMA organization-level member. A presenter may submit only one application and apply with only one ensemble. However, a presenter's venue may appear as a performance site on any number of applications submitted by different ensembles.

The composer must be a citizen or permanent resident of the U.S. In addition, s/he may be a member of the applicant's ensemble and may not appear on more than one application to a CMA commissioning program (including New Jazz Works) for the same grant period.

Classical commissioning program application workshops will be held between February 13 and March 22, 2018. Reservations are required.

See the CMA website for complete program guidelines, application materials, and application workshop details.