Resonate Magazine | Australian Music Centre

Major funding through the APRA AMCOS Art Music Fund will again be available for Australian and NZ art music composers, with applications for the fourth round closing on 20 February at 5pm AEDT.

The fund was initiated in recognition of the limited opportunities for art music composers to have their works performed. A total pool of $100,000 per annum is on offer to provide funding for composers to create commissioned work that is complemented by an exploitation program.

The Art Music Fund exists to commission new work that is innovative, displays professional compositional craft and represents a benchmark of excellence in its field. These works must have committed partners to ensure the work is presented multiple times with the intention to create a long artistic life for the work and by extension, its composer. It is expected that composers will collaborate with ensembles, orchestras, producers, recording companies, broadcasters, festivals and other parties, in order for the proposals to include multiple exposures - performances, recordings, broadcasts or digital dissemination.

The applications will be assessed by an external panel of musicians representing a complete view of the industry, including diverse voices across culture, gender, geography, generation, and genre.

The Art Music Fund supports a wide range of music styles including notated composition; electroacoustic music; improvised music (including innovative, original jazz); sound art; installation sound; multimedia, web and film sound and music; and theatrical, operatic and choreographed music.

Funded works realised over the past year include Liza Lim's Extinction Events and Dawn Chorus, Eve Klein's operatic Vocal Womb, and Matt Keegan's The Three Seas project, a collaboration of Australian jazz and West Bengali folk musicians. Eugene Ughetti's (Speak Percussion) funded work Polar Force receives its world premiere on 24 November in Melbourne, with performances through to 1 December.

All applicants will be asked to explain how their practice aligns with the qualities identified in the Art Music Fund (innovation, compositional craft, and excellence), regardless of style. Applicants must be members of APRA AMCOS, and Australian composers included in applications must also be financial members of the Australian Music Centre - find out more about AMC membership and APRA AMCOS membership.

> For full details, and applications, see the APRA AMCOS website.

> See also: funded commissions and projects in 2016, 2017 and 2018.