AUD $82,500 in funding for 11 established composers from Australia and Aotearoa.
Previous Aotearoa winners have included Nathaniel Otley, Eve De Castro Robinson, Nadia Freeman, Salina Fisher, Maree Sheehan, Riki Neihana Gooch, Celeste Oram, Dylan Lardelli, and Sam Holloway.
APRA AMCOS, in partnership with the Australian Music Centre (AMC) and SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music, has announced that the 2025 Art Music Fund is now open for submissions.
The Art Music Fund provides AUD $7,500 funding each for 11 established composers, nine from Australia and two from Aotearoa, to create commissioned work with the intention of ensuring a long artistic life for the work and its composer.
Previous Aotearoa winners have included Nathaniel Otley, Eve De Castro Robinson, Nadia Freeman, Salina Fisher, Maree Sheehan, Riki Neihana Gooch, Celeste Oram, Dylan Lardelli, and Sam Holloway.
Partners in the work can include ensembles, orchestras, producers, recording companies, broadcasters, festivals and other parties with the aim of guaranteed multiple exposures by way of performances, recordings, broadcasts or digital dissemination.
Recent Art Music Fund-supported premieres include Salina Fisher's Papatūānuku with Jerome Kavanagh and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, and Dunedin electronic artist Nadia Freeman’s The Girmit, which has been performed around Aotearoa. Nathaniel Otley’s major new orchestral work this rising tide, these former wetlands, will premiere with the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra in Ōtepoti in August 2025.
The fund has supported a wide range of work from Dylan Lardelli’s evocative Visiting Blue, Maree Sheehan’s The Song(s) of Solomon Project and Celeste Oram’s Yunge Eylands Varpcast Netwerkið a live radio play created with Germany’s Ensemble Adapter, to name but a few.
The Fund was launched in 2016 in recognition of the limited opportunities for art music composers to have new works performed. It commissions new work, providing winning composers with professional support to grow their repertoire in a sustainable way.
A wide range of music styles are supported by the fund including notated composition; electroacoustic music; improvised music; jazz; sound art; installation sound; multimedia, web and film sound and music; and theatrical, operatic and choreographed music.
Each entry will be assessed by an external panel of musicians from a diverse mix of cultures, gender, geography, generation and genre.
Chris O’Neill, Director of Creative Programs at APRA AMCOS, explains: “The Art Music Fund is a one-of-a-kind opportunity for established composers to get their works commissioned on a large scale and ensure that those works are seen by a wider audience for a long period of time.
“We know that artists and composers always have to juggle numerous projects and commissions to maintain a sustainable practice, so an opportunity like this enables them to pitch for support that will help them to take the next step in their practice.”
Hannah Darroch, CE of SOUNZ says:
"It's a pleasure to partner with APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre on this wonderful initiative, supporting composers of art music from our two countries. Recent years have produced many innovative and excellent works, and fostered meaningful partnerships between composers and performers, ensembles, presenters, and producers.
It's been exciting to see a number of these works receive repeat performances, and to follow the career trajectories of the many composers the fund supports. We'll be watching with anticipation to see who will be a part of the 2025 cohort, and will look forward to enjoying the musical results."
Applications are open now until Sunday 16 February 2025. Winners will be announced in May 2025.
For further information and tips on how to apply, visit apraamcos.com.au/artmusicfund
Read more information about this fund (which is administered by our Australian colleagues) here