11 art music composers have been awarded $7,500 (AUD) grants for new projects including two Aotearoa songwriters Nadia Freeman and Salina Fisher.
This year's $82,500 total allocation will support new works from composers Andrew Ford, Aviva Endean, Brooke Green, Connor D'Netto, Elizabeth Jigalin, Jasmin Wing-Yin Leung, Nadia Freeman, Netanela Mizrahi, Salina Fisher, Victoria Pham and Will Guthrie.
The Art Music Fund is a partnership of APRA AMCOS, the Australian Music Centre and SOUNZ.
Eleven composers from Australia and New Zealand are the recipients of the Art Music Fund, with each receiving a $7,500 grant towards the commission of a proposed work.
The Art Music Fund is an initiative of APRA AMCOS, in partnership with the Australian Music Centre and New Zealand's SOUNZ.
The 2023 Art Music Fund recipients are Andrew Ford, Aviva Endean, Brooke Green, Connor D'Netto, Elizabeth Jigalin, Jasmin Wing-Yin Leung, Nadia Freeman, Netanela Mizrahi, Salina Fisher, Victoria Pham and Will Guthrie.
This year's $82,500 total allocation will support a range of fascinating new projects both personal and global in scale. Commissions range from the story of an Irish convict who lived her last days in a Sydney asylum, an adaption of Maeve Marsden's 'Queerstories', a Chinese-Australian sonic history, the next chapter in The Djari Project, an electronic work about indentured Indian labourers sent to Fiji, and more.
Since 2016, the fund has granted more than half a million dollars to new works that have been presented in Australia, New Zealand and around the world at concert halls, festivals, and immersive settings. As repeat recipients in this round, Aviva Endean (2020) and Connor D'Netto (2018), have both seen their profiles increase in recent years.
The successful applicants’ compositions demonstrate the high level of creativity, innovation and collaboration happening amidst the challenges facing the sector.
This year's New Zealand recipients are Nadia Freeman and Salina Fisher.
Nadia Freeman intends to honour her ancestors using electronic instrumental music, live sampling, song and theatre to tell the relatively unknown history of the 60,000 indentured labourers who were taken from India to Fiji by dishonest means and the inhumane conditions that befell them.
Salina Fisher's ‘Papatūānuku’ is a major new work for taonga pūoro and orchestra, in collaboration with Jerome Kavanagh and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and will be performed 24 August. The piece celebrates the unique voices of taonga pūoro and their deep connection with the natural world, honouring Papatūānuku (earth mother) in interaction with imaginative orchestral textures.
2023 Art Music Fund recipient Nadia Freeman:
Art Music isn't seen to have the same commercial value as other music styles. Most often grants are based on the popularity and likelihood of a musician's commercial success. The support to work on music that seeks to push boundaries and looks beyond conventional music formats is important for the development of art for human expression, joy and to learning. There are also very few grants that support artists in making new work. Often the grants are focused on the expenses associated with delivering a product like hiring a film crew, or recording costs. There a very few ways for musicians to have income for the time they invest in creating.
Catherine Haridy, CEO, Australian Music Centre
We are truly inspired by the eleven projects selected for this year’s Art Music Fund and delighted to see many different musical practices and cultural perspectives represented among them. We congratulate the recipients and look forward to seeing the development of their work.
Diana Marsh, Chief Executive | Tumu Whakarae, SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music
SOUNZ is delighted to again work with APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre on the 2023 Art Music Fund which includes two New Zealand recipients. We were impressed with the calibre of applications and the projects selected demonstrate the rich diversity of music practice, composition and collaboration that continues to develop in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Adam Townsend, Director, Writer Services APRA AMCOS
The wealth of amazing applications for the Art Music Fund continue to showcase the need for important, ground-breaking, and career-changing work to be funded. APRA AMCOS is proud to be giving these deserving recipients the support they need to create their own new music to share with performers, curators and music lovers, all over the world.
Art Music Fund applications were assessed on the viability of the proposed project, the quality of the work, and the strategy for the life and reach of the work.