MPP 019: Scott Winship on the New Music USA Project Grants

Music Publishing Podcast

For this week’s episode, I sat down with Scott Winship, the Director of Grantmaking at New Music USA to talk about the organization’s Project Grants, and answer a few listener questions. It was a great conversation with a lot of really great tips for making your application the best it can be.

Some of the things we talked about were:

• The American Music Center & Meet the Composer merger, which created New Music USA
• How the NMUSA are a reaction to the ways that artists make their art today
• The grant application process
• The panel process
• The general breakdown of the awards
• Effective work samples
• Making use of collaborator profiles
• Narratives & project descriptions
• Giving yourself time to put together a compelling application
• Getting feedback
• Question: When is the music “not enough”?
• Your budget
• The private description
• Question: Why does it seem like the “usual suspects” seem to get awarded every round?
• Question: Is there a weight to individual, ensemble, or organization applications?
• The new grant deadline for 2016/2017

Links:
New Music USA
American Composers Forum