Deadline Approaching: Grant Opportunity for Ensembles – “Sound Places” from Chamber Music America

If you are interested in this program, send an email expressing your interest to margaret@chamber-music.org by October 26, 2016!

Sound Places – A New Grant Opportunity for Ensembles
Sound Places, a pilot program, aims to integrate ensembles-in-residence into the community life of Cultural Districts in Louisiana.
Chamber Music America (CMA), in partnership with the Project for Public Spaces (PPS) and the Louisiana Division of the Arts (LDOA), secured an Our Town grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to pilot two creative placemaking projects involving small ensembles in two of Louisiana’s Cultural Districts (CD) over the course of calendar 2017. The goal of the program is to combine music, placemaking, and civic engagement in an unprecedented way that will educate and engage audiences and bring new vitality to public spaces. Creative placemaking is an integrative approach that specifically uses art and culture to tap into a place’s unique character. Placemaking has sparked social, economic, and environmental benefits in communities around the world.

At this time, we are seeking ensembles that may be interested in participating in this unique residency grant opportunity. In November, CMA, PPS, and LDOA will facilitate an official application process for ensembles; upon selection two ensembles will be matched with two selected cultural districts in Louisiana. Preference will be given to ensembles in Louisiana and the neighboring states of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas. Ensembles and communities will work together with CMA, PPS, and LDOA to incorporate music into creative placemaking initiatives and community engagement activities. This pilot program, an outgrowth of CMA’s current Residency Partnership Program, is intended to produce a model for ensembles to replicate in order to integrate themselves in meaningful ways into the civic fabric of neighborhoods, further enhancing local cultural vibrancy and livability.

CMA defines Chamber Music as music for small ensembles—between 2 and 10 musicians—with one per part, generally without a conductor. This definition includes all styles of small ensemble music including Western European and non-Western classical and contemporary, jazz, electronic, and evolving forms. Ensembles may be instrumental, vocal, acoustic, or amplified.

Each ensemble will receive a stipend for its work; details will be explained in the program guidelines, which will be distributed in November along with the official application.

INTERESTED?
If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity, please email margaret@chamber-music.org by October 26, 2016. Expressing interest does not imply a commitment. We want to hear from ensembles who are interested in residency work, who work in a collaborative style, whose community engagement goals are intrinsic to their mission, and who have the capacity to devote time and effort to this project.

TIMELINE:
Guidelines and applications will be posted in November. Two ensembles will be selected and notified before the end of December. The collaboration will begin in January 2017.