From 1982-1992, Meet The Composer placed 29 composers-in-residence with 21 of America's major orchestras through its widely acclaimed Orchestra Residencies Program. The impact of this program was immense and far-reaching. Sixty-five new works, more than 20 new recordings, 2 Pulitzer Prizes, 2 Grawemeyer Awards, a Friedheim Award, and a Grammy Award were all results of the Program.

During the ten years of the Program, the residency orchestras as a group doubled their programming of works by living American composers on subscription concerts and 13 of the residency orchestras developed new-music series. This, in turn, propelled an 11 percent increase in performances of twentieth-century works by American orchestras. The network of related activities attached to each residency (recordings, festivals, outreach, etc.) undoubtedly further extended the reach of the Program to hundreds more composers and thousands of audience members.

Following the successful conclusion of the Orchestra Residencies Program, Meet The Composer began to explore new kinds of residencies aimed at organizations in smaller cities across the country. If the composer could be so powerful in building relationships within orchestras, could he or she be equally effective in reconnecting music and arts organizations of all kinds to the communities in which they operate? As a result, New Residencies was born.

New Residencies is a bold residency program that has pioneered communityarts partnerships, and has supported forty-five innovative composer residencies in diverse communities throughout the nation. Twenty-three of these residencies have involved orchestras as host partners.

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