Meet the Composer

Next deadline: Spring 2011
Countless new and important works have come into being through commissions. Commissions also provide a vital source of income and artistic development for composers. To ensure that composers and their commissioners have the knowledge and resources to successfully complete their goals, Meet The Composer offers support through its Commissioning Music/USA program. This support takes the form of subsidized commissioning fees as well as technical assistance in managing the entire life-cycle of a commissioning project.

Once a project is completed, Meet The Composer will make information on the commissioned work and the composer available to presenters and performers looking for new repertoire or new composers to commission. Explore the Commissioning Music/USA repertoire in MTC's Commissioning History: our searchable repertoire database.

Applications are submitted by a single commissioner or consortium of commissioning organizations and are evaluated by an outside panel of artists and presenters. If selected to participate in the program, Commissioning Music/USA offers between $10,000 and $20,000 in support of the composer’s commissioning fee and copying expenses.

For more information contact:
Scott Winship, Program Manager, extension 102 or swinship@meetthecomposer.org

• Download Guidelines (pdf, for reference only as deadline has passed)
• Fiscal Sponsorship Instructions (pdf)
• Reporting Instructions
• Interim Report
• Organization Final Report
• Composer Final Report

Commissioning Music/USA is made possible with the generous annual support of:

The Ford Foundation
The Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts
The Helen F. Whitaker Foundation
The Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust
New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation

Commissioning Music/USA is also made possible with endowment support from:

The Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust
The Helen F. Whitaker Foundation
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Fidelity Foundation
The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation
Francis Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts