New Music Grants
and Jeffery Cotton Award
The Crossing - photo by John C Hawthorne
Recipient of a 2023 New Music Grant
BMI Foundation awards annual grants to further the creation, performance and study of contemporary music. There is an emphasis on classical, jazz, and musical theatre genres, and a preference for programs which directly involve living American composers and music education. Funding decisions are made by the distinguished songwriters, composers and publishers who serve as the Foundation’s Artistic Consultants.
By invitation only. To be considered for an invitation, please email us with information about your organization.
SELECTED PAST AWARDEES
Amas Musical Theatre - premiere of Hip Hop Cinderella
Musicambia
Alarm Will Sound - premiere of Paper Pianos. Photo by Michael Valiquette
MATA Festival (2022) - photo by Paula Court
Experiments in Opera - Everything for Dawn (Meroe Adeeb, Joshua Conyers, Laura Strickling, Aaron Engebreth), photo by Reuben Radding
Alarm Will Sound - premiere of Paper Pianos. Photo by Michael Valiquette
National Alliance for Musical Theatre - performance of Perpetual Sunshine, photo by Ric Kallaher
Alarm Will Sound - Photo by Michal Ramus
Amas Musical Theatre - premiere of Hip Hop Cinderella
Ebb & Flow Arts - Music of the Spheres
Little Orchestra Society - students dance to new rhythms they have composed and performed.
Either/Or Duo - performing murmurs y Rebecca Saunders (Composers Portraits)
The Next Festival of Emerging Artists - Composer-Choreographer Workshop
Amas Musical Theatre - premiere of Hip Hop Cinderella
MATA Festival (2022), photo by Stephen Pisano
National Alliance for Musical Theatre - performance of Baked, photo by Ric Kallaher
New York Youth Symphony
MATA Festival (2022), photo by Steven Pisano
The Crossing - photo by Becky Oehlers Photography
The Next Festival of Emerging Artists
National Alliance for Musical Theatre - rehearsal, photo by Ric Kallaher
The Little Orchestra Society - students explore new instruments to use in their compositions.
The Crossing - photo by Clara Weishahn
The Jazz Gallery
The Next Festival of Emerging Artists
The Walden School - a student composing
The Crossing - photo by John C Hawthorne
Yarn/Wire - photo by Evy Ottermans
American Composers Forum - Composing Inclusion premiere, photo by Chris Lee
The Walden School
Argento Chamber Ensemble
NOW Ensemble
Jeffery Cotton Award
The Jeffery Cotton Award is a grant for which presenting organizations may apply as a part of their proposal for the BMI Foundation New Music Grants.
BMI composer Jeffery Cotton (1957-2013) won three BMI Student Composer Awards, was a Fulbright and Guggenheim fellow, and was the recipient of the Walter Hinrichsen Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, among many other honors.
During his tenure as resident composer for the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble in New York, Jeffery established the “Second Helpings” concert series, which offered reprise performances of recent works in novel performance spaces. This innovative series addressed the issue of momentum for new musical compositions, which are often successfully premiered but never heard again.
The Jeffery Cotton Awards are intended to defray the cost of rehearsing and presenting a reprise concert performance of a chamber or orchestral work by an American composer that was previously premiered in a different city or concert season.