Who We Are
ACF envisions a world where living music creators are celebrated as essential to human culture. We are leading catalysts in an ecosystem that invites generations of composers, artists, advocates, and audiences to pursue this vision with us.
Our Mission is to support and advocate for individuals and groups creating music today by demonstrating the vitality and relevance of their art.
- We connect artists with collaborators, organizations, audiences, and resources.
- Through storytelling, publications, recordings, hosted gatherings, and industry leadership, we activate equitable opportunities for artists.
- We provide direct funding and mentorship to a broad and diverse field of music creators, highlighting those who have been historically excluded from participation.
Our Core Values are Leadership, Anti-Racism, Courage, Support, and Curiosity.
We frame our work with a focus on racial equity and include within that scope, but do not limit it to, diverse gender identities, musical approaches and perspectives, religions, ages, (dis)abilities, cultures, backgrounds, sexual orientations, and broad definitions of “American.”
View our Five-Year Strategic Framework for FY2021-2025 here (updated regularly):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16TABumP9Gc3znHxF9n1x6RsKEQTuwu2_/view?usp=sharing
Our History
ACF organized in 1973 as a group of students at the University of Minnesota, led by co-founders Libby Larsen and Stephen Paulus, for the purpose of creating performance opportunities outside the academic setting. They incorporated in 1975 as the Minnesota Composers Forum and focused their early efforts on a series of concerts featuring the music of their members. In the early 1980s the organization expanded their services by launching the Jerome Composer Commissioning Program (1979), the McKnight Fellowships (1982) and innova® recordings (1983) – all of which continue today. One of the earliest public advocacy initiatives was the Composers Voice program with Minnesota Public Radio (1993), a series of 13 one-hour broadcasts featuring prominent national composers such as John Adams, Meredith Monk and Philip Glass among others.
In 1996 the Board of Directors adopted the current name of American Composers Forum (ACF) in recognition of its growing national reach. Eight chapters were established in major urban centers, and the 50-state commissioning program Continental Harmony was launched in 1998 as a millennium celebration in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts. Among its more singular historical programming was the First Nations Composer Initiative from 2004-2010 to support the unique needs of Native American composers and performers.
BandQuest®, a series of music for middle school bands composed by prominent American composers, has reached an estimated 625,000 students since its inception in 1997. There are now twenty-two published works in the series ranging from Michael Colgrass, Libby Larsen, Michael Daugherty and klezmer revivalist, Hankus Netsky, to name a few. ChoralQuest® is the newest education program for middle school, with commissions from Stephen Paulus, Alice Parker, Jerod Tate, Jennifer Higdon, and Chen Yi among others. NextNotes®, the newest program, awards promising high school students with meaningful performance and mentorship opportunities.
Over the course of four decades, ACF has nurtured the work of thousands of composers. The innova recording label has released over 650 titles, and our BandQuest® and ChoralQuest® series for middle-level students has reached over half million students. Newer programs like ACF CONNECT offer direct connections and commissions with leading national ensembles. The organization has a rich history of granting programs, readings, salons, conferences, and residencies that support the creation of new work and connect composers to communities. (See Historical Timeline below).
In 2020, ACF acquired the multimedia hub I CARE IF YOU LISTEN, which has enabled the organization to support more artists and writers, expand the diversity of music criticism, and share more stories about and by music creators, performers, administrators, and supporters.
Our Timeline
1970s
- 1973
Informal organization in basement of Scott Hall at the University of Minnesota and initial call for scores; By year’s end, MCF presents 11 concerts of new works by Forum composers on campus and elsewhere, including two programs at the Walker Art Center - 1974
Five MCF concerts presented, including two more at the Walker Art Center plus one at the New Riverside Café on Cedar Avenue in Minneapolis (which included a Country and Western song by Libby Larsen!); - 1975
Formal incorporation as the Minnesota Composers Forum; Austrian composer Ernst Krenek participates in Forum master class and concert - 1976
Sacred Forum of “Music for Church and Temple” held at St. Mark’s; MCF Chorale organized by Monte Mason; events with visiting composer Henry Brant; 13-part series of “New Music from Minnesota” broadcasts on Minnesota Public Radio featuring new works recorded live at MCF concerts - 1977
Schubert Club donates office space in St. Paul’s Landmark Center; Lance Strickland donates two typewriters for use at the MCF office - 1978
First concerts by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra featuring works by Forum composers; MCF Chorale performs on Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion” radio broadcast, sings a “Landmark Jingle” (providing directions to the Forum’s new offices there) written by Libby Larsen and Steve Barnett; MCF members meet with visiting composer Philip Glass and members of his ensemble; annual membership fee inaugurated and 78 charter members enroll - 1979
Jerome Composers Commissioning Program begins; Sarah Solotaroff is Managing Director; workshop with visiting composer Terry Riley
1980s
- 1980
Lila Jacob becomes Managing Director, continues in that post for eight years - 1981
Dale Warland Singers performs members’ works at Landmark Center; The Ensemble Reading Fund begins; First Forum all-electronic concert - 1982
McKnight Composer Fellowship Program begins; Demo Tape Recording Project and tape dubbing service offered - 1983
First innova® Recordings produced; Forum moves to MarketHouse in Lowertown St. Paul, receives challenge grant from Bush Foundation - 1984
25% of MCF now live in Minnesota; Forum receives four-year Advancement Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts - 1985
Forum purchases its first office computer (a Compaq 286 Desk Pro); Performance Assistance Fund begins - 1986
Rockefeller Foundation awards Forum $40,000 for its Creative Future Fund; First Computer Music Notation Workshop held; “Year of the Ear” 7-event concert series at the Walker Art Center and Ordway Music Theater includes choral performances led by Dale Warland and Philip Brunnelle, visiting British composer/conductor Oliver Knussen, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra clarinetist Timothy Paradise, and composer/pianist Paul Schoenfield - 1987
Kronos Quartet reads members’ works at Walker ArtCenter; Members take part in 3M test of new Scotch Binding System tape for parts and scores; “Free Fall,” the first compact disc recording issued by MCF released, including works by Steve Tibbetts, Mike Olson, Henry Gwiazda, John Devine, and Pat Moriarty - 1988
Minnesota Composer – Librettist Studio with the Playwrights’ Center and Minnesota Opera New Music-Theatre Ensemble - 1989
Forum moves to Exchange Building in downtown St. Paul
1990s
- 1990
Finale® software users group organized; first Forum “Long Range Plan” published - 1991
3M donates a case of audio tape cassettes for concert recordings and demo tapes; Linda Hoeschler named Forum’s Executive Director - 1992
Church/Synagogue Program begins (later renamed Faith Partners); Member discounts on computer hardware and software arranged - 1993
Composer’s Voice radio program airs on MPR; Recording Loan Fund established; Forum has 612 members in 40 states and 13 countries, establishes “outposts” in New York and Boston; Schubert Club and MCF produced 20th Anniversary Concert featuring the Cleveland Quartet performing new works by Forum co-founders Libby Larsen and Steven Paulus; Asian Cultural Council supports Forum scouting trip to Vietnam to establish relations with composers - 1994
Orchestral Reading Program, Performance Incentive Fund, and Sonic Circuits Festival begin; Forum moves to the First National Bank Building in St. Paul; McKnight Visiting Composer Residency begins - 1995
55% of Forum members live outside Minnesota; Composer’s Voice distributed nationally by NPR, wins ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award; Whitaker Fund “National Composer Service Initiative” challenge grant; Pilot “chapters” in Boston and New York launched; Late Night in Gallery 8 series at the Walker debuts - 1996
Name change to American Composers Forum; Perfect Pitch program with Minnesota Orchestra begins; Vietnamese Music Festival held in Twin Cities - 1997
San Francisco and Washington DC chapters organized; New Band Horizons project (later renamed BandQuest) launched; Second series of Composer’s Voice begins on MPR; Regional Rural Commissioning Program launched (as pilot for national Continental Harmony program) - 1998
Philadelphia chapter organized; Continental Harmony launched with NEA funding; Welcome Christmas! Carol Competition begins; innova’s “Enclosure Three: Harry Partch” wins 1998 ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award; Forum administers the Philadelphia Orchestra Centennial Composition Contest - 1999
First round of Continental Harmony communities and composers selected, with White House Millennium Council as official partner; Philadelphia Orchestra’s Centennial Composition Competition offered in partnership with ACF; Composers Suitcase piloted in Minnesota
2000s
- 2000
Forum celebrates its 25th anniversary of incorporation; LA chapter organized; Composers Datebook premieres, wins 2000 ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award; Public Radio International distributes second Composers Voice series - 2001
“Bamboo Fest” at the Landmark Center in St. Paul and “Edible Music” event at the Minnesota State Fair; Composers Suitcase tested in LA schools; PBS airs Continental Harmony documentary; subito program launched in LA; ACF partners with Minnesota Public Radio to continue Composers Datebook radio feature - 2002
Forum awarded $1 million McKnight Endowment Grant for innova label; Minnesota Orchestra Composers Institute (formerly Perfect Pitch) begins; First three BandQuest compositions published; Second round of Continental Harmony projects selected; Essentially Choral reading sessions with VocalEssence launched; Forum administers Pacific Symphony’s American Composer Competition - 2003
Encore program relauched (formerly Performance Incentive Fund); Boston chapter renamed ACF New England; John Nuechterlein becomes Forum CEO - 2004
New ACF website launched; First Nations Composer Initiative (FNCI) begins; Composers Datebook daily eNewsletter starts; Forum established Endowment Fund to honor Dale Warland - 2005
Third round of Continental Harmony projects selected; ArtSong Competition launched with The Schubert Club; Washington-DC Chapter presents its fifth annual Sonic Circuits electronic music festival - 2006
ACF awarded 2006 Joyce Award for Music as part of its FNCI initiative; 5th annual Minnesota Orchestra Composers Institute held at Orchestral Hall in Minneapolis; ACF-New England Composer Residency Program begins in Massachusetts. - 2007
FNCI launches new Common Ground program for Native composers and musicians; subito grants awarded to composers in the Bay Area and Southern California; New York State Music Fund awards $200,000 grant to ACF’s innova label to issue CDs featuring New York artists’ works; ACF-Philadelphia marks their 10th anniversary with concerts at the Kimmel Center; - 2008
Innova recording of Steve Reich’s “Music for 18 Musicians” tops iTunes charts and is profiled on NPR’s Weekend Edition; ACF presents its first Dale Warland Singers Commission Award to composer Shawn Crouch and partner ensemble Chanticleer; ACF-Philadelphia organizes Composer-to-Composer session with Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki - 2009
innova Recordings signs distribution contract with Naxos of America, Inc.; innova Recordings releases 43 titles by New York artists and organizes 60 outreach events in New York state; Continental Harmony project comes to an end with “Fire and Light,” a work by Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate premiered in Ada, Oklahoma
2010s
- 2010
Finale National Composition Contest announced in partnership with MakeMusic, Inc, and the eigth blackbird ensemble; ChoralQuest launched; 10th anniversary Minnesota Orchestra Composers Institute culminates with public “Future Classics” public concert at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis - 2011
New Music Minnesota website launched; innova Recordings presents showcase of label artists at John Zorn’s venue, The Stone, in New York City; American Music Center mergers with Meet The Composer to form New Music USA; ACF launches new website - 2012
ACF newsletter relaunched as digital eNewsletter entitled “In the Key of Now”; ACF organizes ChoralConnections career workshop for composers held during the annual Chorus America convention in Minneapolis; innova Recordings at South by Southwest Festival in Texas; innova label awarded Laurel Leaf Award from American Composers Alliance - 2013
Game On! an Insider’s Guide to Video Game Scoring workshop presented in partnership with McNally Smith College and MPR; BandQuest celebrates publication of 20th piece; ACF Leads Composer Delegation to Cuba; ACF moves to new 5th floor offices at Landmark Center in St. Paul - 2014
“Champion of New Music” Awards given to Marin Alsop, Frances Richard, and Steven Schick; ACF-Philadelphia announces The ACF Philadelphia Chapter “If You Could Hear These Walls” concert series in partnership with the Mural Arts Program; NextNotes High School Composition Awards is launched - 2019
Vanessa Rose becomes the new President & CEO of ACF; a pilot national convening, “Racial Equity and Inclusion Forum,” funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation centers music creators/composers in a conversation about racial equity that is live streamed from Twin Cities PBS
2020s
- 2020
ACF acquires I CARE IF YOU LISTEN (icareifyoulisten.com and icareifyoulisten.tv); expanding its digital media presence; Initiated during the Covid-19 pandemic, ACF transitions from the traditional membership model to a “help desk” and resource center available to all artists without a paywall