About

SPLICE Institute is a week-long, intensive summer program for performers, composers, and composer-performers interested in music that combines live performance and electronics. Applications are now being accepted for SPLICE Institute 2024, which will take place in-person June 23–29, 2024 in Kalamazoo, MI.

The 2024 SPLICE Institute marks our 10th year! To celebrate this SPLICE-iversary we will offer a SPLICE retrospective, featuring previous guest artists Kyong Mee Choi, Paula Matthusen, Sam Pluta, and Nina C. Young. Faculty and guests will lead workshops exploring topics and technologies including Max, signal processing basics, aesthetics, SuperCollider, performing using technology, and more. Guest artists will offer masterclasses and lessons. SPLICE Institute guests, faculty, and participants present nine concerts featuring some of the most exciting contemporary music involving live performance and electronics.

Apply

Eligibility

Participants must be at least 18 years old by the time they arrive. SPLICE can send letters of support for international participants who require visas, but no visa support is available beyond this.

APPLICATION DEADLINE

January 15, 2024, 11:59PM Eastern Time

Please see the complete admissions and payment timeline below.

PROCESS

Please be prepared to submit contact and biographical information, answer questions about your previous experience with electroacoustic music, and submit composition or performance examples for review.

  • For sound files and videos, please provide links to Google Drive (with non-expiring links that are shared with anyone with the link), Soundcloud, YouTube, etc…
  • For scores, please provide non-expiring links to files that are openly available (ex.: Google Drive, Dropbox, a download link from your own website). Since our adjudicators will not use the same account, do not share files with any specific account (share with anyone with the link).

ADMISSIONS and Payment Timeline

January 15, 2024 at 11:59 PM EST: Application Deadline

February 7, 2024: Rolling admissions begin. We hope to notify all applicants by March 1.

Ten-days after acceptance notification: Deadline to submit the non-refundable $200 program fee deposit and to confirm attendance.

May 15, 2024: Deadline to submit remaining balance of tuition, housing, and meal fees.

If you have any questions, please look at the FAQ or email us at [email protected].

Workshops

COMPOSITION WORKSHOPS

Composition workshops will be offered at all experience levels, with workshops in beginning and advanced SuperCollider, Interactive Video, Improv with Electronics, Interactive Controllers, Open Music, and Orchidea (computer-assisted orchestration). A beginning Max workshop will introduce newcomers to this powerful application, while advanced Max workshops will explore topics including Jitter, gen~, synthesis, and more.

PERFORMANCE WORKSHOPS

Performance workshops for beginners will cover working with electronics in rehearsal and performance without the aid of a composer or sound engineer. Workshops focus on setting up equipment, learning about mixers and microphones, studying the musicality of electronics, and introductions to Max, Logic, and Supercollider. There are also advanced workshops that specifically include content for performers with significant previous experience, including those who have previously attended SPLICE Institute.

Collaborations

Composers may be paired with SPLICE Ensemble or participant performers to write and premiere a new work at the Institute. Composer-performers can present a work that they write for themselves to perform. Additionally, select participants may take part in our new EA-chamber music program. Participant-performers play a new work with the SPLICE Ensemble written for the quartet by a participant-composer.

Community building and collaboration form the core of SPLICE’s mission and activities. Attendees become part of a community that continues to grow and develop beyond the Institute.

While SPLICE Institute allows participants to find a collaborative process that works for them, composers and performers agree to adhere to the collaboration deadlines indicated below. Communicating and figuring out how to work together is largely the responsibility of the participants; however, each collaborative team will be assigned a faculty member who will provide mentorship during the collaborative process. Additionally, all individuals collaborating on a new work will meet with a faculty member during the first Sunday of the Institute between 10am and 6 pm. We are dedicated to facilitating these collaborative processes and hope that attendees at SPLICE Institute will form relationships that result in future collaborations and projects. We suggest the following regarding the collaborative projects that will premiere at the Institute:

  1. As soon as you are paired with someone, begin communications regarding creating a plan that works for both collaborators, including more specific deadlines, aesthetic considerations, and technical concerns.
  2. Make sure that you are being clear regarding your preferences, while also being responsive and open-minded to the ideas and concerns of your collaborator.
  3. If something is not clear to you, continue to ask questions until it is clear.
  4. We recommend that, given the time restrictions inherent in this type of process, these collaborations and premieres be viewed as works-in-progress; however, a number of collaborations from previous years resulted in final products that went on to be presented at conferences including SEAMUS, NYCEMF, ICMC, EMM, and the Toronto International Electroacoustic Symposium.

The requirements regarding these works are as follows:

  • Technology required can not exceed the equipment that we have available.*
  • The program note must include a statement that the work was written to premier at SPLICE Institute.
  • The work may not exceed 8 minutes in duration, unless special permission is provided and both members of the collaborating team agree to the duration.
  • Composers must write pieces that the performers can perform in the composer’s absence. This requires clear performance materials that facilitate the presentation of the work.

*SPLICE has access to music technology equipment at Western Michigan University during the week. This technology is quite robust and includes numerous microphone options, a 5.1 speaker configuration, software, and all other equipment common in these performance situations. For anything that is exceptional, please inquire about your tech needs early on in the process.

Costs & Scholarships

Program Fees

  • Participant with Concert Collaboration: $680
  • Participant: $480

The following housing and meal prices reflect the costs for 2023, last year’s Institute. We expect the 2024 costs to be similar, and will update this page once they have been confirmed:

Housing

The room and board accommodations are very reasonably priced. The rooms are in a relatively old dormitory. There are double and single rooms both with and without air conditioning. All housing will start on Saturday, June 22nd with check out on Sunday, June 30th.

  • Double-occupancy room with no air conditioning: $212.00
  • Single-occupancy room with no air conditioning: $254.00
  • Double-occupancy room with air conditioning: $411.28
  • Single-occupancy room with air conditioning: $524.24

You are not required to stay on campus and there are various hotels in the area.

Meals

Our meal plan provides breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Monday June 26 through Friday June 30, plus brunch and dinner on Saturday, July 1st. This will be the cheapest way to eat. The meals are cafeteria-style, similar to what is found at most state universities.

Meal plan cost: $195.00

In addition, all participants will have access to coffee and food in the music building on the morning and early afternoon of Sunday, June 25th and the morning of Saturday, July 1st at no additional charge.

Though it is not required, we recommend participants eat meals in the cafeteria; faculty eat nearly all their meals at the cafeteria, and communal mealtime is part of the community-building feature of SPLICE.

2024 Institute SCHOLARSHIPS

SPLICE Institute fee for collaborating composers and performers is $680, and for participants is $480. SPLICE Institute offers numerous scholarship opportunities including scholarships specifically for individuals who identify as a woman, non-binary, genderqueer, Black, person of color, or indigenous. Additional scholarship opportunities are available and may be contingent on the recipient assisting with production and/or administrative tasks. The application form contains an area to indicate your interest in being considered for these scholarships.

Diversity Scholarships
SPLICE will offer complete program reductions ($680) to up to 4 participants who identify as a woman, non-binary, genderqueer, Black, person of color, or indigenous, and who participate in concert collaborations.

Parent-artist Scholarship (new!)
SPLICE applicants who are parents are eligible for a scholarship for the full program fee ($680) to reduce the financial costs of care-taking obligations. Whether you’ve already applied or are planning to by our deadline of January 15th, email [email protected] to express your interest.

Complete Scholarship Offerings

Diversity Scholarship ($680)

  • Identify as a woman, non-binary, genderqueer, Black, person of color, or indigenous
  • Participate in a concert collaboration

Parent-Artist Scholarship ($680)

  • Parents in need of financial assistance to help with child care costs incurred during time spent at SPLICE are elligible.

Concert Tech Assistant ($50-200)

  • Help setup and manage technology for concerts

Stage Management Assistant ($50-150)

  • Help manage stage items during concerts

Primary Sound Tech Assistant ($400)

  • Help setup technology spaces and help with concerts during the week
  • Must arrive in Kalamazoo by Saturday, June 24th, 2023 at 11 AM