ACF | connect
National
Applications are now closed.
About
Launched in 2017, ACF | connect provides opportunities for composers to build relationships with leading American ensembles to create new work, reach new audiences, and engage with new communities. Past partnerships include the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble (PNME), Roomful of Teeth, The Great Black Music Ensemble: An Ensemble of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).
Through this program, composers are offered competitive commission fees, and have significant time to both work with performers and participate in learning/networking opportunities with industry professionals. Ensembles are able to connect to a broader composer community and invite applicants from a national call. Consistent with the mission of the American Composers Forum, the program supports meaningful, long-lasting connections between composers, performers, audiences, and the local community where the ensemble is based. The program intentionally supports a diversity of voices and music to advance creative musical expression as a core value of a global society. ACF | connect ensures a vibrant future for composers and their work by supporting their vision and creativity, and by pairing them with performers and audiences in traditional and innovative spaces and media.
For the 2023 ACF | connect program, ACF partnered with the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music (GLFCAM) for a pilot program to create more opportunities for composers and performers to collaborate throughout the music creation process. An extension of the Academy’s existing Bahlest Eeble Readings, the weeklong residency in Minnesota hosted composers Erin Busch, Ivette Rodriguez, Liza Sobel, and Sakari Vanderveer; performer-mentors Ráyo Furuta (flute), Amr Selim (French horn), and Christine Lamprea (cello); as well as composer Gabriela Lena Frank and staff.
Founded in 2017 by internationally acclaimed composer and pianist Gabriela Lena Frank, GLFCAM helps composers of any aesthetic and demographic, and from emerging through mid-career levels, to develop self-determined 21st century lives. GLFCAM’s mission centers on the creative habit, community, and eco-citizenship, forming years-long relationships with composers. As a result, composers are provided a rich array of opportunities such as collaborating on new works with renowned performer-mentors; taking online classes and practicums; composing large scale symphonies under fair commission rates with readings of the work-in-progress; teaching in youth music programs in underserved rural areas; participating in a multi-year peer-supported study group on climate intelligence and the arts; and becoming skilled communicators – cultural witnesses – in both spoken and written word. GLFCAM alumni are leading composers in the international music fields as well as teachers and professors, non-profit administrators, therapists, hospice workers, and civic volunteers.
American Composers Forum’s ACF | connect program is made possible with the outstanding generosity of the following individuals: Jane Anfinson, Thomas Arneson, Suzanne Asher, Carol Barnett, Pearl and Bob Bergad, Margee and Will Bracken, Karen Brooks, Richard Cisek and Kay Fredericks, Dee Ann and Kent Crossley, Julia W. Dayton, C. Lee Essrig, Rosemary & David Good Family Foundation, Katherine Goodale, Jeff and Hyun Mee Graves, Carol Heen, Steve Heitzeg and Gwen Pappas, Kathleen Henschel and John Dewes, Linda and Jack Hoeschler, Leaetta Hough and Bob Muschewske, Sam Hsu and Sally Cheng, Hella Mears Hueg Estate Gift, Thelma Hunter Estate Gift, John and Ruth Huss, George Frederick Jewett Foundation East, Art and Martha Kaemmer, Jon Lewis and Lisa Merklin, Mike and Kay McCarthy, Greg McNeely, Alfred and Ann Moore, Louis and Gloria Nuechterlein, John Nuechterlein and Dan Monson, John and Debbie Orenstein, I.A. O’Shaughnessy Foundation in memory of Thelma Hunter, David and Judy Ranheim, Denice Rippentrop, Vanessa Rose, Bill and Susan Sands, Gale Sharpe, Doug and Kathy Skor, Dan and Ellie Thomas, Stephen and Jayne Usery, Kathleen van Bergen, Janika Vandervelde, Jim Wafler, and Margaret and Angus Wurtele.
National
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Partnership between ACF, The Juilliard School’s Preparatory Division, and the NY Philharmonic to create flex scores for multigenerational ensembles.
Regional
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Supports the creation and presentation of new work. Five grants are available for early career artists in Minnesota or NYC.
National
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Residency for two non-Minnesota based composers to serve as visiting artist collaborators on a project with a MN community.
Regional
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Four annual fellowships of $25,000 in unrestricted funds awarded to mid-career artists and culture bearers based in Minnesota.