ACF | create

The American Composers Forum (ACF) champions composers and other creative music makers, and boosts their careers with professional opportunities. ACF | create is an evolution of the Jerome Fund for New Music (JFund), which started in 1979. Through this program, ACF has made hundreds of awards and has helped launch many careers. ACF | create supports the creation, presentation, and subsequent life of a new work. Five grants are available: up to $8,000 for the composer or primary artist’s time to create the work, and up to $3,000 to help with production and promotion support. This program is for early career artists that reside in Minnesota or the five boroughs of New York City.

The American Composers Forum encourages applicants from the full range of musical approaches and perspectives, and is committed to supporting a diverse pool of artists whose work demonstrates strong artistic merit. Accordingly, awards for our programs will represent, as far as possible, artists and projects that are diverse in creative methodology, gender, race, ethnicity and geography.

Current Participants

The panel of curators who selected this year’s awardees included Byron Au Yong (Palm Springs, CA), Joseph Jones (Bonita Springs, FL), Stefon BIONIK Taylor (Minneapolis, MN), and Leaha Maria Villarreal (Los Angeles, CA).

Annie Blythe–Photo by Whitney George; Sarina Patridge–Photo by Ted Hall; Megumi Saruhashi–Photo by SnapKyoto; Sound Sovereign/Brown–Screenshot taken from video courtesy of Joe’s Pub; Chris Williams–Photo by Katherine Pekala

ACF | create supports the creation and presentation of new works and is an evolution of the Jerome Fund for New Music (JFund), which started in 1979. Through this program, ACF has supported the creation of hundreds of new works. This program is for music creators who are in the early stages of their creative development and are vocational artists that are residents of Minnesota or the five boroughs of New York City and have been residents for at least one year prior to application or program participation. Five commissions totaling $11,000.00 are available: for each award $8,000.00 is designated for the music creator’s time to create the work, and $3,000.00 is designated to help with production and promotion support. 

This year’s panel consists of:

The 2023 application is now closed. Selected awardees will be announced in July 2023.

2021 PARTICIPANTS

The curators for this round of ACF | create were Daniel de Jesús (Philadelphia, PA), Mike Khoury (Detroit, MI), Amy Beth Kirsten (New Haven, CT), and Viola Yip (New York, NY).

Sonya Belaya photo credit Alex Brown; Pablo Santiago Chin Photo credit Marc Perlish; Renée Copeland Photo credit Renée Copeland; Vicente Hansen Atria Photo credit Kyra Smith; Alicia Waller Photo by Shay Paresh

2019/2020 Participants

The panelists for this round of ACF | create were composers Nicolas Lell Benavides (Los Angeles, CA), Theron Brown (Akron, OH), and Lisa Renée Coons (Kalamazoo, MI).

Anaïs Maviel photo credit Dar Es Salaam Riser; Mary Prescott Photo credit Erika Kapin; Sugar Vendil photo credit Michael Leviton

2018 Participants

The panelists for this round of ACF | Create commissions were composers  HyeKyung Lee (Granville, OH), Ingrid Stölzel (Lawrence, KS), and Michael Woods (Clinton, NY).

Jerome Composers Commissioning Program/Jerome Fund for New Music Winners

2017 Participant

2016 Participant

 

2015

New York

• Saad Haddad (New York, NY) with the American Composers Orchestra
• Sean Harold (New York, NY) with Suzanne Farrin
• Clara Hunter Latham (New York, NY) with Peter Evans, Sam Pluta, Michael Weyandt, and Alice Teyssier
• Remy Le Boeuf (Brooklyn, NY) with Bang on a Can
• Shih-Wei Lo (New York, NY) with Nieuw Ensemble
• Sky Macklay (New York, NY) with ICE
• Anthony Vine (Brooklyn, NY) with Yarn/Wire

Minnesota

• James G. Everest (St. Paul, MN) with Lake Joanna Interpretive Center
• Yue Lor (Blaine, MN) with Blaine High School Band Program
• Tiffany Skidmore (St. Paul, MN) with the Nautilus Music Theatre

Panelists

• Meg Okura
• David Smooke
• Melinda Wagner

2014

New York

• Justine F. Chen (New York, NY) with American Lyric Theatre
• Jeff Fairbanks (Sunnyside, NY) with Gamin
• Anne Goldberg (New York, NY) with Andrew Kozar
• Molly Joyce (New York, NY) with Vicky Chow
• Paul Kerekes (New York, NY) with Trevor Babb
• Levy Lorenzo (Brooklyn, NY) with Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble
• Jessica Meyer (Bronx, NY) with The Colonials
• Max Vernon (Brooklyn, NY) with Public Theatre
• Tamara Yadao (Brooklyn, NY) with Cluster New Music and Integrated Arts Festival

Minnesota

• Zack Baltich (Minneapolis, MN) with Fallout Music Co-op
• Kari Musil (St. Paul, MN) with Pip Jazz Foundation
• Natalie Nowytski (Minneapolis, MN) with Laurel Armstrong

Panelists

• Kristin Kuster
• Vinny Golia
• Mari Kimura

2013

New York

• Troy Herion (Brooklyn, NY)
• Shawn Jaeger (New York, NY)
• Jascha Narveson (Brooklyn, NY)
• Gity Razaz (Brooklyn, NY)
• Erin Rogers (Brooklyn, NY)
• Conrad Winslow (Brooklyn, NY)
• Gabriel Zucker (Brooklyn, NY)

Minnesota

• Greg Brosofske (Minneapolis, MN)
• Alexei Casselle (Minneapolis, MN)
• John Keston (Minneapolis, MN)
• Kathy McTavish (Duluth, MN)

Panelists

• Dorothy Hindman
• Suphala
• Darryl Brenzel

2012

New York

• Jeremy Howard Beck (New York, NY)
• Chris Cresswell (Brooklyn, NY)
• Masatora Goya (Rego Park, NY)
• David Hertzberg (New York, NY)
• Eric Nathan (New York, NY)
• Danielle Schwob (New York, NY)

Minnesota

• Christopher Danforth (Minneapolis, MN)
• Alex Freeman (Northfield, MN)
• Asako Hirabayashi (Falcon Heights, MN)
• Heath Mathews (Farmington, MN)

Panelists

• Paul Elwood
• Asha Srinivasan
• Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate

2011

New York

• Olga Bell
• Daniel Blake
• Ryan Carter
• Christopher Cerrone
• Trevor Gureckis
• Mary Kouyoumdjian
• Ruben Naeff
• Christopher Trapani

Minnesota

• Joshua Clausen
• Noah Keesecker
• Joshua Musikantow
• Tiffany Skidmore

Panelists

• Anthony Curtis Davis
• Don Davis
• Anna E. Hinkle-Turner

2010

New York

• Michael Gilberston
• Joel Harrison
• Matthew Steckler
• Max Duykers
• Joe Diebes
• Christopher Jentsch

Minnesota

• Joshua Bauder
• Linda Kachelmeier
• Tim Donahue
• Jeff Johnson

Panelists

• Neil Leonard
• Jovino Dos Santos Neto
• Jeannine Wagar

2009

New York

• Darcy James Argue
• Elizabeth Hoffman
• Neel Murgai
• Dafna Naphtali
• Gregory Spears
• Daniel Wohl

Minnesota

• Benjamin Broening
• Christopher Danforth
• Kathleen McTavish
• Chris Thomson

Panelists

• Madelyn Byrne
• P.Q. Phan
• Bill Ryan

2008

New York

• Patricia Alesandrini
• Matthew Barnson
• Philippe Bodin
• Sidiki Conde
• Judd Greenstein
• Yotam Haber
• Ha-Yang Kim
• Keith Moore
• Jeff Myers
• Hans Tammen
• Eric Wubbles

Minnesota

• Elizabeth Alexander
• Kirsten Broberg
• George Cartwright
• Jocelyn Hagen
• Jeff Herriott
• John Mallia
• Ann Millikan
• Nirmala Rajasekar

Panelists

• Sarah Cahill
• Ernest Dawkins
• James Dillon

2007

New York

• Nathan Davis
• Ryan Francis
• Joel Harrison
• Huck Hodge
• Kristin Kuster
• Missy Mazzoli
• Tamar Muskal
• Aaron Siegel

Minnesota

• Abbie Betinis
• Howard Collins
• Paul Elwood
• Douglas Geers
• Margaret Griebling-Haigh
• Art Lee
• J. David Moore
• Peter O’Gorman

Panelists

• Ken Field
• Amy X Neuberg
• Reza Vali

2006

New York

• William Brittelle
• Corey Dargel
• Michael Dellaira
• Bryce Dessner
• Kristin Norderval
• Meg Okura
• Rob Reddy

Minnesota

• Jeffrey Brooks
• Edie Hill
• Linda Kachelmeier
• Heath Mathews
• Rachel Matthews
• Mankwe Ndosi
• Doug Opel
• David Wolff

Panelists

• Lauri desMarais
• Odean Pope
• Phillip Schroeder

2005

New York

• Kati Agocs
• Annie Gosfield
• Vijay Iyer
• Rudresh Mahanthappa
• Hiroya Miura
• Sam Newsome
• Sean Noonan

Minnesota

• Marita Bolles
• Michael Croswell
• Michelle Kinney
• Ann Millikan
• Yotam Rosenbaum

Panelists

• Daniel Godfrey
• James Newton
• Dorothy Stone

2004

New York

• Glen Cortese
• Antonio Carlos DeFeo
• Vivian Fung
• Shafer Mahoney
• Robert Paterson
• Bobby Previte
• Huang Ruo
• David Weiss

Minnesota

• Shawn Allison
• Elizabeth Alexander
• Eric Barnum
• Howard Collins
• Peter O’Gorman
• Lisa Ragsdale
• Nirmala Rajasekar
• Changiun Xu

Panelists

• David Crumb
• Marjorie Merryman
• Kwaku Kwaakye Obeng

2003

New York

• Joshua Fried
• Michelle Nagai
• Moto Osada
• Lu Pei
• Jonathan Pieslak
• Spencer Schedler
• Du Yun

Minnesota

• Maura Bosch
• Geoffrey Gordon
• Michael Karmon
• Andrew Lafkas
• Dean Magraw
• Paul Rudy
• Ethan Wickman

Panelists

• Joan LaBarbara
• Zhou Long
• Yehuda Yannay

2002

• Marc Anderson
• Scott Miller
• James Syler
• Casey Hale
• Christopher Jentsch
• Basya Schechter
• Sarah Snider
• Lev Zhurbin

2001

• Doug Little
• Charlottemarie
• William Beckstrand
• John Morton
• Mark Zanter
• Todd Reynolds
• Douglas Geers
• Hayes Biggs
• Rudresh Mahanthappa
• Christian Amigo
• Yuanlin Chen

2000

• Ron George
• James Harley
• Brian Heller
• Michael Karmon
• Dan Trueman
• Preston Wright
• Steven Bryant
• Judy Dunaway
• Phil Kline
• Harold Meltzer
• Hollis Taylor
• Ushio Torikai

1999

• Mark Engebretson
• Edie Hill
• Igor Komeitchouk
• Dale McGowan
• Lior Navok
• Carl Witt
• Constance Cooper
• Gisburg
• Wang Guowei
• Jose Halac
• Dafna Naphtali
• Patrick Zimmerli

1998

• Linda Dusman
• Frank Ferko
• Anthony Gatto
• Bruce Hamilton
• John Morrison
• John Fitz Rogers
• Derek Bermel
• Chen Yuanlin
• Chien-Yin Chen
• Marilyn Kimura
• Jerome Kitzke
• Rob Reddy
• David Simmons

1997

• Ellen Band
• Gao Hong and Paul Dice
• David Reville
• Joko Sutrisno
• Vera Stanojevic
• Carei Thomas
• Tom Trenka
• Ben Allison
• Wendy-Mae Chambers
• David Claman
• Sonia Jacobsen
• Kevin James

1996

• Maura Bosch
• Sherri Flagg-McHugh
• Michael Fiday
• Phillip Fried
• Paul Higham
• Todd Winkler
• Wang Zheng-Ting
• Lisa Bielawa
• Charles Coleman
• Jonathan Elliott
• Zeena Parkins
• Behzad Ranjbaran
• Tim Rowe
• Ken Valitsky
• Terry Winters-Owens

1995

• Brent Michael Davids
• John Devine
• Linda Tutas Haugen
• Craig Harris
• Mark Hellem
• Homer Lambrecht
• Emanuel Rodriguez
• Ying Zhang
• Nick Didkovsky
• Joe Gallant
• Kitty Brazelton
• Joshua Fried
• Annie Gosfield
• Mary Jane Leach
• Gene Pritsker
• Qu Xiao-song

1994

• Michael Croswell
• Colin Franey
• Jennifer Higdon
• Bun Ching Lam
• Susan Parenti
• Russell Platt
• Chris Preissing

1993

• John Luther Adams
• Paul Dice
• Douglas Ewart
• Randall Woolf

1992

• Mark Applebaum
• Ted Fitch
• Marjorie Hess
• Joseph Klein
• Paul Siskind
• Bernadette Speach

1991

• William Lang
• Rose Brzezinski
• Nathaniel Haynes
• Judith Sainte Croix
• Bunita Marcus

1990

• Conrad DeJong
• Carl Voss
• Wes York

1989

• John Baboukis
• Bradley Bombardier
• Tina Davidson
• Greg Fish
• Miriam Gerberg
• Vinny Golia
• Charles Hoag
• Arthur Jarvinen

1988

• Michael Daugherty
• Linda Haugen
• Jennifer Holt
• Leo Kraft
• David Lang
• Steve Tibbetts
• Donald Washington

1987

• Elizabeth Clark
• Michael Gordon
• Matthew Harris
• Henry Holoien
• Michele Kinney
• Ellen Lease
• James Lovendusky

1986

• John King
• Monica Maye
• Roscoe Mitchell
• Richard Paske
• Frederick Tillis

1985

• Henry Gwiazda
• David Kechley
• Alex Lubet
• Charles McHugh
• David John Olsen
• Dan Strum
• Wendy Ultan
• Jack Vees

1984

• John Einweck
• Paul Goldstaub
• Robert Maderich
• Charlie Maguire
• Steve Rydberg
• Jeffery Vandervelde
• Thomas Wegren
• Zeitgeist

1983

• Michael Aubart
• Carl Bergmann
• Henry Brant
• Mary Ellen Childs
• Janet Gilbert
• Michael Halstenson
• Stephen Paulus
• Marjorie Rusche
• Paul Schoenfield
• Dale Warland

1982

• Dominick Argento
• Dan Breedon
• Elizabeth Breenan
• Jeffery Brooks
• David Edminster
• Tristan Fuentes
• Leland Sateren
• Daniel Sturm
• Steve Barnett

1981

• Earl Buys
• Ralph Johnson
• Libby Larsen
• David Means
• Kim Sherman
• Lloyd Ultan
• John Watson
• Robert Wetzler

1980

• William Englund
• Paul Fetler
• Robert Hanson
• Carolyn Jennings
• Alvin King
• Alex Lubet
• Carleton Macy
• Dale Newton
• Janika Vandervelde

1979

• Carol Barnett
• Dan Breedon
• James Callahan
• Randall Davidson
• Marilyn Grobel
• Eleanor Hovda
• William Kempe
• Stanislaw Skrowaczewski
• Eric Stokes