Chamber Music America (CMA) announced its annual grant recipients in four programs: New Jazz Works and Presenter Consortium for Jazz, supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; Classical Commissioning, supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; and the Residency Partnership Program, funded by Chamber Music America’s Residency Endowment Fund. The total amount of the grants is $951,545, with much of the funding going to support jazz artists and organizations.
A total of $447,000 was awarded to fifteen jazz ensembles through the New Jazz Works program, which “supports the creation of new works by professional U.S.-based jazz artists and helps assure that these compositions will be heard through live performances and recordings,” according to a press release from CMA. Here are the ensembles which received those grants:
- Alchemy Sound Project (Rosendale, NY) Composer: Erica Lindsay
- Andrea Brachfeld Quartet (Jersey City, NJ) Composer: Andrea Brachfeld
- Ben Wendel Group (Brooklyn, NY) Composer: Ben Wendel
- Craig Handy and 2nd Line Smith (Weehawken, NJ) Composer: Craig Handy
- The Curtis Brothers (Weehawken, NJ) Composer: Zaccai Curtis
- Ian Carey Quintet + 1 (Richmond, CA) Composer: Ian Carey
- Joshua Lawrence and Color Theory (New York, NY) Composer: Joshua Lawrence
- Kendrick Scott Oracle (New York, NY) Composer: Kendrick Scott
- Manuel Valera Trio (New York, NY) Composer: Manuel Valera
- Martin Bejerano Trio (Miami, FL) Composer: Martin Bejerano
- Mickey Bass and the New York Powerhouse Ensemble (New York, NY) Composer: Mickey Bass
- Mike Holober and Balancing Act (Mount Kisco, NY) Composer: Mike Holober
- Piano Iberico (Brooklyn, NY) Composer: Chano Dominguez
- Samuel Torres Group (Long Island City, NY) Composer: Samuel Torres
- Vardan Ovsepian Chamber Project (Glendale, CA) Composer: Vardan Ovsepian
The Residency Partnership Program, which is funded by the Chamber Music America Residency Endowment Fund, “supports ensembles and presenters in building awareness and appreciation for classical/contemporary, jazz, and world chamber music through community-based residencies that engage audiences beyond traditional concert settings.” A total of $41,995 was awarded to seven ensembles and two presenting organizations, including these two jazz entities:
- Wendell Harrison Ensemble (Detroit, MI)
- Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDco’s Bronx Music Heritage Center) with the Garifuna Jazz Ensemble
The Presenter Consortium for Jazz, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, provided grants totaling $156,000 to five consortiums of three U.S. presenters to work together to present jazz performances, as follows:
- Walker Arts Center (Minneapolis, MN), Krannert Center for Performing Arts (Urbana, IL), and Wexner Center (Columbus, OH) Presenting The Bad Plus with Bill Frisell
- Western Michigan University Foundation (Kalamazoo, MI), City of East Lansing/Summer Solstice Jazz Festival(East Lansing, MI), and The Carr Center (Detroit, MI) Presenting the Dafnis Prieto Sextet*
- Arts for Art (New York, NY), CapitalBop (Washington, D.C.), and Pittsburgh Cultural Trust (Pittsburgh, PA) Presenting the Odean Pope Saxophone Choir
- Nameless Sound (Houston, TX), Epistrophy Arts (Austin, TX), and The New Quorum (New Orleans, LA) Presenting the Wadada Leo Smith – Golden Quartet*
- Acadiana Center for the Arts(Lafayette, LA), Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge/River City Jazz Masters Concert Series (Baton Rouge, LA), and Banner Series @ McNeese State University (Lake Charles, LA) Presenting the Arturo Sandoval Sextet
For more information about CMA and its programs, go here.
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