CMA Awards Over $700,000 in Grants

CMA News | April 12, 2022 | By CMA Staff

Chamber Music America Awards Over $700,000 in Grants to Ensembles and Presenters through Three Programs

For Immediate Release 
Contact: Nichole L. Knight, nknight@chamber-music.org

Chamber Music America (CMA), the national network for ensemble music professionals, today announced the distribution of $734,266 through three of its grant programs: Artistic Projects, CMA’s newest program, supported by the Howard Gilman Foundation; and Performance Plus and Presenter Consortium for Jazz, both supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

This funding will provide key support for community engagement and audience-building initiatives, artist/ensemble development, and the presentation of small ensemble works. Full details are below. “I am moved by the support we are able to offer artist communities during this time,” said Kevin Kwan Loucks, chief executive officer. “CMA continues to build on its strong history of offering unique and pivotal support for the ensemble music community with new programs that respond to artists’ evolving needs. We look forward to expanding upon these efforts in the coming months and for years to come.” 

The grantees in each program were selected by independent peer panels adjudicated between September and December 2021. The recipients of CMA’s remaining grant programs, including New Jazz Works and Classical Commissioning, will be announced later this summer.

ARTISTIC PROJECTS

A total of $328,433 has been awarded in the inaugural year of this program supporting New York City-based projects comprising performances, recordings, new compositions, and residencies, among other artist-generated ideas. The projects funded through this program represent the artistic visions, concepts, and priorities of the applicants, regardless of musical genre or style.

The 2022 Artistic Projects Grantees are:

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Performance Projects

Chamber Queer Inc. (Brooklyn)

Project Title: Chamber Queer Festival

Juecheng Chen (Queens)

Project Title: Operatic Telepathy

Chromic Duo (Brooklyn)

Project Title: Paper Cuts Highlighting the Atlanta Spa Shootings

Matthew Garrison, Shapeshifter Plus (Brooklyn)

Project Title: Generations Suite: Coltrane, Garrison, Gilmore (performance honoring their fathers by Ravi Coltrane, Matthew Garrison, and Marcus Gilmore (grandson of Roy Haynes)

Craig Harris (Manhattan)

Project Title: Waiting at the Wall Project for Alliance of Families for Justice

Indo American Arts Council Inc. (Manhattan)
Project Title: Hidayat Khan Ensemble

Nnenna Ogwo (Manhattan)

Project Title: Juneteenth Legacy Project

Syrian Music Preservation Project (Manhattan)

Project Title: Syrian Music Preservation Project

Henry Threadgill (Manhattan)

Project Title: Milford Graves Project

Lucy Yeghiazaryan (Manhattan)

Project: Armenian Songs

Commission Projects

Lena Bloch (Brooklyn)

Commission inspired by Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva

Yumi Kurosawa (Manhattan)

Koto Commission

Residency Project

Rocco John Iacovone (Manhattan)

Rocco John Lower Eastside Residency Project

Recording Projects

Alix Pascal & Aiyzan (Manhattan)
Project Title: New Release in Haitian Funk

Catalyst Quartet (Manhattan)
Project Title: Volume 3 Recording of Historically Important Black composers: Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, William Grant Still and George Walker

Longleash (Brooklyn)

Project Title: For Toshiko composer Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti

Alex LoRe (Brooklyn)

Project Title: Lee Konitz Tribute Project

Momenta Quartet (Bronx)

Project Title: Julián Carrillo Microtonal Compositions

Jay Rodriguez (Brooklyn)

Project Title: MuthaFlower

Cecilia Smith (Brooklyn)

Project Title: Mary Lou Williams Resurgence Project

Emilio Solla (Brooklyn)

Project Title: Cantes de Ida y Vuelta - Argentinian Migration Songs

Yacouba Sissoko & KIYA (Manhattan)

Project Title: Kora Commission

Artistic Projects is supported by The Howard Gilman Foundation.

PERFORMANCE PLUS

A total of $203,900 has been awarded to support women-led jazz ensembles by connecting them with experienced artist-educators for evaluative listening sessions and recording projects.

The 2022 Performance Plus grantees are:

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AliceSun and Commonthread (Detroit, MI) 
Leader: Allison Radell | Artist-Educator: Gayelynn McKinney

Annette A Aguilar & StringBeans (New York, NY)
Leader: Annette Aguilar | Artist-Educator: Michele Rosewoman

Esthesis Quartet (Arvada, CO)
Leader: Dawn Clement | Artist-Educator: Bill Frisell

Flyways (New York, NY)
Leader: Mara Rosenbloom | Artist-Educator: Cooper Moore

Gaea Schell Quartet (San Francisco, CA)
Leader: Gaea Schell | Artist-Educator: Benny Green

Idol Beings (Washington D.C.)
Leader: Akua Allrich | Artist-Educator: Marc Cary

Lakecia Benjamin and Pursuance (New York, NY)
Leader: Lakecia Benjamin | Artist-Educator: Terri Lynn Carrington

Lulu Fall and the Kris Johnson Group (Detroit, MI)
Leader: Lulu Fall |Artist-Educator: Eric Reed

The Mildred Bailey Project (New York, NY)
Leader: Julia Keefe | Artist-Educator: Steve Nelson

Naomi Moon Siegel Ensemble (Missoula, MT)
Leader: Naomi Siegel | Artist-Educator: Allison Miller

Purely Blue (Teaneck, NJ)
Leader: Cynthia Soriano | Artist-Educator: Houston Person

Reut Regev's R*time (Rahway, NJ)
Leader: Reut Regev | Artist-Educator: Douglas Hammond

WeFreeStrings (New York, NY)
Leader: Melanie Dyer | Artist-Educator: Amina Claudine Meyers

Performance Plus is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

PRESENTER CONSORTIUM FOR JAZZ

A total of $201,933 has been awarded to presenters partnering to engage jazz ensembles in concert.

The 2022 Presenter Consortium for Jazz grantees are:

Jazz Bakery Performance Space (Beverly Hills, CA); The Nate Holden Performing Arts Center (Los Angeles, CA); and National Jazz Museum of Harlem (New York, NY)

Presenting: The Cookers & Carmen Lundy Ensemble (New Jazz Works premiere)

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DC Jazz Festival (Washington D.C.); August Wilson African American Cultural Center (Pittsburgh, PA); and JazzMobile (New York, NY)

Presenting: Regina Carter "Gone in the Phrase of an Air"

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Amherst Glebe Arts Response, Inc (AGAR) (Clifford, VA); Gifts of Art, Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI); and VCU Health/Arts in Healthcare (Richmond, VA)

Presenting:  Grant Gordy Duo & Cecilia Smith Ensemble

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Crosstown Arts (Memphis, TN); Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame (Birmingham, AL); and MSM Arts United Inc. (Pembroke Pines, FL)

Presenting:  Curtis Lundy & Ujoma featuring Bobby Watson (New Jazz Works premiere)

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Twin Cities Jazz Festival (Maplewood, MN); The Myrna Loy (Helena, MT); and Soapbox Gallery (Brooklyn, NY)

Presenting:  Brandon Goldberg Quintet

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The Carr Center (Detroit, MI); Pappy Martin Legacy Jazz Collective (Buffalo, NY); and Live the Spirit Residency (Chicago, IL)

Presenting: Endea Owens Sextet

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Northwest New Mexico Arts Council (Farmington, NM); Cortez Cultural Center (Cortez, CO); and gallupArts (Gallup, NM)

Presenting: Delbert Anderson D'DAT, Li-Yat, Rico Jones Quartet

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Presenter Consortium for Jazz is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

CHAMBER MUSIC AMERICA, the national network of ensemble music professionals, was founded in 1977 to develop, strengthen, and support the chamber music community. With a membership including musicians, ensembles, presenters, artists’ managers, educators, music businesses, and advocates of ensemble music, CMA welcomes members representing a wide range of musical styles and traditions. In addition to its funding programs, CMA provides its members with consulting services, access to instrument and other insurances, conferences, seminars, and several publications including Chamber Music magazine and the weekly e-newsletter, Accent. 

The mission of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation is to improve the quality of people’s lives through grants supporting the performing arts, environmental conservation, medical research, and child well-being, and through preservation of the cultural and environmental legacy of Doris Duke’s properties.

Howard Gilman believed in the power of the arts to transform lives. The Howard Gilman Foundation honors his legacy by supporting the most robust, innovative, and promising performing arts organizations in New York City. More information on the Foundation’s cultural investments may be found on its website