American Music Center Logo

News from the Center

About the Center

Information Services

Jazz at the Center

Center Publications

Scores/Recordings

Opportunities

Center Grants

Membership Information/Benefits

Artist Member Pages

Links

Send us Mail

Home




Copying Assistance Program
Copland Performing Ensembles
Copland Recording
Live Music for Dance
Margaret Fairbank Jory Copying Assistance Program

The Jory Copying Assistance Program provides support to American composers who are members of the American Music Center for the expenses of copying and reproducing parts for premiere performances.

Funding for production of performance materials

  • Funds are available for copying parts (extraction and reproduction) for the premiere performance of large-scale works for 4 or more instrumental and/or vocal parts. Funding for copying expenses is also available for a professional CD recording when that recording is the premiere.
  • Copying may be done by the composer or by a copyist.
  • Assistance is also available to composers for purchasing computer software, and in some circumstances hardware, for copying their own parts.
  • Funds for copying full scores will be awarded only for performances in which all performers read from the full score.
  • Parts may be copied by hand or computer.
  • The American Music Center awards approximately $50,000 annually through this program; previous grants to composers have ranged from $100 to $2,000, averaging approximately $750 per award.

    Eligibility

  • American composers who are members of the American Music Center may apply. The performers or ensemble are not eligible to apply.
  • Applicants must have a written commitment for at least one public performance, one public reading, or for a professional CD recording of the work by a professional quality ensemble of recognized artistic merit within its community. Workshops and amateur performances are not applicable.
  • The performance must advance the professional career of the applying composer.

    Deadlines
    Completed applications, signed and submitted by the composer, must be received at the American Music Center by February 1, May 1, or October 1 and before the premiere performance. Decisions will be announced within 6 weeks after each deadline. Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.

    How to apply
    Applications must include the following:

    1. Completed application form, signed;
    2. A brief statement of the significance of this performance to the composer's career;
    3. Brief professional resume, with a list of other performances over the past 3-5 years;
    4. Completed score for which support is requested. (Partially completed scores with a sketch of the remainder of the work are acceptable. However, it is in the composer's best interest to provide as much of the completed score as possible.)
    5. Written confirmation from the performing organization of the exact premiere performance date or recording date;
    6. Background on the performing or recording organization: a brief history, previous/upcoming performances, reviews, etc.;
    7. Written estimate from a professional copyist (or the composer if he or she is doing the copying) of the cost of extracting and reproducing parts. The estimate should stipulate what work is being done and the rate being charged.
    8. If the request is for computer software or hardware, a price quote from a vendor.

    Applicants are encouraged to request the full amount needed. However, most grants will cover only a portion of the expenses assumed by the composer. If granted, payment will be made directly to the composer.

    Criteria
    Factors considered by the panel include:
    1. Of principal importance, the significance of this performance to the composer's career. For example, factors that make an application less competitive may include previous performances by the same or a similar ensemble or recording label. Further, projects with recording companies deemed to be vanity labels are unlikely to be funded.
    2. The composer's professionalism;
    3. The appropriateness of the estimate;
    4. Whether copying costs have been assumed by a party other than the composer (i.e. performer, publisher, etc.);
    5. Whether the work was commissioned. (Although commissioned works are eligible, priority will be given to non-commissioned premieres. Additionally, the size of the commission in relation to the copying estimate will be considered.) The Center believes it is the responsibility of the commissioning organization to assume at least a portion of the copying costs in addition to the composer's fee;
    6. Priority is given to composers who have not received significant amounts from the Copying Assistance Program in the past.

    Recipients must acknowledge the Jory Copying Assistance Program in printed material associated with the supported work. Also, they are required to deposit a bound copy of the final score for the Center's library.

    The Margaret Fairbank Jory Copying Assistance Program is funded by the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Helen F. Whitaker Foundation, the Chase Manhattan Bank as well as individual contributors and general operating funds of the American Music Center.

    Support for the American Music Center's activities comes from members' dues, the sale of Center publications, individual contributors, Arts Forward Fund, ASCAP, Aurora Music Foundation, Inc., BMI, BMI Foundation, Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, Chase Manhattan Bank, City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc., Eleanor Naylor Dana Charitable Trust, Dayton Hudson Foundation, Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Aaron Diamond Foundation, Ann & Gordon Getty Foundation, National Music Publishers Association, National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment For the Humanities, New York State Council on the Arts, New York Times Foundation, Edward John Noble Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Target Stores, the Department Store Division and Mervyn's, by the Dayton Hudson Foundation, Virgil Thomson Foundation,the Helen F. Whitaker Fund, and other corporations and foundations.