Philadelphia Music Project Announces 2004 Grant Awards; $593,150 Awarded to 15 Music Organizations

Philadelphia, PA- The Philadelphia Music Project (PMP), a grant-making and professional development program funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by Settlement Music School, has announced the recipients of its 2004 awards. PMP provides support to nonprofit organizations in the five-county region for music projects that engender excellence in performance and creativity in programming and provide recipients with the means to elevate their artistic level. With the awarding of its 2004 grants, PMP will have underwritten 177 projects with support totaling $7,412,800 since the inception of the program in 1989, demonstrating a substantive and continuing commitment to Greater Philadelphia's music community.

The 2004 PMP awards range from $15,000 to $120,000 and total $593,150. Fifteen grant recipients were selected from twenty-nine applicants. Funding requests totaled approximately $1.2 million in project support. 

The recipients and their grants are: Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia ($23,150); Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia ($30,000); Curtis Institute of Music ($15,000); Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia ($30,000); Montgomery County Community College ($25,000); Network for New Music ($60,000); Opera North ($25,000); Orchestra 2001 ($30,000); Painted Bride Art Center ($120,000); Philadelphia Chamber Music Society ($50,000); Philadelphia Singers ($20,000); Piffaro, The Renaissance Band ($30,000); Prince Music Theater ($80,000); Relâche ($30,000); and Sruti, The India Music and Dance Society ($25,000). All of these awards reflect the full funding amount requested by each organization to ensure that projects of the highest caliber realized at the scale envisioned by the grantee. Opera North is a first-time recipient of a PMP grant. 

Funded proposals will yield a total of 147 events, including the commissioning and performance of 36 new works, the world premiere of one additional work, and the regional premiere of 4 works; 58 residency and educational activities; and over 80 public performances encompassing 32 chamber music, 9 orchestral music, 6 choral music, 59 new music, 18 world/folk music, 20 jazz, 10 early music, and 17 musical theater, as well as 4 opera performances. Funded activities are expected to benefit 416 local artists and 489 guest artists and to reach nearly 35,000 live audience members in the five-county region and more than 315,000 regional radio audience members through broadcasts on Philadelphia's WRTI and WHYY. National audiences will gain exposure to funded events through broadcasts on NPR. 

“In its fifteen-year history, PMP has funded a compelling range of music programming that has captured the imagination of Greater Philadelphia audiences,” according to Philadelphia Music Project director Matthew Levy. “While PMP continues the vital work of supporting historical and folk traditions in the local music community, the 2004 awards are notable for their focus on the creation of new repertoire. 2004 grantees will undertake an unprecedented 36 commissions and world premiere performances of compositions spanning classical, jazz, and world music. Several new works will incorporate interdisciplinary features, exploring the means by which music, film, dance, poetry, and other forms of art inform one another. Taken together, these efforts are a profound measure of Philadelphia's increasing cultural vitality.” 

PMP grants are awarded on a competitive basis and are selected by a panel of artists, scholars, and administrators from around the country with expertise in various aspects of music as well as a broad knowledge of the field. A distinguished eight-member panel reviewed this year's applications and was comprised of Samuel C. Dixon, classical music management consultant (panel chair); Louise Basbas, Executive Director, Music Before 1800 and Director of Music, Corpus Christi Church, New York City; Harolyn Blackwell, Metropolitan Opera soprano and EMI, RCA-Victor, and Telarc recording artist; Robert E. Brown, President, Center for World Music; Greg Osby, saxophonist, composer, and Blue Note recording artist; Robert Page, Music Director, Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, Choral Director, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and Professor of Music, Carnegie Mellon University; Bright Sheng, composer and Leonard Bernstein Distinguished Professor, University of Michigan; and Hanako Yamaguchi, Director of Music Programming, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. 

The Philadelphia Music Project is one of several regional initiatives of The Pew Charitable Trusts' Culture Program. Others include the Philadelphia Cultural Leadership Program, the Pew Fellowships in the Arts, the Philadelphia Theatre Initiative, Dance Advance, the Heritage Philadelphia Program, the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative, Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour, and the Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative. Known collectively as the Philadelphia Program, each encourages continued creative growth and excellence within the local arts community. 

The Pew Charitable Trusts serves the public interest by providing information, policy solutions and support for civic life. Based in Philadelphia, with an office in Washington, DC, the Trusts make investments to provide organizations and citizens with fact-based research and practical solutions on challenging issues. With approximately $4.1 billion in dedicated assets, in 2003 the Trusts committed more than $143 million to 151 nonprofit organizations. 

Founded in 1908, Settlement Music School is the largest community arts school in the country. With locations in Germantown, Jenkintown, Northeast, South, Southwest, and West Philadelphia, the school provides more than 9,000 students with quality music, voice, and dance instruction regardless of their age, background, or ability to pay.