FAQs

Composers with U.S. citizenship, as well as composers that have lived and worked in the U.S. for a significant period of time, are eligible. The Fund does not set rigid parameters but considers any questionable situations on a case-by-case basis. For the Fund’s purposes, “American” refers to the United States, its territories, and possessions.

Yes. Submit a letter from a lawyer confirming your organization’s equivalence to a publicly funded 501(c)(3) organization. All financial figures in the proposal should be converted to U.S. dollars.

Performing groups such as orchestras, opera companies and chamber music groups with a consistent core membership, as well as ‘flexible’ ensembles with consistent artistic leadership and identity, are considered performing ensembles. Dance companies are also eligible to apply for projects that involve live performances of contemporary American music. Performing ensembles may seek support from the Performance Program.

Music festivals, music venues, and any other organization that organizes and presents live musical performances by a variety of performing groups can be considered a “presenting organization”. Presenters may seek support from the Performance Program.

Organizations that support composers and performers through activities such as grants, residencies or training programs, or aid in the preservation and dissemination of contemporary American music, are considered music service organizations. Music service organizations may seek support from the Supplemental Program.

Yes, jazz is supported. For examples of projects and ensembles that have been supported in the past, please see the lists of grantees from recent grant rounds.

Popular music is not supported. The Fund’s emphasis is on contemporary American concert music and jazz.

Generally, no. The Fund’s emphasis is on contemporary American concert music and jazz. However, programs of this nature do not have an adverse effect on your application as long as there is sufficient eligible contemporary concert music activity.

Applicants to the Recording Program may also apply to either the Performance Program or the Supplemental Program, if the applicant satisfies the program eligibility requirements.

Generally, applicants to the Performance Program may not apply to the Supplemental Program, and vice versa, except in instances approved by the Fund in advance. Please contact the Fund directly for further information regarding application to multiple grant programs.

In order to ensure a fair review process, the Fund does not release the names of the panelists.

For the Recording and Performance Programs, panelists are otherwise unaffiliated with the Copland Fund and are generally nominated by panelists who have previously served on a panel for the Fund. Panelists are experts in the field, rotate with each grant cycle, and are selected by a program advisor, who works independently of the Fund’s board to assemble the panels.

Panels for the Supplemental Program are made up of a combination of members of the Copland Fund’s board and administration and experts from the field who are otherwise unaffiliated with the Copland Fund.

Educational institutions may not apply directly, but they may serve as the fiscal sponsor for projects that involve professional musicians (including faculty). Projects including student ensembles are generally not eligible for support. Projects that primarily involve professional musicians are eligible even if some students also participate.

Projects involving youth choruses performing at an exceptionally high level are eligible for support, provided that they are performing contemporary American concert music intended for young voices.

Contact the Grants Manager for advice before beginning an application.

The Copland Fund will not fund indirect costs on a project, so it is advised that you do not include them in the budget.

Only the donation of goods that have a fair market value are allowable as a budgetary item, consistent with IRS regulations for filing Form 990.

If you wish to show the value of the donation of services, you may do so in a supplementary note to the budget, but only if the contributed services:

1. create or enhance nonfinancial assets, or
2. require specialized skills, are provided by individuals possessing those skills and would typically need to be purchased if not provided by donation.

In this case, indicate the full value of the donated services in the supplementary note. Within the budget itself, indicate the actual amount of money paid for the services. If the services were completely donated, the amount of the expense should be $0.

Donated services that do not meet either of the two criteria should not be represented anywhere in the budget.

Education projects focused on pre-college age children are generally not eligible. The Fund will consider professional level performance projects with an education component, as well as training programs for professional and emerging professional-level musicians or composers, provided that they have a focus on contemporary American music.

Yes.

Yes, the Performance Program accepts applicant ensembles that are self-presenting as well as hybrid presenter-ensemble organizations.

Organizations without non-profit status may seek support with the sponsorship of a non-profit organization with 501(c)(3) status. You must submit a letter from the sponsoring organization describing the nature of the arrangement, and undertaking to be responsible for disbursement of funds if a grant is awarded. In addition, you must include the sponsor’s IRS tax-exempt determination letter. Create one PDF that contains both items.

Organizations applying with a fiscal sponsor should create the account using their own contact information, not that of the fiscal sponsor.

The project description should be a detailed description of the specific project for which you are requesting support.  For example, applicants should include information about the performers, repertoire, venue(s), timeframe and audiences served for a proposed concert series. For non-concert projects, applicants should supply details about the personnel and participants involved, timeframe for completion, and end goal of a proposed project.

A proposal narrative should be a general description of your organization’s activities, plans for the upcoming season, and any other significant points to make your case for support. Applicants applying for general operating support are required to submit only a proposal narrative. Applicants applying for project support are required to submit a proposal narrative and a project description.

Please do not exceed the maximum number of characters for each section of the proposal.

Submit your ensemble's budgets. Do not include personal income and expenditures or other information not related to the activities of the performance entity for which you are applying. We will follow up with you if we need more information about your fiscal sponsor.

Organizational budgets refer to three consecutive years of revenue and expense statements:

1. the actual statement from the preceding fiscal year
2. a projected statement (budget) for the current fiscal year
3. a projected statement (budget) for the fiscal year for which support is requested

We strongly recommend using our Excel template to create your statement, which indicates the format level of detail we generally like to see. However, we will accept other formats.

Financial statements refer to statements, often prepared by an accountant and sometimes audited, that reflect a more complete picture of an organization's financial details, including statements of activity, cash flow, balance sheets, and accompanying notes. Not every organization is required to have an audited financial statement, however, if your organization has one for any of the past three fiscal years, you are required to submit the latest one. 

Individuals (and ensembles without non-profit status) may not apply directly, but may seek support with the sponsorship of a non-profit organization with 501(c)(3) status. You must submit a letter from the sponsoring organization describing the nature of the arrangement, and undertaking to be responsible for disbursement of funds if a grant is awarded. In addition, you must include the sponsor’s IRS tax-exempt determination letter.

Alternatively, individuals (and ensembles without non-profit status) may request that their record company apply for the project directly. For the Recording Program, record companies may be either non-profit or commercial.

In order to be considered a commercial record company for the Fund's purposes, your company must have a Federal Employee Identification Number (EIN) and a business checking account in your company's name. In addition, you will be responsible for completing annual IRS expenditure responsibility forms if you are awarded a grant.

Individuals or ensembles applying with a fiscal sponsor should create the account using their own contact information, not that of the fiscal sponsor.

Because this program is extremely competitive, the Fund will not accept multiple proposals in the same round from organizations other than recording companies. Recording companies are limited to 3 proposals per round.

As long as the recording has not been released by the time of the full application deadline (March 31), you are eligible to apply. We understand that some projects may be released before funding decisions are announced.

Only works that are complete by the time of the full application deadline (March 31) are eligible for support.

Yes, but only the music by American composers would be eligible for support.

It is not necessary to list the works for which you are not requesting support in the Works to Be Recorded section, nor is it necessary to provide scores or audio samples for these works. Please mention these works briefly in your proposal narrative so that the review panel fully understands the context of the project.

We prefer to see the budget for the entire project, but you may decide to either provide us with the full budget or an abbreviated budget that only covers the works for which you are requesting support. Indicate which of these two options you have chosen in the Notes section of the budget form.

Yes. Recordings that will be distributed primarily or solely digitally, whether by download or streaming, are eligible. For all projects distributed digitally, grantees will be required to post liner notes and credits on an appropriate page of their web sites and to provide a permanent copy of the funded recording for the Fund’s archive.

This should be the place where you “make the case” for funding your project. Explain why you have chosen to record the proposed works, the significance of your recording, the quality and appropriateness of the performers and recording personnel, and any other information that would assist the panel in its review.

Due to the enormous amount of music under review, we can only allow 15 minutes of audio samples per application. Each example may be of any length, but the total timing of all submitted examples must not exceed 15 minutes. If an application includes more than 15 minutes of audio examples, panelists will be instructed to review only the first 15 minutes of examples.

Award decisions will be announced on or about June 30 of the application year. Please do not contact the Fund for updates about grant decisions.

Organizations without non-profit status may seek support with the sponsorship of a non-profit organization with 501(c)(3) status. You must submit a letter from the sponsoring organization describing the nature of the arrangement, and undertaking to be responsible for disbursement of funds if a grant is awarded. In addition, you must include the sponsor's IRS tax-exempt determination letter. Create one PDF that contains both items.

It is not necessary to submit board or financial information for the fiscal sponsor unless we follow up with you with a request for more information.

The project description should be a detailed description of the specific project for which you are requesting support. For example, presenters should include information about the performers, repertoire, venue(s), timeframe and audiences served for a proposed concert series. Music service organizations should supply details about the personnel and participants involved, timeframe for completion, and end goal of a proposed project. 

A proposal narrative should be a general description of your organization’s activities, plans for the upcoming season, and any other significant points to make your case for support. Applicants applying for general operating support are required to submit only a proposal narrative. Applicants applying for project support are required to submit a proposal narrative and a project description.

Submit your organization's budgets. We will follow up with you if we need more information about your fiscal sponsor. 

Please submit organizational budgets for your support year and the two previous years. For the 2019 round, this means FY 2019, FY 2018 and FY 2017.

Organizational budgets refer to three consecutive years of revenue and expense statements:

• the actual statement from the previous year
• the actual statement or a projected statement (budget) for the current year
• a projected statement (budget) for the year for which support is being requested (the Support Year)

We require the use of our own Excel template that can be downloaded from the Supporting Materials section of the application.

Financial statements refer to statements, often prepared by an accountant and sometimes audited, that reflect a more complete picture of an organization's financial details, including statements of activity, cash flow, balance sheets, and accompanying notes. Not every organization is required to have an audited financial statement, however, if your organization has one for any of the past three fiscal years, you are required to submit the latest one. 

For optimal security, it is recommended to choose a password that contains at least six characters. It should include numbers, punctuation, and both upper and lowercase letters. However, passwords with a low security rating will still be accepted. You are responsible for keeping your password secret. You can change your password at any time by going to the "Username & Password" section of "My Account".

Please note that our personnel do not have access to your password. However, we can assist you to change it if necessary.

Click on "My Organization" on the upper-right hand corner of the page, then update your information.

Click on "My Account" on the upper-right hand corner of the page, then click "Username & Password" to update your information.

To access all of your applications, both in progress and completed, click on "My Account" on the upper-right hand corner of the page. Your applications and their statuses will appear on the right hand side of the page.

You can either click the vertical tabs on the left and side or click the previous and next links at the bottom of the page. It is not necessary to complete the application in any particular order.

No, the text boxes have unlimited capacity. Drag the bottom right hand corner of the text box down to increase the viewable area. However, it is recommended that you make your answers as concise as possible while still making the case for your application.

"Path" is a technical detail and simply shows the type of HTML formatting that the text editor is using. It can be helpful if you are trying to format your text in a particular way, but otherwise may be ignored.

Fields marked with a red star are required.

You can click on the cross to re-order your work samples. Be advised, however, that the panel may elect to listen to one or more of your work samples in a sequence other than the order in which you provide them.

Be sure to update your browser to the latest version. We support the latest versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome. If the problem persists, please contact us.

The "copy into new application" feature has been removed. We apologize for the inconvenience.