FAQs

Music by composers with U.S. citizenship, wherever they may live, as well as non-citizen composers who have lived and worked in the U.S. and its territories for a significant period.

Yes, the Fund supports contemporary American jazz music composed within the last 40 years. (For more information, please review program guidelines.) 

No, but pops and holiday concerts will not have an adverse effect on your application if there is sufficient eligible contemporary concert music activity throughout your season.

No, Broadway-style musical theater projects are generally not supported. Opera and dance projects involving live performances of contemporary concert music are supported.

Yes, provided you obtain fiscal sponsorship from a non-profit organization with 501(c)(3) status. Be sure to review program guidelines and application instructions to submit proper documentation.

Fiscally sponsored individuals may apply for support in the Recording Program only; the Fund does not accept applications from individuals (fiscally sponsored or otherwise) for the Performance Program or Supplemental Program.

Individuals may find other grant opportunities on Candid.

The Performance and Supplemental Programs provide funding for programming that occurs between September of the current year through August of next year.  Activity that occurs before this period is no longer eligible. Activity that occurs after this period should be submitted as part of a future application.

The Recording Program provides funding for recordings that have not been released prior to the application deadline. Recordings that will have been released before that date will no longer be eligible.

Yes! Non-profit and fiscally sponsored organizations with eligible activity throughout the United States and internationally will be considered for funding from the Fund.

For the Performance Program, educational institutions and organizations seeking funding for educational outreach may not apply for activities involving school-age students, student ensembles, or credit-bearing university activities. Educational institutions may apply to the performance program as presenters for activities such as faculty recital series and concert presentations featuring professional musicians. 

The Fund supports professional development and training activities that meet eligibility criteria through the Supplemental Program. 

Youth choruses that perform contemporary concert music specifically composed for children’s voices may be considered. Please inquire with the Grants Manager.

Due to the competitive nature of the Fund’s grant programs, community, volunteer, and amateur ensembles are generally not competitive for support. For specific inquiries, please inquire with the Grants Manager.

The Fund does not provide grants for commissioning fees. In the case of consortium projects, contact the Grants Manager with your specific details.

If your organization has a history of substantial commitment to contemporary American concert music or jazz and plans to continue that commitment, you should apply for general operating support.

If your organization does not typically engage in substantial programming of contemporary American music but plans to present such music as part of more eclectic programming–or will be presenting a discrete program featuring eligible activity–you should apply for project support.

Grant awards generally range from $1,000 to $20,000. The Fund advises project support applicants not to ask for more than 50% of the total project cost. 

Note: Grant awards do not exceed the total requested amount.

Each text box in the application has a recommended character count limitation. The panelists strongly prefer brevity; applicants are encouraged to adhere to these limits and avoid superfluous language.

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.

Note: A project description is only required for applicants submitting for project support. 

This should be a brief, yet detailed, description of the project such as information about the performers, repertoire, venue(s), timeframe, and audiences served. For non-concert projects, applicants should supply details about the personnel and participants involved, timeframe for completion, and end goal of a proposed project.

No: the Fund requires that all organizations that request funding for performance activity submit audio files as specified in the guidelines. You may submit video links in addition to uploading audio files only if proposed activity includes essential visual elements.

No, the system only supports MP3 files. Each upload may not exceed 32 MB.

While not a requirement, applicants are strongly encouraged to use the provided budget template.

Organizational budgets refer to income and expense reports; audited 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. 

Applicants must submit the following: 

1. The actual organizational income and expenses from the preceding fiscal year: for most applicants, this should be an actual figure (not a projection) 
2. A projected budget for the current fiscal year: this figure will either be actual or projected, depending on your organization's fiscal calendar 
3. A projected budget for the fiscal year for which support is requested: this figure will be a projection, and not actual

Please note, if the income and expense line items do not balance, please utilize the budget notes section to explain surplus and/or deficits. 

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. 

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. These requirements vary based on organizational budget size, and requirements vary from state to state.

Generally speaking, donations of services, including volunteer time and performances, are not legally considered in-kind donations, so they should not be reflected in your organizational or project budgets. Should you receive donations of material goods (e.g. physical scores, stage props, etc.) that are relevant to your application, please include them in the appropriate category.

Pro bono contributions of time or expertise can be included in the Notes section of the budget template if you feel this will improve your application.

No. Please submit an application at a future date once the piece has been completed.

Yes. If your project is funded, you will be required to post liner notes and credits to your website and to send the Grants Manager a digital file of the recording and related materials as proof of completion.

Yes, fiscally sponsored individuals may apply for support in the Recording Program. However, please note that the Fund does not accept applications from individuals (fiscally sponsored or otherwise) for the Performance Program or Supplemental Program.

In general, grants range from $1,000 to $20,000. Grant amounts for larger organizations with a demonstrated extraordinary commitment to contemporary American music may exceed these amounts at the discretion of the panel. Please note that the awarding of a grant for general operating support in one year does not imply continuation of that support in subsequent years. Project support grants are for that project only, and no more than one grant will be awarded for a single project. See lists of grantees from previous rounds.

In general, the Fund does not award the full requested amount.

The Fund will never award more than the total requested amount. Please note, the Fund suggests that applicants do not request more than 50% of the total project cost in the case of project support requests.

All three grant programs are competitive; the Fund has seen a significant increase in total applicant numbers across all grant programs over the past several years. Panelists make difficult choices from a large group of qualified and eligible applicants, and several worthy proposals cannot be accommodated.

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

For the Recording and Performance Programs, the Fund selects peer panelists who are otherwise unaffiliated with the Copland Fund to adjudicate applications; the Fund's program advisor selects different expert panelists for each grant cycle who represent the contemporary music field at large.

The Fund also works with an independent jazz advisor who organizes peer panels for the jazz applicants in each of the Fund’s grant programs.

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

Our programs are very competitive; unfortunately, each year many worthy projects cannot be funded simply because they exceed our available resources. The Fund does not offer feedback for declined proposals.

For text credits, the preferred language is: “Funded in part by The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc.”

Logos and additional information can be found here.

No. The 2025 cycles of the Performance and Supplemental programs will provide support for activities between September 1, 2025 and August 31, 2026; the first cycles of the new programs will provide support for activities between September 1, 2026 and August 31, 2027.

Due to the nature of the new two-round process, deadlines will fall at different times of the year compared to our Performance, Recording, and Supplemental programs. More information about deadlines and timelines will be announced at a later date.

Click on "My Account" on the upper-right hand corner of the page, then click "Username & Password" to update your information. Fund staff do not have access to your password but can help you change it if necessary.

Both foundations fund contemporary concert music, use the same grant application software, and contract the same support staff. They are otherwise discrete organizations with different leadership and different funding priorities.