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General Support Main Round

General Support Program
2026 Main Round Guidelines

IMPORTANT NOTICE: All applicants wishing to apply for support through the General Support Program must first submit an application to the Preliminary Round. Applications for the Main Round will only be accepted from organizations that have submitted a preliminary application and have been invited to apply to the Main Round. No other applications will be considered.

About the Program

The General Support Program provides funding for organizations with a history of substantial commitment to contemporary American concert music, jazz, or both with plans to continue that commitment. Unrestricted grants through this program are available for performing ensembles, presenters, music service organizations, and record companies whose artistic excellence and impact encourages and improves public knowledge and appreciation of contemporary concert music and contemporary jazz by American composers.

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Eligibility

Only applicants who applied to the Preliminary Round and were invited by the Fund to submit a full proposal in the Main Round are eligible to apply in the Main Round. For more information about the Preliminary Round application and deadlines, please see the General Support Program Preliminary Round Guidelines.

Funding Provisions

In general, grants will range between $2,000 and $20,000, although larger grants may be awarded to larger organizations with an extraordinary commitment to contemporary American concert music, jazz, or both. The Fund does not award grants larger than the amount requested by the applicant.

Applicants should be aware that support in one year does not imply continuation of that support in subsequent years.

How to Apply

Log in to your user account here. If you are a member of multiple organizations, select the organization for which you wish to begin an application. Then click on the "Apply Now" button at the top of this page to begin the online application process.

Please note that the Main Round application is separate from the preliminary application; you will not be able to edit a previously submitted application.

The Application

Please note: It is not necessary to complete the application in one session. The system will periodically save a draft of your application, however, please save your work often using the save button to avoid potential loss of progress.

The following is a description of the application. Fields are presented in the order in which they appear in the application form with instructions and advice for each item.

Type of organization

Select the organization type that best describes your organization from the dropdown list. The options are as follows:

  • Ballet/dance
  • Chamber Ensemble
  • Chamber Orchestra
  • Choral or Vocal
  • Festival
  • Jazz Ensemble
  • Library/archive
  • Music service organization
  • Opera
  • Orchestra
  • Presenter
  • Professional Development
  • Radio/TV
  • Record company
Requested amount

Enter the amount of funding being requested for your organization’s upcoming season, in US Dollars. In general, the Fund does not recommend that organizations ask for more than 30% of their season operating expenses.

Application checkboxes 

Check all statements that apply to your application.  

  • The proposed activity includes live music and/or recordings
  • The proposed activity includes staged or other visual elements
  • The majority of proposed programming or activity includes contemporary jazz
  • The proposed activity includes touring
  • The proposed activity includes work with composers that are new to the applicant
  • The proposed activity includes commissions and/or premieres
Number of concerts or other primary activity

This section of the application contains three fields: one for the previous year, one for the current year, and one for the support year. Enter the number of concerts or other primary activity for each year and identify the type of activity. For example:

  • 24 concerts
  • 40 albums
  • 20 workshops
  • 3 conferences

Please only provide information related to your organization’s primary activity. Please do not combine activities to achieve a higher number or list multiple types of activity in these fields.

Proposal narrative

Provide a general description of your organization’s fundable activities and any other significant points to make your case for support, including an outline of upcoming season activity and how your proposal aligns with the Fund’s priorities and overall mission. (2,500 characters maximum)

  • Incorporation of bullet points, white space, or other formatting for ease of reading on a screen is highly recommended.
Support season activity highlights

List your most compelling activity highlights for the upcoming season. (1,500 characters maximum)

  • Please include titles of works, composers, and location(s) related to the listed performances and/or programmatic activity, as applicable.
  • Highlighted activity should involve contemporary American concert music and/or jazz.
  • Bullet points or similar formatting are highly recommended.
Previous two season highlights

List your most compelling activity highlights from the past two seasons. (1,500 characters maximum)

  • Please include titles of works, composers, location(s), and audience data related to the listed performances and/or programmatic activity, as applicable.
  • Highlighted activity should involve contemporary American concert music and/or jazz.
  • Bullet points or similar formatting are highly recommended.
Key artistic personnel and leadership

List your organization’s key artistic personnel and leadership. (2,000 characters maximum)

  • Artistic personnel can be ensemble members and/or key administrative or artistic directors in the case of presenting organizations.
  • Please provide titles and brief bios for each listed person, as well as links to websites and/or full bios as available.
  • Bullet points or similar formatting are highly recommended.
Community partnerships

Provide information about planned community partnerships and key leads for the season, including: (2,000 characters maximum)

  • The scope and nature of the partnership(s).
  • How the partnership(s) align with your organization’s artistic and/or program goals.
  • Who will lead or oversee the partnership activities.
Audiences

Describe the constituencies or audiences your organization serves, including size, demographics, and geographic regions. Please also provide information about how your organization plans to reach its intended audience and any plans to engage them before or after your programming. (2,000 characters maximum)

Impact and success

Describe how your organization will measure the success and impact of the proposed season activity, including anticipated outcomes. (2,000 characters maximum)

Miscellaneous Remarks

This field should only be used for information crucial to your application that will not be captured elsewhere, or as otherwise directed by our Grants Team. (750 characters maximum)

  • If your application includes password-protected materials (ex. Vimeo videos), please include password(s) in this field.
  • Please do not use this field for cover letters, overflow from other fields, or any information not explicitly requested in the application or by our Grants Team.
Foundation, corporate, and government funding support

List foundation, corporate, and government support with award amounts for the support year, the current year, and the previous year. (1,000 characters maximum)

  • This should amount to three consecutive years of support information.
  • Bullet points or similar formatting are highly recommended.
Board of directors

List the members of your organization’s Board of Directors (or equivalent) and their principal affiliations. (1,000 characters maximum)

  • Bullet points or similar formatting are highly recommended.
Organizational budget

Using the provided budget template, upload a PDF with budget information for the support year, the current year, and the preceding year.

  • Projections are acceptable for the current year.
  • For organizations whose performance season and fiscal year do not coincide, please indicate this in the notes section of the budget template.
  • Download the budget template here.
Financial statements

Upload your organization’s most recent audited financial statement as a PDF.

  • Not every applicant will have an audited financial statement, but if one is available for any of the past three fiscal years, the latest one must be submitted.
Three years of financial information

Input your income and expenses for the support year, the current year, and the previous year, in US Dollars.

Additional materials for organizations with live music or recording activity:

Upcoming season repertoire list

Upload a PDF list of all projected performances or recordings for the support year, including dates, programmed work titles, composers, piece durations, and specific performers when relevant.

  • Please visually highlight (ex. bold text) works by American composers written within the last 40 years.
  • Radio companies should submit sample playlists with the same level of detailed information requested above.
  • Please do not submit this list in the form of season brochures.
Audio samples

Upload 3 recordings in MP3 format and input the title of the work, name of the composer and performers, and date of the performance for each. Audio samples should meet the following requirements:

  • Each recording should be of contemporary American works performed by the performer(s) or ensemble(s) featured in your proposed activity.
  • Each recording should be between 3 and 5 minutes in length. An excerpt of a larger work is acceptable.
  • All recordings should be from within the two seasons immediately prior to the application date.
  • Audio samples should demonstrate the performance quality of the members of the ensemble playing together, rather than feature extended soloistic passages.

If you do not have audio samples that meet these requirements, please contact our Grants Team for advice.

Score sample

For 1 of the 3 submitted audio samples, include a score in PDF format marked at the point at which listening is to begin.

  • Please only include the pages of the score that relate to the audio sample.
  • Non-traditional scores, such as graphic notation, written instructions, etc., are acceptable.

If no score sample for any of your audio samples is available, please contact our Grants Team for advice.

Additional materials for organizations with staged or other visual activity:

Video samples

Submit up to three links to video work samples of the company, performers, choreographers, directors, and/or other key personnel in addition to the required MP3 audio samples.

  • Video samples should involve live performances of contemporary music.
  • Please do not submit video samples of traditional concert performances, album trailers, or publicity reels.

If a video work sample is not available due to legal or contractual obligations, please briefly explain the circumstances in the Miscellaneous Remarks field.

IMPORTANT: You are responsible for complying with all legal and contractual requirements that may apply to the creation of your materials. The Aaron Copland Fund for Music hereby disclaims all legal responsibility in connection with your submissions. In case of questions, consult your legal advisor.

Review Procedures

Applications are reviewed by panels of independent peers from the contemporary American music field. Panelists are engaged to review applications that align with their area of expertise. In order to ensure a fair review process, the Fund does not release the names of current or past panelists.

The following criteria will be evaluated in main round proposals:

  • Quality of the eligible repertoire and creativity of that programming
  • Artistic quality of personnel, partners, and leadership and anticipated level of execution of proposed programming
  • Feasibility of the season
  • Demonstrated commitment to contemporary American music on a multi-season basis
  • Geographic location of applicant organization and/or upcoming performances
  • Audience engagement and development
  • Impact and success of potential grant

Application Cycle & Deadlines

The General Support Program Main Round application deadline is:

August 13, 2026 at 11:59 pm Eastern Time

Applicants will be notified of funding decisions by the end of November. Please do not contact the Fund to check the status of your application.

Contact & FAQs

For questions about this program, we encourage applicants to first consult our Frequently Asked Questions page. If a question is not answered there, please contact our Grants Team using our contact form or one of the methods below.

E-mail: onlinegrants@coplandfund.org
Phone: 212-461-6956 (Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET)

Updated: October 28, 2025

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