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Apply for an Art Music Fund grant

Media Published Wednesday 17 November 2021
2021 Art Music Fund recipient Alexandra Spence

The 2022 Art Music Fund will provide 11 grants of $5,000

Since 2016, the grants have funded the composition and creation of new works

Applications are open now and will close on 16 February - please follow the AU or NZ guidelines (now closed)


Australian and New Zealand art music composers are invited to apply for a $5,000 (AUD) Art Music Fund grant to help them bring exciting new works to life. Eleven grants will be allocated to nine Australian and two New Zealand composers, respectively.

The Art Music Fund is an initiative of APRA AMCOS, in partnership with the Australian Music Centre and, for the first time, SOUNZ.

The funding is available for the creation of commissioned work that is innovative, displays professional compositional craft and represents a benchmark of excellence in its field. The intention is to support composers to create works with a long artistic and performance life - whether it is presented in a concert hall, via live stream, filmed, as a recording, installation or other formats.

Applications close 16 February 2022 at 5:00pm AEDT.


In the six previous rounds of funding, supported projects have included Sandy Evans' acclaimed Bridge of Dreams, Lisa Cheney's charming The Owl and the Pussycat and Eve de Castro-Robinson's powerful climate piece Clarion. Recent world premieres include 2020 recipients Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey's Witness Stand, which had its world premiere on the Swan River at the Perth Festival in February 2021 and was recently part of Festival Homo Novus in Latvia; composer Jodi Rose’s The Global Bridge Symphony had a world premiere of the Signal on the Silver Bridge at Only Connect NyMusikk Festival in Norway.

"It's a pleasure and honour to continue to partner with APRA AMCOS and now SOUNZ Aotearoa New Zealand for the 2022 Art Music Fund. We are proud to support our Australian music creators to develop and present new innovative compositions, telling our stories," said Catherine Haridy, CEO, Australian Music Centre.

"SOUNZ is excited to be partnering with APRA AMCOS and the Australian Music Centre in this wonderful opportunity for composers. We are delighted that the number of grants has increased to award two composers from Aotearoa New Zealand in 2022. We are looking forward to the new works that result from these grants," said Diana Marsh, Chief Executive, SOUNZ Centre for New Zealand Music.

"We are very proud to support the incredible work done by Australian and New Zealand composers in partnership with SOUNZ and our friends at the Australian Music Centre. This opportunity comes on the back of some really challenging times for our members and we look forward to hearing and experiencing new music from this great initiative," said Alison Wright, Head of Membership, APRA AMCOS.

APRA AMCOS created the Art Music Fund, in partnership with the Australian Music Centre and now SOUNZ, in recognition of the limited opportunities for art music composers to have new works performed. We strongly encourage support of these partner organisations, who champion the work of art music composers, by becoming either an AMC Financial Member or a Friend of SOUNZ.

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