Luke Styles, Gavin Higgins and Laura Bowler (pictured) are among the first recipients of the PRS for Music Foundation’s new Composers’ Fund.
They will receive grants of up to £10,000 to help them take more control of their careers, alongside the other successful applicants Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Gabriel Jackson, Joanna Lee, Joe Cutler, Ken Hesketh and Luke Bedford.
The fund was launched with additional support from Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, and offers £150,000 annually to support composers and enable them to realise projects and ambitions that may not be possible through traditional commissioning models.
It was created following PRS for Music Foundation’s research in 2014 exploring the challenges composers meet when controlling their career direction.
The research highlighted that composers faced limited access to funding, low commission fees, lack of any support structure, pressurised working conditions and for established and mid-career composers in particular, a decrease in commissioning opportunities.
This first round revealed that composers require support for a broad range of needs, demonstrating the importance of an open and flexible fund like this.
Across the applications received, 33 percent were looking for support to fund the writing of a new piece; 28 percent the research and development of new work; and 26 percent seeking support for work space, childcare, sabbatical cover, and equipment costs to give more time and space to aid composition.
Vanessa Reed, executive director for PRS for Music Foundation, said: ‘Congratulations to the nine composers selected from this competitive first round of applications.
'We’re proud to be supporting these talented and distinctive composers, to take more control of their own destiny. I very much look forward to following their progress and seeing how this support enables them to develop their music and take their career to the next stage.’
Alison Holdom, grants manager Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, added: ‘We support the development of emerging artistic talent – usually through established arts organisations.
'Supporting composers directly is a new way of funding for us, and we’re grateful for the expert guidance of the PRS Foundation in directing our funding. We’re excited to see where this model takes us, and the composers themselves.’
PRS for Music Foundation has partnered with classical music streaming platform Grammofy allowing you to listen to all the composers on a specially curated collection available at https://grammofy.com/go/PRS
For more info about the Composers’ Fund, please visit http://www.prsformusicfoundation.com/funding/the-composers-fund/
They will receive grants of up to £10,000 to help them take more control of their careers, alongside the other successful applicants Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Gabriel Jackson, Joanna Lee, Joe Cutler, Ken Hesketh and Luke Bedford.
The fund was launched with additional support from Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, and offers £150,000 annually to support composers and enable them to realise projects and ambitions that may not be possible through traditional commissioning models.
It was created following PRS for Music Foundation’s research in 2014 exploring the challenges composers meet when controlling their career direction.
The research highlighted that composers faced limited access to funding, low commission fees, lack of any support structure, pressurised working conditions and for established and mid-career composers in particular, a decrease in commissioning opportunities.
This first round revealed that composers require support for a broad range of needs, demonstrating the importance of an open and flexible fund like this.
Across the applications received, 33 percent were looking for support to fund the writing of a new piece; 28 percent the research and development of new work; and 26 percent seeking support for work space, childcare, sabbatical cover, and equipment costs to give more time and space to aid composition.
Vanessa Reed, executive director for PRS for Music Foundation, said: ‘Congratulations to the nine composers selected from this competitive first round of applications.
'We’re proud to be supporting these talented and distinctive composers, to take more control of their own destiny. I very much look forward to following their progress and seeing how this support enables them to develop their music and take their career to the next stage.’
Alison Holdom, grants manager Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, added: ‘We support the development of emerging artistic talent – usually through established arts organisations.
'Supporting composers directly is a new way of funding for us, and we’re grateful for the expert guidance of the PRS Foundation in directing our funding. We’re excited to see where this model takes us, and the composers themselves.’
PRS for Music Foundation has partnered with classical music streaming platform Grammofy allowing you to listen to all the composers on a specially curated collection available at https://grammofy.com/go/PRS
For more info about the Composers’ Fund, please visit http://www.prsformusicfoundation.com/funding/the-composers-fund/
