American Composers Forum (ACF) supports and advocates for individuals and groups creating music today by demonstrating the vitality and relevance of their art. ACF envisions a world where living music creators are celebrated as essential to human culture. The organization is a leading catalyst in an ecosystem that invites generations of composers, artists, advocates, and audiences to pursue this vision.

ACF was founded in 1973 by composers Libby Larsen and Stephen Paulus to create performance—and later recording—opportunities for living composers. They incorporated in 1975 as the Minnesota Composers Forum, and in 1996 the organization changed its name to the American Composers Forum (ACF) in recognition of its growing national reach. Over the course of nearly five decades, ACF has nurtured the work of thousands of composers and sought to advocate for their art on their behalf. Led today by Executive Director Vanessa Rose, ACF connects artists with collaborators, organizations, audiences, and resources; activates equitable opportunities for artists through storytelling, publications, recordings, hosted gatherings, and industry leadership; and provides direct funding and mentorship to a broad and diverse field of music creators, highlighting those who have been historically excluded from participation.

Jerome Foundation supports American Composers Forum’s Recomposing America Project. Recomposing America is a multi-year initiative that considers the role of music in the narrative of this nation’s founding and future. This large-scale project highlights artistic perspectives unique to the United States through direct commissions, institutional collaborations, and public dialogue. The program supports four early career composers each year. In addition to commissioning support, ACF pairs composers with a presenting organization. Timed with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Recomposing America aims to refresh and reimagine the “who,” “what,” and “why” of the United States and the stories therein. Recomposing America is a bold first draft of how ACF reframes and renews the definitions of American music and the American composer to include orchestral and chamber music, jazz, hip-hop, and a plethora of other American musical aesthetics, demonstrating an aim to redefine “composition” and encourage the broader American musical ecosystem to do the same. Recomposing America is managed by Executive Director, Loki Karuna.