MUSIC
Discipline-Specific Guidelines
2021 Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship
The Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship in Music supports Minnesota or New York City-based composers and sound artists, early in their careers, creating bold, innovative and risk-taking new work that challenges conventional artistic forms. The Fellowship is open to creators/composers/vocal composers of new original music and sound artists.
Please take the Eligibility Questionnaire to assess whether you meet the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship eligibility criteria before reading through these further, discipline-specific requirements. You must meet all of the general eligibility requirements as well as those found in the Discipline-Specific Guidelines below, whether you are applying as an individual artist or as an ensemble/collective/collaborative.
Defining “Early Career”
Eligible applicants must have a sufficient body of completed work that a panel can use to assess your artistic development over time, dedication to the field and ongoing motivation to create new original work.
Early career artists:
Composers or sound artists who have been generating new work for more than 10 years (excluding any time spent as a student) are generally not eligible, even if they feel under-recognized. Such artists with more than 10 years in the field who wish to discuss eligibility—based on circumstances (whether personal or geographic) or on specific creative practice considerations (i.e., the scale of work and/or extended creative cycles necessary to complete a single work)—should contact Jerome program staff before April 15, 2020 to discuss eligibility in advance of submitting an application.
Panels rely on work samples and a resume/CV to assess the review criterion of artistic merit, impact and readiness. An artist’s application materials must demonstrate development over time, dedication to the field, craft and potential.
This is not an opportunity for beginning artists who have never composed, whose generated new work has yet to be publicly shared, or without a sufficient body of completed work that a panel can use to assess your artistic development over time.
Age is not a factor in determining eligibility.
Artists who are mid-career or established are not eligible.
Artists will be considered beyond early career and ineligible if they have:
Receipt of any one of these grants and awards does not make an artist ineligible—it is the receipt of multiple grants and awards for multiple projects that, taken as a whole, move an artist to mid-career or beyond.
Recognizing that different funders may define “mid-career” in different ways, artists who have received mid-career awards but consider themselves still in an early career stage should contact Jerome program staff before April 15, 2020, in advance of submitting an application.
Musicians with substantial recognition and lengthy careers performing the work of others will generally be considered ineligible. Musicians who want to discuss eligibility should contact Jerome program staff before April 15, 2020, in advance of submitting an application.
Mid-career or established artists from fields other than music will not be considered early career. For example, a new media artist with a substantial career who is now moving into composing will not be considered early career for the purposes of this Fellowship.
Ensemble/Collective/Collaborative Eligibility
Ensembles/collectives/collaboratives may submit a single application requesting support request for 2–5 members who will share the Fellowship funds equally. In order to submit an eligible application, the ensemble/collective/collaborative must have a majority of members that meet all of the Fellowship eligibility requirements for artists applying individually and have a demonstrated history of creating new work collectively or as part of an ensemble/collective/collaborative. Only eligible ensemble/collective/collaborative artists may be included in the application.
Please take the Eligibility Questionnaire to assess whether your group meets the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship eligibility criteria for ensembles/collectives/collaboratives.
In the application, you must provide:
Work sample time maximum:
For example, you may submit an audio sample from a composition that is 6-minutes along with the score for this sequence; a video of a live performance that is 4-minutes, and a third audio track you are developing of a composition that is 3-minutes.
Submit your works in the order in which you would like them listened to or viewed, starting with your strongest sample. Panelists want to see a range of work demonstrating development over time, dedication to the field, craft and potential.
The applicant(s) must be the composer or primary creator of all submitted samples.
If applying as an ensemble/collective/collaborative, all of the work samples must be the creative work composed by the members of the group who are applying.
Do not submit promotional videos, trailers, reels, or interviews. Panels prefer to experience real-time sequences of work representative of a live experience. The preference is that you submit links to the full-length work and provide a single cue point within the work for the panel to watch.
Jerome staff will assess whether your work samples are eligible for the panel to review.
Ineligible work samples include:
For each work sample in the application, you will provide the following required information:
Applicants who cannot provide the minimum amount of requested work samples leave the panel without enough information to gauge whether the applicant is truly competitive or not. Applicants who cannot meet the minimum requirement will be eliminated from consideration.
Panels rely on the resume/CV to evaluate how your artistic background demonstrates development over time, dedication to the field, ongoing motivation in the creation of new, original work in your artistic field over a multi-year period and your readiness for a two-year fellowship.
To meet eligibility requirements, you must have at least 1 work on your resume/CV that has been supported by a presenting organization or funder (for a project grant from either a foundation or a federal, state or local arts agency). Work that has been self-presented or work created and presented while in a degree-granting program is not eligible for this requirement.
Staff will assess your resume/CV to make sure you are eligible for the panel to review. Any applicant whose resume does not clearly establish eligibility will be eliminated for further consideration at the prescreening stage.
Resume/CVs should be current and complete. Bios are not acceptable. The Jerome staff and panel will not do research to determine your role(s), running time, etc.
The resume is your chance to present and confirm your status as an early career composer or sound artist with a history of ultimate creative control over projects, artistic development over time, dedication to the field, and ongoing motivation in the creation of new, original work. For that reason, you need to clearly list your composition work separate from other work and opportunities.
A sample individual composer/sound artist resume is available for your reference.
Individual Artist Resumes/CVs should include the following:
Example: Churning Oceans, 2019 (87 minutes) self-produced CD and vinyl release of 7 original compositions of jazz-rock fusion; recorded at Studio A and Studio B. The work has been performed at 11 additional venues in NY in 2019 and 2020, including Venue A, Venue B and Venue C. I composed and perform on guitar with a quartet including percussion, sax, trumpet and bass.
Tangletown (75 minutes) commissioned by Venue A and premiered in 2019 with support from Funder A. Toured to Venue B (City) and Venue B (City). I composed this body of work that blurs musical styles and am the bandleader and pianist. This work for quartet (piano, voice, drums, and trumpet) is an atmospheric piece that weaves between solitude and chaos in the wake of ongoing environmental catastrophe.
Example: Received a commission from Ensemble A in 2020 for a new music composition.
Example: Played tenor sax for premiere in 2018 of new works by DD Ward commissioned by Organization A and premiered at Venue A (City).
Copyist for NYC composer Arden Wyle, including transcriptions and score writing from 2012-2016.
Played violin and synthesizer for performances in August 2017 at Venue A (City) with Ensemble A, curated by Lee Yamamoto.
2018-ongoing: percussionist for experimental music ensemble, Ensemble A.
Example: [name of fellowship or award], [year], [amount of award or fellowship stipend], [length of fellowship], [name of project, if relevant]
Example: [name of grant], [year], [amount of grant], [name of project, if relevant]
Example: [name of residency], [year], [length of residency], [name of project, if relevant]
Example: University A, MA in Music Composition, 2012-2015
Example: [name of class], Venue A (city), [year], [length of class, e.g. “1-week intensive” or “12 weeks”]
Ensemble/Collective/Collaborative Resumes/CVs:
Artists applying as an ensemble/collective/collaborative should submit a resume of the collaborative work in addition to individual resumes of the artists applying. The collaborative information is the same format as that requested from individual artist applicants, just specific to the collective creators applying.
A sample collaborative resume is available for your reference.
The collaborative resume should include:
Example: Churning Oceans, 2019 (87 minutes) self-produced CD and vinyl release of 7 original compositions of jazz-rock fusion; recorded at Studio A and Studio B. The work has been performed at 11 additional venues in NY in 2019 and 2020, including Venue A, Venue B and Venue C. Roni Stark (guitar) and Rafael Greene (percussion) composed and perform the work with additional musicians on trumpet, sax and bass.
Tangletown (75 minutes) commissioned by Venue A and premiered in 2019 with support from Funder A. Toured to Venue B (City) and Venue C (City). Roni Stark (piano) and Rafael Greene (percussion) of Free Fall Ensemble composed and perform this body of work that blurs musical styles. This atmospheric piece for a quartet (piano, voice, percussion, and trumpet) weaves between solitude and chaos in the wake of ongoing environmental catastrophe.
Example: Received a commission from Ensemble A in 2020 for a new music composition.
Example: Stark (Synth) and Greene (percussion) of Free Fall perform frequently at Venue A (City) with DJ Fresh 2018-ongoing.
Played violin (Stark) and synthesizer (Greene) for performances in August 2017 at Venue A (City) with Ensemble A, curated by Lee Yamamoto.
Example: [name of fellowship or award], [year], [amount of award or fellowship stipend], [length of fellowship], [name of project, if relevant]
Example: [name of grant], [year], [amount of grant], [name of project, if relevant]
Example: [name of residency], [year], [length of residency], [name of project, if relevant]
Example: [name of class], Venue A (city), [year], [length of class, e.g. “1-week intensive” or “12 weeks”]
Note: if the ensemble/collective/collaborative includes members that are not Jerome-eligible or not included in the application, but those artists were involved in the composition of the work included on the collaborative resume, please note this on the collaborative resume.
Example: Push Button (90 minutes), received a work-in-progress showing in 2017 at Venue A (City) and a premiere in 2017 at Venue B (City). Composed and performed by Free Fall members, Roni Stark (trumpet) and Rafael Green (trombone) with Lane Lee (percussion). Lane Lee is not Jerome-eligible but is a regular member of Free Fall Collective.