Mellon Foundation Awards $2.4 Million To American Composers Orchestra & More

American Composers Orchestra, Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, and Gateways Music Festival have been awarded significant grants from the Mellon Foundation. All three classical music organizations will use the funds to support infrastructure and build confidence in leadership, expand institutional capacity and stability, and increase sustainability and resilience in a changing arts landscape.

"We are honored to support the courageous leadership of Melissa Ngan, Gabriela Lena Frank, and Alex Laing," said Stephanie Ybarra, Program Officer at the Mellon Foundation. "Their work at American Composers Orchestra, Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, and Gateways Music Festival is reaching toward a more just and vibrant future for concert music and we are proud to invest in their continued growth."

A grant of $800,000 from the Mellon Foundation will support the American Composers Orchestra in expanding its national EarShot activities. EarShot is the first systemic program for building relationships between composers and orchestras nationally. Started in 1991 as an annual orchestral reading for six artists with ACO in New York City, EarShot has since expanded to serve 50+ artists in partnership with 26+ partners across 17 U.S. states and Canada in the 2023-24 season. Activities include national Readings, CoLABoratory Residencies, Publishing, Concert Performances, Recordings, and Commission Consortia.

With the leadership of President & CEO Melissa Ngan, ACO will build and pilot new frameworks for creativity-based social practices for the orchestra world. With collaborators drawn from the national network of orchestras participating in EarShot, ACO will articulate and share processes that support inclusive art-making from concept to completion, focusing on long-term relationships, stakeholder involvement, equitable distribution of resources, and developing mindsets/behaviors for greater inclusivity. ACO will bring together composers, orchestras, and public partners, building a national cohort that pilots creativity-based social practice projects in communities across the U.S. With a focus on art-making as a powerful vehicle for accomplishing a community-led vision, the goal of the program is to develop a framework for the design and evaluation of public projects engaging composers as creative partners, and to create opportunities for composers to develop their own language for public participation aligned with their artistic practice.

Internationally acclaimed composer and pianist Gabriela Lena Frank's Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music received a grant of $600,000 to fund staff salaries and other operational costs for its programs for emerging through mid-career level composers, as well as artist fees for its core fellowship program, Bahlest Eeble Readings ("excellent study" in Boontling, the local language of Boonville, CA where GLFCAM is located). Through the singular vision of Gabriela, this twelve-month fellowship provides composers the opportunity to compose and hear new chamber works in multiple readings from initial "seed ideas" to finished state. Through a mix of virtual and in-person residencies, composers work in cycles with no more than four peers to maximize personal attention including private lessons with Gabriela and one-on-one practicums with renowned performer-mentors. Upon completion of the program, composers receive benefits through the Alumni Support Initiative which offers a lifetime pass to all distance learning (online) classes focused on the creative habit, commissions for new works from solo through orchestral (including readings of the work in progress), invitation to the two-year Composing Earth program providing climate intelligence to creatives, invitations to the Artist Wellness curriculum, and its associated discussion groups led by a trained therapist and social worker, and other benefits.

To cap its banner anniversary season, earlier this summer, Gateways Music Festival was awarded the sum of $1,000,000 by the Mellon Foundation. This substantial grant will support President & Artistic Director Alex Laing's vision for the next phase of Gateways Music Festival. The funding will serve to expand and strengthen Gateways' artistic and educational work, enhancing the organization's capacity and flexibility, and extending its reach through residencies, tours, partnerships, and major projects such as Gateways Radio. Launching its second season in 2025, Gateways Radio is a nationally syndicated weekly program that is featured on 156 radio stations and media outlets, and celebrates Black classical artistry by spotlighting recordings and recent and archival performances from Gateways Music Festival.