American Music Center
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The American Music Center (AMC) is a national service organization and information center dedicated to building a national community for new American Music. It was founded in 1939 by a consortium of six American composers led by Aaron Copland, along with Howard Hanson, Otto Luening, Quincy Porter, Marion Bauer, and Harrison Kerr.
AMC advocates for the community through NewMusicBox, an award-winning web magazine which was launched in May 1999, and Counterstream Radio, a 24-hour online station broadcasting music by a broad range of U.S. composers launched in March 2007. AMC supports the community by administering $1.5 million in grants to individuals and organizations each year, and by offering professional development tools for artists. AMC connects the community with an array of information services designed to facilitate performances, including a vast, searchable online database of more than 40,000 works by American composers; publications and directories compiling opportunities in new music and other information useful to industry professionals; and benefits and services for nearly 2,500 members in all fifty states and around the world.
In 1962, the American Music Center initiated the Copying Assistance Program, designed to offer funds directly to composers to offset the costs of preparing materials for performances. (In 2003, this program was expanded and renamed the Composer Assistance Program.) The AMC previously administered the Aaron Copland Fund for Music Performing Ensembles Program and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music Recording Program but these programs are no longer part of the AMC and are directly administered by the Copeland Fund. It still administers Live Music for Dance. Since 1964, the AMC has annually awarded "letters of distinction" to composers, performers, critics, ensembles, and organizations which have supported or represented American music in all of these forms. Since the 1980s, the AMC has distributed an "Opportunity Update" with listings of competitions, calls for scores, calls for conference papers and presentations, and the like.
In July 2001, the American Music Center's score library was transferred to the Music Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Artsat Lincoln Center (call numbers start with "AMC"). In October 2002, the American Music Center established an on-line database of American repertoire originally called NewMusicJukeBox, which offers copyright holders the opportunity to make available scores and recordings of their work. This database, now named Explore American Music, was merged with the redesigned AMC organization website in August 2007.
In 2007, it was among over 530 New York City arts and social service institutions to receive part of a $20 million grant from the Carnegie Corporation, which was made possible through a donation by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.[1]
AMC is a founding member of IAMIC, an international coalition of music centers from around the world.
[edit] References
- ^ New York Times: City Groups Get Bloomberg Gift of $20 Million. Retrieved on September 4, 2007
