Today at New Music USA we announced a new round of grants in a new program, The NYC New Music Impact Fund.

There are a lot of things I love about this program, but my favorite is the level of commitment that New Music USA is making to the success of our grantees. It’s common these days to hear grantmakers describe themselves as more than just a funder, but it’s rare to see a funder committing staff resources to a joint marketing effort, and aligning its own goals so closely to those of its grantees.

And of course there’s a platform dimension to this program, too. These grants are targeted at New York City, and the cohort is based in NYC. This is partly because of how our funding is restricted, partly because of the concentration of new music activity in NYC, and partly because a targeted program can help us develop new features for our platform to serve our entire community.

What we’ve built at newmusicusa.org isn’t just a grantmaking platform; it’s a social platform for new music, and a set of tools for all of us to promote our work. Having a cohort of grantees with a geographical focus and a shared marketing need will be hugely informative for how to develop new features for our platform.

This kind of constituent-driven approach to our web platform is one of the things I’m most proud of at New Music USA. The next chapter of our work starts with today’s grant announcement.

And perhaps most importantly, if you want to hear about all the work our funded organizations are going to accomplish in the coming year, sign up.

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