Purpose

ACMP's mission is to encourage people of all ages all over the world to play chamber music for pleasure.

To that end, ACMP supports workshops and community music programs which provide active participatory chamber music experiences to amateur musicians. As the only organization in the world with grants programs for amateur chamber music, ACMP prides itself in supporting programs that kindle the sheer joy of music and emphasize chamber music training without professional aspirations.

Grant recipients represent a large range of organizers, from "mom and pop" adult amateur workshop coordinators and children's chamber music camp directors to managers of chamber music programs at large institutions.

Chamber music is defined as small-ensemble playing or singing, with one musician on a part and without a conductor.

Eligibility

Eligible Recipients

• Individual Workshop Organizers
• Organizations

Requirements

• Grants are open to applicants from all over the world.
• Charitable or nonprofit status is NOT required.
• ACMP does not support workshops or courses for professional musicians, college music majors or conservatory students.

Guidelines

• Applications must be submitted using the online application form.
• Applications must be clearly written and in English (note: you can use Google Translate in your process.)
• Applicants seeking support for multiple similar workshops within the next year should apply for all of them within ONE grant application form: i.e. if you are giving four weekend chamber music retreats in one year, your project is a series of four workshops; you should describe all workshops in your grant application and your budget form should reflect the income and expenses of all four similar programs. Likewise, if you run two chamber music camps for children, please apply for the two camps within one application as a series of two events.
• If you are seeking support for two very different programs, such as one short-term workshop and one year-long community workshop, or one program specifically for adult amateurs and another specifically for children, please fill out two separate applications. Applicants with this situation may submit a maximum of two applications per grant cycle.
• All workshops and community music programs must take place after the application deadline, with some exceptions made for longer-duration events starting before the deadline but continuing beyond it.
• Applicants must upload a Project Budget using the ACMP Budget Form. Budgets must accurately reflect the application narrative, and be expressed in U.S. dollars.

The following are not eligible for funding:

• Professional-level music training (i.e. college music majors; programs for college-level non-music majors ARE eligible)
• Individual or group lessons in instrumental technique
• Choral and orchestral programs or general music education classes or workshops
• Concerts (educational or otherwise)
• Activities intended for audience development
• In-school programs that are part of a regular school day
• Travel costs or instrument transportation for professional musicians

A NOTE ABOUT BUDGETS FOR COMMUNITY MUSIC PROGRAMS:

• For Community Music Programs offering regular chamber music as part of a more general music program, your Project Budget can reflect your whole music program. ACMP will support costs related to your chamber music faculty, along with scholarships and instrument rentals for participants receiving chamber music training. Please be explicit about the scope of your chamber music offerings in the narrative questions on the grant application.
• For Community Music Schools offering a distinct chamber music program (that can be taken separately from other programs offering lessons, orchestra, theory, etc) please provide a Project Budget and narrative reflecting ONLY that chamber music program.

QUESTIONS?

WATCH THE ONLINE INFORMATION SESSION FROM NOVEMBER 15 

NOTE: Our application form software does not currently allow you to save a draft and continue later. Please prepare and have at hand all your materials before starting to fill out the online form. You will need to download and complete the ACMP Budget Form (saved as a pdf, excel or word doc), and answers to the narrative questions below.  Those applicants who received funding within the last year will also need to ensure they have uploaded their final report materials.

1. Please describe the experience that your participants can expect at your workshop or community music program, such as the typical schedule of activities; the number of groups each participant might play in; masterclasses; performance opportunities; sight-reading sessions; and anything else you would like to tell us about the nature of your program and what makes it unique. (Max. 5000 characters)
2. Please describe the coaching structure and philosophy of your program. You can include information about coaching frequency, type of coaching (such as with the coach playing inside the group, one-on-one coaching style vs masterclass format, etc.), and the nature of the interactions between coaches and participants. (Max. 2000 characters)
3. Faculty names and brief biographies (one brief paragraph per faculty member). If you have a large faculty, you can simply share a link to a web page with your faculty information. (Max. 4000 characters)
4. What is the rationale behind your choice of faculty? (Max. 2500 characters)
5. Please describe what you do to encourage your participants to play chamber music outside scheduled coaching times. If this does not apply to your program, please leave this question blank. (Max. 1500 characters)
6. In what ways does your program strive to share the joy of chamber music with underserved geographic areas and/or communities? (Max. 1500 characters)
7. What do you anticipate will be the long-term impact of your program on its individual participants, the local community and the field of chamber music in general, and how is your program aligned with ACMP’s mission of stimulating and expanding the playing of chamber music for pleasure? (Max. 2500 characters)
8. How do you plan to publicize your program and recruit new applicants? (Max. 1500 characters)
9. How do you plan to acknowledge ACMP for its support, if awarded, and for adult programs: how will you encourage ACMP membership among your workshop participants? (Max. 1500 characters)

A NOTE ON THE CHARACTER LIMITS: Character limits include spaces, and are maximums – not minimums. There is no problem if you choose to provide much briefer answers, but please see these character limits as a guide to the level of detail you can provide.

A List of Recent Grantees