About the Alumni Enterprise Awards
This award funds innovative ideas in areas including artistic expression, audience development, education, community engagement, social justice, and technology.
This award opportunity is available to all Music Academy alumni. Proposals must align with or challenge the Academy’s mission to further classical music education while cultivating discerning, appreciative, and adventurous audiences. Awards granted for alumni projects range from $2,500 to $20,000 based on scope and scale.
The winners will be mentored individually on their projects by a selected leader in their industry in addition to receiving coaching sessions on their business plans. They will even receive coaching on how to raise funds and cultivate investors for their projects from Music Academy Chief Advancement Officer Jonathan Bishop.
21 alumni have received Alumni Enterprise Awards over the past three years, for a total of $220,000 to support their proposed programs. In addition to four Winning Projects in 2020, two Innovation Awards were given in support of thinking that will push the industry forward in bold new ways. Fast Pitch Awards will again be offered to 2020 fellows who will have the opportunity to pitch their innovative ideas during the Summer School and Festival.
The Alumni Enterprise Awards are generously supported by Regina and Rick Roney and the Ladera Foundation.
About the 2020 Winning Projects
Bernardo Bermudez ('11): Musical Make Believe
Industry Mentor: Lisa Mitchell
The digital program uses classical music, guest musicians, characters, puppetry, and animation to tell stories about music, musical instruments, and the performing arts with the potential to reach millions of kids. The first 10 episodes will be streamed via YouTube. Musical Make Believe will also promote The Enchanted Tail and other Opera4Kids productions.
Andy Zimmermann ('19): Opera Jukebox
Industry Mentor: Ty Johnson
An opera jukebox musical will be created to showcase opera’s greatest hits in a medium better suited to the 21st century audience, using English lyrics and new arrangements. Hosted by Zimmermann, 60 minutes of music with a nine-piece band will be presented at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City, featuring leaders in Broadway, modern dance, and opera.
Clara Lyon (‘03, '04), Doyle Armbrust ('01,'03): Enigma
Industry Mentor: Luke Ritchie
Spektral Quartet will record and release an immersive, 360-degree format visual album of Enigma by composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir and video artist Sigurdur Gudjonsson. A dome video will be adapted for personal viewing devices such as a VR headset, to be released in November and featured on a New York City premiere.
John Popham (‘05, ‘06): States of Listening
Industry Mentor: Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim
Critically acclaimed trio Longleash will curate and produce five pilot episodes of States of Listening, a music podcast that offers a guided listening experience through mindfulness practices. An introductory conversation between a musician and a meditation, spirituality, or music therapy expert will guide the listener throughout.
2020 Industry Mentors
2020 Innovation Award Winners
2020 Innovation Award Winners
About the 2019 Winning Projects
John Popham ('05, 06): The Resonant Lens
This vibrant videography series brought musical works to life, presented in Brooklyn, NY and Louisville, KY. A modular project structure was used to reach audiences virtually, through interactive content online; person-to-person, in live performance paired with videography; and remotely, via screenings and gallery exhibits.
Brenda Patterson ('00): Ready.Set / Armida
The Director of Music of Victory Hall Opera [VHO] sought to invent a modern, modular stage set that was affordable, transportable, and reconfigurable. With the Ready.Set Competition, designers and architects were challenged with creating that set design. The winning set was used in VHO’s production of Haydn’s Armida, a Virginia Premiere.
Steve Perdicaris ('86): Crescendo 2020
Mr. Perdicaris co-founded Music Mission San Francisco which provides free after-school music instruction that culminates in public performances at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The award will support funding additional teaching artists with the goal of establishing a chamber orchestra.
Bernardo Bermudez ('11): The Enchanted Tail
The Enchanted Tail is an original children’s fairytale opera set to music from traditional opera repertoire. In May 2019, 5,000 elementary school students watched the orchestral debut of the opera in San Diego’s Balboa Theater. All 42 San Diego School Districts attended with 64% of participants qualifying as Title 1, low-income schools.
2019 Innovation Award Winners & Fast Pitch Winners
2019 Innovation Award Winners & Fast Pitch Winners
2018 Enterprise Award Winners
Ben Bliss ('12): MESS Core Ensemble
Under the leadership of stage director Paul Curran, the group spent five days preparing operatic scenes for a Manhattan performance on the final day of their Initial Ensemble Session, geared toward a millennial demographic.
Evan Shinners ('09): The Bach Store
A pop-up storefront in NYC where those walking by can see and hear musicians play Bach every day, for five hours a day, over 30 days. Learn more in the New York Times feature article by Michael Cooper: A Pop-Up Shop That Offers Bach Preludes, Fugues and Condoms
Brenda Patterson ('00): The Forgotten
A Halloween double-bill that interweaves Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel with Menotti’s The Medium, The Forgotten explores American poverty, economic anxiety, and teenage gender identity.
Molly Carr ('07) & Anna Petrova ('17): Novel Voices
This debut album for the Carr-Petrova Duo premiered this fall as part of their “Refugee Awareness” concert in Carnegie Hall, mounted to raise awareness about the lives and struggles of refugees across the globe.
Theresa Kim ('06): International Music Sessions
The founding director of International Music Sessions launches Social Integration Workshops, offering 5-weekend musical workshops to young people from diverse communities.
How to Apply
Application & Selection Timeline
2021 Applications will go live on August 10, 2020, and the deadline to apply is September 30, 2020. Following a selection process, winners will be announced by November 20, 2020.
Purpose
- Support innovation in areas including but not limited to artistic expression, audience development, education, community engagement, and technology.
- Advance social entrepreneurial endeavors/projects in classical music – bold and diverse initiatives developed and implemented by Music Academy alumni.
- Provide funding and mentorship that generates positive learning outcomes for Music Academy alumni.
Criteria
- Open to all alumni of the Music Academy of the West. Applications submitted on behalf of multiple individuals or ensembles must have at least one Academy alumni in a leadership role.
- Supportable activity includes proposals that align with or challenge the Academy’s vision to make a unique and enduring contribution to the world of music by advancing the development of the next generation of great classically trained musicians and cultivating discerning, appreciative, and adventurous audiences.
- Non-supportable activity includes proposals that request funding for private instruction, audition expenses, tuition costs, or any charges related to purchasing equipment or instruments.
- Completed applications must include a formal project title and general categorization, a project narrative, a timeline for implementation, a proposed budget, value and impact metrics, and any other details to describe the vision and breadth of the initiative.
Receive Award Updates
Send us your up-to-date contact information to receive 2021 award application details as they are announced.