Dear Isabel Bush of Washington D.C.,
I love Washington, D.C.! My sister lives there and I come down whenever I can.
Thanks for asking about Bang on a Can's People's Commissioning Fund. It is a great program that we have been doing for a number of years. We started it to address a very important problem for us - how do you pay people no one has ever heard of before to make music that doesn't fit into any established tradition or category?
Since its beginning "Bang on a Can" has wanted to work both with established master composers and young composers just getting started. We noticed very quickly that it was often easier to raise money for the famous people. But our mission was to work primarily with lesser known composers, and we needed to figure out how to pay them. Our solution was to start the People's Commissioning Fund.
We regularly ask our listeners to contribute $20 or $100 (or more) to a general pool that we use to commission new pieces from young, emerging, unknown composers. Then we bring the composers, performers and members of the PCF together for special rehearsals and concerts and events.
It has created a great sense of community among all the participants, and has commissioned a lot of great music. We have over 200 of these commissioners and what keeps them coming is the sense that they are participating directly in the evolution of their own musical culture.
You can read more about it here.
And as for your hope to hear my "operas and other major pieces" I am, of course, hoping that all your hopes come true!
Forum Introduction
