Adopt a Music Creator

Would your group like to commission a new piece of music?

Making Music’s newly revised Adopt a Music Creator subsidy offers £1000 to support commissioning a new piece of music from a music creator in the first seven years of their professional career.
 

How does it work?

• Groups that are interested in commissioning can put in an application for the subsidy. It doesn’t matter if you already have a well-formed idea of the commission and composer you want, or if all you know is that you want to commission new music. However, subsidies are only available for projects that have not yet started.
   
• If successful, groups choose the music creator that they would like to work with (providing that they are in the first seven years of their professional career). If you don’t have a composer in mind, don’t worry, Making Music will be able to point you in the right direction to find one.
   
• The £1000 will be given directly to the group. It is unlikely that your commission will cost £1000 exactly. The purpose of this money is that, if the commissioning fee is higher, it can be used as a subsidy to make it less of a financial risk for your group or be used as match funding for further funding applications.  If your commissioning fee is less than £1000 then we would expect you to use the remaining money towards supplementing your work on the commission e.g. to pay for the composer to come and visit a rehearsal, or extra publicity for the premiere.

Support will be available to groups throughout the project with a dedicated member of Making Music staff available via email and phone, a WhatsApp group with other groups participating to share updates and advice, and access to resources and guidance on commissioning.
 

Who supports Adopt a Music Creator?

Adopt a Music Creator is funded by the PRS Foundation and the Philip and Dorothy Green Music Trust, and run by Making Music. 
 

How to apply

Applications have now closed.

To apply please get your musical director and a member of the committee to fill out this form to give us an idea of why you would like to commission (please make sure you are logged in before completeing the form). 

Anyone planning to apply is strongly encouraged to watch the recording from our event on commissioning new music for the opportunity to hear from the experiences of other Making Music groups that have commissioned new music. We will also be covering what you need to consider to make sure that the commissioning process is fair and inclusive as well as giving you an opportunity to ask more questions about the scheme. 

There will be the option to watch the recording afterwards if you have missed it or are unable to attend live. 

You will be notified on the outcome of your application by early April.
 

Eligibility and criteria

Subsidies are only available for projects that have not yet started, we are not able to accept anything that is already in progress.

As a requirement of the funding from PRS Foundation you must be commissioning an emerging music creator, which we design as someone who has been composing professionally for seven years or less (non-continuous).

If your application is successful, you will receive 75% of the subsidy at the beginning. You will need to deliver a final score by January 2027 to receive the final 25%. The new work does not have to be performance ready at this point, but it should be in its final form and ready to be rehearsed.

Any questions get in touch with Harriet Laidler at harriet@makingmusic.org.uk