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The Jonathan Larson Grants, established thirteen years ago with the resources of the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation and gifts from the Larson Family to honor the memory of Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize recipient Jonathan Larson, recognize and support emerging composers, lyricists and book writers. The grants will be celebrated at a reception featuring performances of the winning artists' work in the Spring.
Artists seeking a Jonathan Larson Grant must submit a written application. The completed application must be returned by mail, along with the required attachments, in order for the committee to evaluate the artist's work.
The application deadline for the 2010 grants has passed, no applications postmarked after August 29, 2009 will be considered.
Below are the guidelines for the 2010 grants. Please check back here for guidelines and deadlines for the 2011 grants, they will be posted in Summer 2010.
General Criteria
- The Jonathan Larson Grants are intended to honor and recognize emerging musical theatre artists. Composers and lyricists, and bookwriters who work in musical theatre are the focus of the grants.
- Grant awards are based on merit. In addition, the Grants are intended for those artists with a demonstrated commitment and dedication to a career in musical theatre. Further, the grants are not intended to be scholarships, and artists applying for grants should be working professionally in the field.
- Applications are accepted in the following areas:
- Individuals may apply as lyricists, composers, composer/lyricists, or composer/lyricist/bookwriters. Individual bookwriter applications are not accepted.
- Collaborative teams may apply together as composer and lyricist or composer, lyricist, and bookwriter. Collaborators who work together regularly are strongly encouraged to apply as a team.
- United States citizenship is not a requirement to receive the grant, but you must be eligible to work in the U.S. and reside/work here on at least a part-time basisand submitted work should be predominately in English.
- Individual and Team Applicants may not apply more than twice in any three year period. For instance, if you applied in 2009, and apply again in 2010, you would not be eligible to apply for a third time until 2012.
- Prior Jonathan Larson Grant Recipients are not eligible
Applicants must submit three (3) identical copies of the following to be considered for the Jonathan Larson Grants:
APPLICATION PACKET
- Completed Application Form, including:
- Personal Statement - on the form provided, describe your achievements and goals for your career as a creative artist or collaborative team (one per application).
- Creative Curriculum Vitae - productions/workshops/readings, educational history, and including list of awards (one for each applicant or each member of a team).
SAMPLES OF WORK PACKET
- Representative samples of work (be sure to consult instructions for formatting this packet in the guidelines)
Additionally, though not required, applicants may provide one (1) copy of the following:
- Letters of support/recommendation from theatre artists or educators (No more than two letters per application, please).
Please note: Only the materials listed above will be provided to the adjudicators for review. Anything else included in your application will not be seen by the reviewing committee. Please do not include cover letters, headshots, video tapes, DVDs, production photos, production programs, playbills, design renderings, brochures, reviews, symphonic scores, or sheet music.
Instructions For Submitting And Formatting Representative Work
The Jonathan Larson Grants are intended to honor and recognize emerging musical theatre writers. We are aware that artists work in multiple disciplines; and while it is not necessary that you only work in musical theatre, selections of representative work submitted for the grant must be for musical theatre. Applications submitting oratorios, operas, symphonic scores, or film scores will not be considered.
Submissions of representative work are coded and will be reviewed blindly during the first round of review.
In other words, no artistic adjudicators will see the names of the applicants during the initial round of assessment. Applicants should include the name(s) of the writer(s) only on the application, letters of recommendation, CV, and personal statement. The names of the writer(s) should not appear anywhere else in the submission, including on the manuscripts, lyric sheets, CDs, cover pages, and document headers/footers. Please insert the last 4 digits of the primary applicant's social security number (as entered on the application) on all items included as part of the representative work, so that items may be identified by staff.
Send three (3) identical copies of samples representative of your work, as described below:
Individuals:
Individuals may apply as composers, lyricists, composer/lyricists, or composer/lyricist/book writers.
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Teams:
Collaborative teams may apply as composer/lyricists, or composer/lyricist/book writers.
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All applicants should include no less than 3 and no more than 6 song selections, from one or various shows (no more than 30 minutes total) on a standard audio CD (mp3 or other digital audio formats are not accepted). Include a track listing for the CD, track length, and typewritten lyric sheets as well as descriptions of dramatic context for each selection. The pages should be stapled or bound with brads. No folders, bindings, or ring binders, please.
Collaborating teams need only submit one CD of no more than six tracks totaling 30 minutes, with supporting lyrics and track information as described above.
Additionally, those individuals and teams who are also bookwriters/librettists may submit: One act only of a musical book, with a one-page synopsis of the dramatic context of the show. The book should correspond to some of the submitted song selections. The pages should be stapled or bound with brads. No folders, bindings, or ring binders, please. Individual bookwriter applicants are not accepted.
Note: If you work creatively in more than one of the areas listed above or you are applying as a collaborative team, you should submit only one combined application, with combined work samples that represent the full range of your work. For example, Jonathan Larson might have submitted one application with an audio CD featuring two selections from Rent, two selections from Tick, Tick, Boom!, and the book of Act II from Rent.
Please do not submit separate CDs with composer samples on one and lyricist samples on another.
Adapted Works: Should you choose to submit selections from work which is in whole or part adapted from an existing work, you must provide proof of rights for that adaptation as part of your representative work packet, as we do not wish to adjudicate work which cannot ultimately be produced.
Do not
- Submit a recording of an entire act or production. Select individual pieces that reflect your best work.
- Use separate CDs for each selection.
- Submit videotapes or DVDs.
- Submit originals, as materials cannot be returned.
- Make a specific monetary requests as part of the application.
Do
- Call if you have any questions, 212.765.0606
Applications must be postmarked by August 29th, 2009, and sent to:
American Theatre Wing
570 Seventh Avenue, Suite 501
New York NY 10018
ATTN: Jonathan Larson Grants
- Jonathan Larson® is a registered trademark of Skeeziks, LLC
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