Music Grants
Learn about grants for music by exploring our curated list of top music funders below. Members can also research funding opportunities using the search tool for GrantFinder. Become a member.
Funding trends for music grants
Philanthropy supports music nonprofits as well as individual musical artists. While charitable giving for music – and all performing arts – is modest compared to other philanthropic sectors, there are funders of all types dedicated to supporting music.
The League of American Orchestras reports that there are about 2,200 professional, community, and youth orchestras in the United States – 77% of which had budgets under $300,000 in 2022. The nation’s 203 professional opera companies receive more than half their collective revenue in the form of private support, according to Opera America. There are also folk music ensembles, jazz groups, community choruses, and many other musical organizations operating outside the commercial realm that are vital parts of our cultural sphere.
Where are music grants going?
Individual donors play an outsized role in music philanthropy. From concert series showcasing new composers to premiere orchestras, music is substantially supported by music lovers who become major donors. At the same time, more institutional funding goes to music than to other performing arts such as dance or theater.
While classical music organizations – especially major opera companies and orchestras in big cities – get the largest and most high-profile donations, there are many individuals, private and family foundations, and community foundations making grants for all kinds of music.
Giving for music is often place-based, with funders supporting concert series, venues, or ensembles in a particular geographic area. Private and family foundations, and community foundations, often make grants for music as part of an effort to support a vibrant arts and culture scene in a given city, town, or community. Regional arts organizations, which are funded by a mix of public and private dollars, also make grants for musical artists and nonprofits. There are also city-based arts grantmakers that take the form of nonprofits implementing a municipality’s arts funding program, such as the Houston Arts Alliance or the Philadelphia Cultural Fund.
Many foundations that make grants for music focus on a genre or style, such as jazz or folk music. Regrantors, which play a prominent role in philanthropy for music, are often dedicated to a particular type of music – for example, Chamber Music America, Chorus America, Early Music America, and New Music USA.
Corporate funders often give for music in the form of sponsorships of concert series or festivals. There are also some music-industry philanthropies, such as the ASCAP Foundation.
As in most areas of philanthropy, recent years have seen increasing attention to diversity and equity in music grantmaking. Grantmaking for music also overlaps with grantmaking for arts education and arts and culture.
Grants for music go to individual artists (sometimes in the form of fellowships or awards) as well as to nonprofits including orchestras, festivals, musical ensembles, concert series, and music education programs. Grants and gifts also support college and university music programs. Donations and grants for music support capital projects for venues as well as programs and performances.
Most private giving for music invests in opera and orchestra companies that have longstanding relationships with foundations and major donors, IP found in our State of American Philanthropy brief on Giving for Music. Grants for individual artists come from funding initiatives such as Creative Capital, which provides financial as well as other kinds of support such as professional development; grantmakers like First People’s Fund, which supports Native artists in various disciplines; and a few private foundations, such as the Walder Foundation.
There are also grants for initiatives at the intersection of music and other issues such as health and community well-being from funders such as the We Are All Music Foundation or those who support Project: Music Heals Us.
Gaps in music funding
While orchestras and opera companies in major cities are well supported by philanthropy, there is a gap in funding for musical organizations in small and mid-sized cities as well as rural areas. Because music education is chronically underfunded in public schools, nonprofits and philanthropy attempt to fill the gap, and there is substantial need for funding in this area.
Published on
Additional Resources
Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA) is the national network of private, public and corporate arts funders focused on providing “leadership and service that advances the use of philanthropic and governmental resources to support the growth of the arts and culture.”
Americans for the Arts focuses on advancing the arts broadly in the United States. It is an important organization for the music community, producing white papers, research on fundraising trends and a repository of funding resources.
SMU DataArts’ mission is “to empower arts and cultural leaders with high-quality data and evidence-based resources and insights that help them to overcome challenges and increase impact.”
The Performing Arts Alliance is the national policy advocate, leadership forum and learning network for America’s nonprofit performing arts organizations, artists and allies.
