Presenter Consortium for Jazz Grant

Presenter Consortium for Jazz is a Chamber Music America grant program funded by The Doris Duke Foundation as a component of the Doris Duke Jazz Ensembles Project. The program supports collaborations among U.S.-based presenters that engage jazz ensembles for public performances serving their respective audience communities. A consortium consists of an applicant presenter working with one or two partner presenters and one to three jazz ensembles. Every ensemble named in the application must be presented by each presenter in the consortium. Presenters may be located in the same U.S. state or territory, but they must serve distinct audience communities, such as different neighborhoods, towns, cities, or regions. Chamber Music America gives priority to projects demonstrating community impact through increased access to jazz chamber music, respect and appreciation for the art form, engagement with current and new audiences, collaboration, cultural richness, and outreach to underserved or underrepresented audiences. Grants cover 100% of eligible project expenses up to $15,000 per applicant, and no matching funds are required. If the total project cost exceeds $15,000, the applicant must explain how the additional expenses will be paid. Eligible costs directly related to the project include ensemble and guest artist fees, concert production expenses such as lighting, sound, and cartage, streaming production costs, direct promotion, marketing and advertising, travel and hotel expenses, per diem, and project-specific administrative expenses. Funding cannot support general operating or capacity-building requests, recording or commissioning costs, student musician fees, faculty or administrative staff salaries, classes or workshops for music students, private or fundraising events, projects primarily focused on arts education, dramatic works, incidental music for other media, or artist fees other than those for ensemble musicians and their guest artists. Fiscal sponsorship is not permitted. Grant funds are taxable income. The applicant must be a presenting organization based in the United States or its territories and must be a 501(c)(3) organization or otherwise eligible for charitable contributions for federal income, estate, and gift-tax purposes. Proof of 501(c)(3) status is required, and the applicant must hold a current Chamber Music America organization-level membership and have no outstanding financial obligations to Chamber Music America. Partner presenters are not required to be 501(c)(3) organizations or Chamber Music America members. Applicants with an active Presenter Consortium for Jazz grant may not apply. Consortia that received Chamber Music America funding during the past three grant years, since 2024, are not eligible for 2027 funding with the same consortium partners, although past participants may apply with a new set of partners. Consortium partners may not appear on more than one application. Selected jazz ensembles must be based in the United States or its territories, consist of two to ten professional musicians including guest artists, and primarily perform jazz in one of its multifaceted styles with improvisation integral to composition and performance. Projects may consist of in-person concerts or livestreamed performances, and performances do not have to occur on consecutive dates. Performances must be public, accessible, and inclusive, including publicly viewable livestreams; conferences do not qualify as public events. All funded projects must take place between January 1, 2027 and June 30, 2028. The applicant receives all grant funds and distributes funds to consortium partners as needed. Grantees are responsible for serving as Chamber Music America's primary contact, managing grant activity and funds, ensuring timely payment to ensembles, submitting a final report and associated documents, providing marketing materials demonstrating that each partner presented the ensembles, and reporting audience numbers for partner performances. One hundred percent of the award is disbursed after the Chamber Music America grant contract is signed. Applications are submitted through Chamber Music America's Submittable platform. Applicants must complete the required application fields, including text boxes, the Funding Request, and Audio Sample information, and upload the required supporting materials. Required materials include a project budget using Chamber Music America's required budget template, proof of the applicant's 501(c)(3) status, a marketing sample, an audio sample for the jazz ensemble, and Memorandums of Understanding documenting the intent to collaborate among the applicant, partner presenter or presenters, and ensemble or ensembles. The audio sample must be no more than four minutes, use an accepted mp3 or m4a file format, feature appropriate small jazz ensemble work, clearly demonstrate the ensemble's performance level, and have been recorded within the past two years. Applicants must sign and date the completed application and submit it through Submittable. Chamber Music America recommends submitting at least 24 hours before the deadline and saving an offline backup because late submissions are not accepted and staff cannot correct submission errors or notify applicants of missing components. Chamber Music America staff first review applications for eligibility. Eligible applications are evaluated by an independent panel of jazz professionals responsible for scoring, ranking, and selecting awardees; Chamber Music America staff and Board members do not serve as judges. The written application accounts for 60% of the total score and is evaluated on the project description, timeline and detailed implementation plan, community impact, target-audience and marketing strategy, rationale for the proposed ensemble, benefits to the ensemble, rationale for the partner presenters, and benefits to those organizations. Audio review represents 10% of the score and considers alignment between the ensemble's sound and the project's artistic goals. Budget review represents 30% and considers industry-appropriate rates and whether the project can be successfully executed with the proposed resources. Incomplete or incorrect applications may still be evaluated but will receive lower scores. Applications are due by 11:59 PM Eastern Time on Thursday, September 24, 2026, and the application closes promptly at that time. Award notifications are expected in late December. The source does not provide a separate pre-application or letter-of-intent deadline and does not specify a recurring future application cycle. Questions about the program may be directed to Jose Feliciano, Director of Grant Programs, at jfeliciano@chambermusicamerica.org. Technical assistance for the application platform is available through the Submittable Help Center.

Prioritize the written application because it represents 60% of scoring and clearly explain the project plan, community impact, audience strategy, ensemble rationale, and partner rationale. Build a realistic budget using industry-appropriate rates because budget review represents 30%. Select audio that aligns the ensemble's sound with the project's artistic goals. If project costs exceed $15,000, clearly explain how additional expenses will be covered. Submit at least 24 hours early when possible and verify every required component because CMA staff will not notify applicants of missing materials or correct submission errors.