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NYC Mayor’s Office Announces Grants for Women in Music

By Steve Harvey. Music producers, engineers, composers and musicians who identify as women will now be included in NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre’s content creation grant program.

New York, NY (June 10, 2019)—The New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) has announced that music producers, engineers, composers and musicians who identify as women will now be included in its content creation grant program.

Women in Music Production Face ‘Epidemic of Invisibility’

The NYC Women’s Fund for Media, Music and Theatre provides grants to encourage and support the creation of digital, film, music, television and live theatre content that reflects the voices and perspectives of all who identify as women. Music is being brought under the program umbrella for the first time; it was formerly titled the NYC Women’s Film, TV and Theatre Fund.

According to a report in Billboard, Anne del Castillo, newly appointed MOME commissioner, made the announcement during the recent third annual New York Music Month conference: Innovation at the Intersection of Music + Tech. Del Castillo was reported as saying that the expansion of the $500,000 grant program to include music recordings and videos was at least partly motivated by the findings of the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which put a spotlight on significant gender inequalities in the music industry.

Annenberg’s study of the music industry from 2013 onward found that across 600 popular songs only 2% of credited producers, 2.6% of engineers and mixers and 22.4% of artists were women. Just 10% of Grammy nominees in that time period were women.

The grants, administered by the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), represent the second round of a $5 million, three-year program made possible through MOME. This year, a total of $1.5 million has already been awarded to 63 film, TV, theatre and digital media projects made by creatives identifying as women.

Applications and detailed guidelines for this latest round of funding will be available beginning July 10 to female-identifying producers, composers, engineers, solo musicians, ensemble bands and orchestras based in New York City. Recipients will be announced in March 2020.

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Grants up to a maximum of $20,000 are being offered to help offset recording costs, studio and equipment rentals, promotional materials such as videos and other expenses associated with music creation. Qualifying applicants cannot be signed to a major label and must be able to demonstrate a growing fan base and a healthy live show history. Applicants will be expected to submit at least three songs or 30 minutes of material to qualify.

New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment • www1.nyc.gov/site/mome/index.page

New York Foundation for the Arts • www.nyfa.org

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