Music Unwound

FAIN: GG-290712-23

Brevard Music Center, Inc. (Brevard, NC 28712-0312)
Joseph I. Horowitz (Project Director: August 2022 to present)

Implementation of a series of public programs bringing historical and cultural context to performances of early twentieth-century classical music.

This application requests a $398,946 Humanities Discussions grant for “Music Unwound,” a consortium of orchestras, music festivals, and institutions of higher education determined to prioritize humanities-infusion as a strategy of audience growth and engagement. The grant would fund 9 cross-disciplinary festivals in 6 states. The centerpiece of each festival is a scripted concert with a continuous visual track. The music is placed in a cultural/historical context via multimedia components including actors, photographs, film, and scholarly commentary. Each festival includes additional ancillary events. Each deals with a topic in American music – and uses that as a springboard to explore present-day concerns. The audiences are exceptionally diverse. All events prioritize audience discussions. The applicant organizations include 3 orchestras, a music festival, and 2 schools of music. The application also includes 3 NPR documentaries.