North Yorkshire’s New York Brass Band at MJF 2013 Photo Credit: Alex Quan

Festival Director Steve Mead is letting us know that applications are now open for mjf Originals, a scheme by the Manchester Jazz Festival for composer-musicians. The Festival is commissioning new jazz works to be premièred at MJF 2014.

The scheme was founded in 2009 and focuses mostly on developing the career and profile of artists living and working in the Manchester area.

FROM THE PRESS RELEASE:

– Projects must demonstrably feature and/or further the careers of NW artists

– Projects can be submitted by individuals or by groups (although a project leader/manager will be the main point of contact)

– National and international collaborations (e.g. projects involving a guest high-profile performer or composer) are welcome but must be proven to be essential to the project in order to justify extra costs

– mjf will also welcome proposals that profile the work of a composer, or a series of composers, in a way that does not necessarily present music in the form of a ‘suite’ – thereby removing the limitation of having to produce a certain amount of work that will fill a concert-length performance

– Cross-artform projects will be encouraged; although fees for artists from other disciplines will be met, a strong case must be made by the applicant for mjf to direct its subsidy towards non-musical artists
– mjf will accept proposals from other arts organisations that fuse their work with that of regional jazz artists in a pioneering way.

To enter, please email a 100-word proposal to festival[@]manchesterjazz.com, with “mjf originals” as the subject. If this meets the criteria, they will email you back with the full policy and application form to complete before the deadline of 28th November 2013.

The full criteria and instructions are HERE