New England Folk Music Archives — Cambridge, Mass.
Awarded: $15,000
The Archive’s goal is long-term preservation, cataloguing, storing, and dissemination of historic Club 47's most fragile reel-to-reels of live performances and field recordings (1958–1963) and related oral histories on audiocassettes (1990–2007). This unique collection contextualizes the New England music scene and its influence on the mid-20th century folk revival. www.newenglandfolkmusic.org
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For Immediate Release
NEWS RELEASE
GRAMMY FOUNDATION® GRANT PROGRAM AWARDS $100,000 IN GRANTS FOR MUSIC RESEARCH AND SOUND PRESERVATION
Funds Will Provide Support For Archiving And Preservation Programs And Research Efforts
That Investigate The Impact Of Music On Human Development
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (March 10, 2010) — The GRAMMY Foundation® Grant Program announced today that $100,000 in grants will be awarded to nine recipients in the United States, Canada and the Dominican Republic. Funds will be given to help facilitate a range of research, archiving and preservation projects on a variety of subjects including: investigating links between pre-school children's rhythm ability and their pre-reading skills; completing the preservation and digitization of the world's most complete collection of commercially recorded Mexican-American vernacular music; and creating a preservation plan for the collection of recordings of Roy Harris, a renowned 20th century American classical music composer. A complete list of grant awards and projects is attached. The deadline each year for submitting letters of inquiry is Oct. 1. Applications for the 2011 cycle will be available at www.grammyfoundation/grants in June 2010.
"Over the past 23 years, our GRAMMY Foundation Grant Program has supported an extraordinary range of projects," said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy® and the GRAMMY Foundation. "What is equally significant to the range of research, preservation and archiving activities that we have supported is the ongoing need for resources to safeguard our cultural legacy and fund new discoveries at the crossroads of music and science. The Recording Academy and the GRAMMY Foundation are proud of our commitment to this important work."
The GRAMMY Foundation Grants Program is generously funded by The Recording Academy. To date, the Grant Program has awarded $5.4 million to more than 250 noteworthy projects. The Grant Program provides funding annually to organizations and individuals to support efforts that advance the archiving and preservation of the recorded sound heritage of the Americas for future generations, as well as research projects related to the impact of music on the human condition. In 2008 the Grant Program expanded its granting categories to include planning grants for individuals and small- to mid-sized organizations to assist collections held by individuals and organizations that may not have access to the expertise needed to create a preservation plan. The planning process, which may include inventorying and stabilizing a collection, articulates the steps to be taken to ultimately archive recorded sound materials for future generations.
The GRAMMY Foundation was established in 1989 to cultivate the understanding, appreciation and advancement of the contribution of recorded music to American culture — from the artistic and technical legends of the past to the still unimagined musical breakthroughs of future generations of music professionals. The Foundation accomplishes this mission through programs and activities that engage the music industry and cultural community as well as the general public. The Foundation works in partnership year-round with its founder, The Recording Academy, to bring national attention to important issues such as the value and impact of music and arts education and the urgency of preserving our rich cultural heritage. For more information, please visit www.grammyfoundation.com.
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Established in 1957, The Recording Academy is an organization of musicians, producers, engineers and recording professionals that is dedicated to improving the cultural condition and quality of life for music and its makers. Internationally known for the GRAMMY Awards — the preeminent peer-recognized award for musical excellence and the most credible brand in music — The Recording Academy is responsible for groundbreaking professional development, cultural enrichment, advocacy, education and human services programs. The Academy continues to focus on its mission of recognizing musical excellence, advocating for the well-being of music makers and ensuring music remains an indelible part of our culture. For more information about The Academy, please visit www.grammy.com. For breaking news and exclusive content, join the organization's social networks on Facebook (www.facebook.com/thegrammys), MySpace (www.myspace.com/thegrammys), Twitter (www.twitter.com/thegrammys), and YouTube (www.youtube.com/thegrammys).
Preservation Implementation
Arhoolie Foundation — El Cerrito, Calif.
Awarded: $10,000
The Frontera Collection is the world's most complete gathering of commercially recorded Mexican-American vernacular music. Recognizing the historical value of this one-of-a-kind collection, the Arhoolie Foundation, in partnership with the UCLA Digital Library, has successfully preserved, digitized, and created public access to more than 50,000 individual performances captured on 78 rpm and 45 rpm records. 12,000 45s are still in urgent need of preservation. The project's goal is to ensure the long-term survival of this unique cultural asset. www.arhooliefoundation.org
Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College — Chicago
Awarded: $15,000
This project will digitize, archive, preserve, and make available to the public 142 audio cassettes (194 hours) containing in-depth interviews with 100 important Jamaican studio musicians, arrangers, and vocalists. The interviews feature the musicians who created the genres of ska, rocksteady, and reggae during the '60s and '70s, and reveal in great detail how these new forms actually emerged and what their creators thought about the creative process. www.colum.edu/cbmr/
New England Folk Music Archives — Cambridge, Mass.
Awarded: $15,000
The Archive’s goal is long-term preservation, cataloguing, storing, and dissemination of historic Club 47's most fragile reel-to-reels of live performances and field recordings (1958–1963) and related oral histories on audiocassettes (1990–2007). This unique collection contextualizes the New England music scene and its influence on the mid-20th century folk revival. www.newenglandfolkmusic.org
Preservation Planning
California State University, Los Angeles Foundation — Los Angeles
Awarded: $5,000
This project will create a preservation plan for recordings in the Roy Harris Collection housed in the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library at California State University, Los Angeles. Roy Harris is one of the 20th century's two or three most prominent American classical music composers. Among the Collection's recordings are 300 to 350 audio cassettes. These personal recordings are of high historical value, showing the process of composition, and may include previously unpublished works. www.calstatela.edu
Centro Cultural Eduardo León Jimenes — Santiago, Dominican Republic
Awarded: $5,000
This collection holds all recordings folklorist Fradique Lizardo (1930-1997) made during four decades of fieldwork. The breadth of his work is unmatched; the collection is likely the largest of its type held in the Dominican Republic. The project's aim is to determine the collection's conservation status, contents, and copyright status. Final outcomes will include a conservation report, digitization and access plan, and preparation of a preservation implementation grant. www.centroleon.org.do
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Lower East Side Tenement Museum — New York
Awarded: $5,000
The Lower East Side Tenement Museum seeks to analyze the audio holdings in its archive to determine their content and current state of preservation, and create a sustainable plan for the long-term maintenance and playback of the collection. The Museum will fully catalogue its audio materials by collecting information about each recording, and work with an audio preservation consultant to ensure its audio holdings are properly converted and stored. www.tenement.org
University of the Pacific — Stockton, Calif.
Awarded: $5,000
The project will conduct a preservation assessment and develop a preservation plan to guide the conservation and digitization of endangered audio and video tapes of legendary jazz musician Dave Brubeck as part of the Dave Brubeck Collection. www.pacific.edu
Research
McGill University — Montreal, Quebec
Awarded: $20,000
This project will use music and brain imaging tools to study auditory perception and brain differences in young adults ages 18 – 30 with autism. As a non-verbal tool, music is a unique means to study autistic individuals, who often have language impairments. This research may lead to the development of novel auditory musical-based intervention programs to improve social functioning in people with autism. www.bic.mni.mcgill.ca/~hydek/
Tufts Center for Reading & Language Research — Medford, Mass.
Awarded: $20,000
This study will investigate links between pre-school children's rhythm ability and their pre-reading skills, with a goal of determining the relationships between rhythm skills and predictors of later reading achievement. The study's long-term goals are to use pre-school rhythm ability measures to predict future reading disability and to use music training to bolster reading acquisition and as an early intervention for reading disability. www.ase.tufts.edu/crlr/
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