Proposals For 2004 SOUNZ Community Commission

Proposals Sought For 2004 SOUNZ Community Commission

PRESS RELEASE:

PROPOSALS SOUGHT FOR 2004 SOUNZ COMMUNITY COMMISSION

SOUNZ, the Centre for NZ Music is pleased to announce that proposals are being sought for the 2004 SOUNZ Community Commission.

Thanks to an anonymous international donor, $1,500 is available for a free-lance New Zealand composer to create a work for any community group that they have never worked with before.

The aim is to bring contemporary music to the attention of the community and give a community group the experience of working with a professional composer.

"Either the composer or the community group can initiate the project proposal', says Scilla Askew, Executive Director of SOUNZ.

SOUNZ can help to team up interested community groups with appropriate composers.

"There are countless possible outcomes from this initiative' says Askew. "The music need not be written for traditional musical instruments and the performers need not be musicians themselves, but it is great when a new work is created that can then be performed by other groups around the country'.

Two years ago, Steve Gallagher worked with primary school students to create music which was then used for Capital E National Theatre for Children's production of "Motormouth'.

Suggestions for projects from community groups and/or composers should be forwarded to SOUNZ by 30 June 2004 with the intended project to be completed by March 31 2005.

The recipient of the commission is decided by the anonymous donor.

Previous recipients have included Jonathan Besser, who wrote music for the millennium parade in Gisborne, Waiheke Island based composer Helen Bowater, who wrote music for massed recorders and Indonesian Gamelan and most recently, Jeff Henderson, improviser from Wellington, who worked with students from the Saturday morning Auckland Academy music class to create an improvised work for the (09)03 Contemporary Music Festival.

The Community Commission has existed for five years now and funding is secured for another five years.

SOUNZ can also be contacted with expressions of interest in supporting similar schemes to create opportunities for NZ composers.

ENDS

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