alright so maybe people really don't know what it's like to be on this side of things, and i guess it's our job to tell em. again, this is just my perspective, but i imagine it's similar for others.

here's how commissioning has gone for me and also for the duo

somehow i find a composer either from having observed who recommends who in the circles i'm in, or from having researched. after pondering if it's a good musical fit for what i'm presently interested in, i usually send some sort of email that's like

"hey bach, love your cello suites, and some of the keyboard partitas. would you be down to do a chaconne for solo guitar?"

and bach responds with something like

"hey jimbo, thanks for your kind words. i'd love to, but i've got the matthew passion coming up...

...so it might be about 6 more months until i can get to it. my price for a guitar chaconne would be $2000."

i think composers should make what they ask for, and i think they should be given what they need to pay rent and buy food, so almost 100% of the time i agree...

...to the quote though sometimes that comes with the agreement that we work out the payments to be distributed in a way that's not a single huge hit.

so the question i'm asking is where does everyone think the $2000 bach wants is coming from?

thanks jimbo for asking!

let's start locally. our local arts philanthropic org is the fund for the arts here in louisville. the fund has 1 granting opportunity a year open to individual artists, and from having worked there i do not recall really any individuals...

...actually having been awarded in the last few years. so that's no good.

on the state level we have the kentucky arts council. they do not fund artists to pay other artists for commissions like this. they will fund a composer to write a piece if they're based in ky

(tyler and susanna if you're reading this yes i am mad that 2 people i've never met moved across the river )

so again, no real luck there, as bach is now based in brooklyn.

regionally, there's south arts, but from what i've seen on an individual level they fund...

traditional arts like folk music, bluegrass music etc. but not this sort of thing

what about foundations?

typically they only fund 501c3s and well jimbo is a solo act. there are surely exceptions, but that's usually how it goes.

i guess now we're at the national level for things like new music usa which is.... well it is what it is.

and beyond that there's not reallllllly a lot else that's not obscenely competitive, bc as we just saw there's so few opportunities.

we're back where we started with me giving bach 2k of my own money bc it's what i believe in, and bc there really aren't any other options. so when someone struggles to pay the fee it's, again this is just from my experience and on a individual/duo level, not us "refusing"

as much as it is that there aren't really other options.

i and the people that i see who care a lot about this are not trying to deny composers their experiences, which i am certainly sure absolutely can suck.

but from having logged on every day for months now and seeing...

...these convos where composers keeeeep shitting on their collaborators, we absolutely need more understanding of what it's like over here if we're gonna continue to keep going to bat for you.

it's totally fair to be mad at such and such large ensemble that's selling you short

but on the individual level we're often doing this on our own, and trying real hard to promote you and say good things about you. we don't need your praise or gratitude, just like, be kinder and channel your energy to the big funders/govt who don't make opportunities available.

i'm probably forgetting something, and this stops short of the opportunities there are for performing the music, but i'm busy.