New Performance Traditions
For General Operating Support
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Amount$120,000
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Program
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Date Awarded3/16/2015
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Term36 Months
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Type of SupportGeneral Support/Organization
Strategies
Overview
The San Francisco-based Paul Dresher Ensemble is an innovative electro-acoustic collective of musicians that engages more than 3,000 audience members each year; collaborates with composers, theater, and dance companies; and produces and tours with its own assortment of experimental music theater in more than forty shows annually. The organization’s instrumentation combines traditional acoustic and contemporary instruments created by its musicians. During the grant period, the organization plans to collaborate with a local autism behavioral organization to develop a walk-through sound installation of musical instruments, intended to be the base for a theater piece called Max Understood, specifically designed to accommodate people on the autism spectrum. The ensemble also plans to tour locally and nationally, commission new work, collaborate with a host of musicians and composers, provide residency and fiscal sponsorship opportunities for local artists and arts organizations, and present instrument-building workshops with elementary schools in the region.
About the Grantee
Grantee Website
www.newperformancetraditions.org
Address
55 Taylor Street, San Francisco, CA, 94102-3916, United States
Grants to this Grantee
for general operating support
The Paul Dresher Ensemble is a contemporary music organization dedicated to today’s most innovative and irreverent composers. Engaging more than 3,000 audience members each year through productions and tours of opera works and experimental music theater, the group performs contemporary compositions with a combination of traditional acoustic and contemporary electronic instruments. During the grant period, the organization plans to continue performing locally and nationally, to formalize its technical and production support services for local artists into an artist residency program, and to increase individual donations through increased board involvement in fundraising.
for the 2021 50 Arts Commissions for folk and traditional arts
In recognition of the Hewlett Foundation’s 50th anniversary, the Hewlett 50 Arts Commissions initiative supports the creation and premiere of 50 exceptional works of performing arts. This grant will support Musical Traditions in commissioning, developing, and presenting “The Rebirth of Aspara: Artistic Lineage, Cultural Resilience, and the resurrection of Cambodian Arts from the Ashes of Genocide.” The lead artist is classical Cambodian dancer, choreographer, and singer Charya Burt. The work will combine re-imagined traditional dance, as well as music and poetry, to explore how Khmer arts have embodied the essence of Cambodian culture from ancient mythology to its post-genocide revitalization.
