New Music USA Announces 2025 Creator Fund Awardees
Total of $224,000 Awarded to 62 Creators from the South, West, and New York
Inaugural Thea Musgrave Performer – Composer Collaboration Grant Awarded to Zachary Mowitz and Juantio Becenti
New Music USA is thrilled to announce the selection of 62 grantees for the New Music Creator Fund, which offers grants to individual music creators working in any genre to reach the next stage of their creative practice. Totaling $224,000 in funding across 14 states, this year’s awards support a range of activities that span the musical spectrum, with collaboration around new music creation as a central element.
The inaugural Thea Musgrave Performer – Composer Collaboration Grant is awarded to Los Angeles-based cellist Zachary Mowitz and composer Juantio Becenti. Mowitz will commission a new work by Becenti for his ensemble, Nodality Music, that addresses the environmental injustices faced by Becenti’s Diné (Navajo) community, with a special focus on land justice and clean water access. Their $10,000 grant, made possible through the endowed gift of esteemed composer Thea Musgrave and her husband, renowned opera director Peter Mark, will support the commissioning of the work as well as dedicated workshop time between Becenti and the performers to enhance the strength of their collaboration.
In alignment with the Creator Fund’s new regional focus, this year’s program was open to music creators based in the South, West, and New York. Next year’s program will be open to creators based in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and New York.
The 2025 grantees, who represent 14 states, reflect a broad range of perspectives and styles and exemplify the expansive ecosystem for new music that New Music USA is dedicated to supporting.
Creator Fund grants will support costs that relate to the development of new and existing ideas and projects, collaboration with other artists and practitioners, and any activities that help creators realize their goals, including childcare costs, technical assistance/skills building, and more.
See the full list of awardees below and on the New Music Creator Fund Program Page, and discover their work on these playlists:
2025 Creator Fund Spotify Playlist
2025 Creator Fund YouTube Playlist
New Music USA is committed to making all its grant programs equitable, by removing barriers in the application process and by elevating all artists and organizations that receive our support.
Creator Fund applicants are given straightforward guidelines and are asked to supply a brief project description (either written or video recorded) and work samples.
Applications are reviewed by a pool of independent peers from our community. For this round, which attracted 475 applications, New Music USA engaged 36 artists, composers, musicians, and administrators from locations around the country to serve on a single-stage application review panel.
Scott Winship, New Music USA’s Interim Co-Executive Director and Director of Grantmaking Programs, says:
“We are proud of our continued support of individual music creators and their collaborators, helping them bring their musical ideas to life. The high quality of the work being done by this year’s Creator Fund awardees and applicants reinforces the extraordinary breadth and strength of the new music community. Our move to regional application cycles allows us to deepen the impact of the program in each area, helping us to more strategically expand our national reach. Congratulations to this year’s awardees!”
Los Angeles-based awardee Zachary Mowitz, one of the inaugural recipients of The Thea Musgrave Performer-Composer Collaboration Grant, adds:
“So often composers are expected to simply deliver the parts while the performers are expected to just make it happen with however many rehearsals they’ve been allotted. It makes all the difference, though, when you can spend meaningful time with the composer from conception through performance. This grant allows us to do just that with Tio, and furthermore it will help us set a collaborative model for the rest of Nodality Music’s Climate Commissions. Thank you, Thea and Peter, for providing the means to bring Tio’s new work to the world in the most inspired and impactful way possible!”
Rashaan Barber, an awardee based in Chapel Hill, NC shares:
“I’m incredibly excited to produce my first recorded venture (as a bandleader) into the world of funk and to do so in tribute to Maceo Parker, a legendary saxophonist I’ve admired since first becoming aware of his contributions as a bandleader and sideman with countless incredible artists. The funds will be used to pay studio and musician costs, and the project will feature musicians who, like Parker, either hail from North Carolina or reside in the state.”
New York-based awardee Aaron Helgeson says:
“Big ideas need adventurous partners like New Music USA. When The Crossing and I first started work on ‘The Book of Never’ in 2017, we didn’t know its themes of political exile and religious persecution in Ukraine and beyond would become more and more prescient as the creative process unfolded over years of war, conspiracy, and censorship. The Creator Fund allows us to present this work in a moment of heartbreaking relevance at home and abroad.”
2025 New Music Creator Fund Awardees
Thea Musgrave Performer-Composer Collaboration Grant:
Zachary Mowitz (Los Angeles, CA) & Juantio Becenti
New York:
Aaron Helgeson (New York, NY)
Adriana Vergara (New York, NY)
Anahita Abbasi (New York, NY)
Annea Lookwood & Nate Wooley (Crompond, NY)
Antonín Fajt (Queens, NY)
Berta Moreno (New York, NY)
Celeste Oram (New York, NY)
Charles Rudig (Brooklyn, NY)
David First (Brooklyn, NY)
Elizabeth Kate (Brooklyn, NY)
Evis Sammoutis (Ithaca, NY)
Frankie Leroux (Astoria, NY)
Jane Ira Bloom (New York, NY)
Jeong Lim Yang (Brooklyn, NY)
Julia Rocha-Nava (Brooklyn, NY)
Justine F. Chen (New York, NY)
Kelly Schenk (Brooklyn, NY)
Layale Chaker (Brooklyn, NY)
Lea Bertucci (Kingston, NY)
Lucas Tahiruzzama (Astoria, NY)
Majid Khaliq (Bronx, NY)
Melvis Santa (Brooklyn, NY)
Sahara von Hattenberger (New York, NY)
Sam Friedman (Astoria, NY)
Sam Kogon (Larchmont, NY)
Sarah Overton (Brooklyn, NY)
South:
Alfred Yun (Centreville, VA)
Ami Dang (Baltimore, MD)
Brent Gossett (Baltimore, MD)
Crystal Autumn (Stone Mountain, GA)
Eric Hirsh (Durham, NC)
Esther Reina (Bentonville, AR)
Michael Gancz (Rockville, MD)
Kayla Verse (Newnan, GA)
Michael J. Hall (Ridgeland, MI)
Monica Shriver (Antioch, TN)
Morayo Orekoya (Arlington, TX)
Nick Finzer (Denton, TX)
Rahsaan Barber (Chapel Hill, NC)
Sofia Goodman (Smyrna, TN)
Somalia (Brookhaven, GA)
West:
Andrew Tholl (Studio City, CA)
Andrew A. Watts (Solvang, CA)
Angelo Velasquez (Camarillo, CA)
Hovia Edwards (Pocatello, ID)
Igor Santos (Claremont, CA)
J.R. Rhodes (Seattle, WA)
Joseph Bohigian (Berkeley, CA)
Josiah Tayag Catalan (Sacramento, CA)
Karen Joyce (Pasadena, CA)
Kiazi Malonga (Oakland, CA)
Leilehua Lanzilotti & brooke smiley (Honolulu, HI)
Matthew Holmes (Portland, OR)
Melanie DeMore (Oakland, CA)
Mina Choi (Fullerton, CA)
Richard An & Gillian Rae Perry (Pasadena, CA)
San Cha (Alhambra, CA)
Sanaya Ardeshir (Sandunes) (Los Angeles, CA)
SHE MONSTER (Altadena, CA)
Takuma Itoh (Honolulu, HI)
William Roper (Altadena, CA)
