PRS Foundation, the UK’s leading charitable funder of new music and talent development, together with Jerwood Arts, the leading independent funder for early-career UK artists, curators and producers, announce today (Thursday 19^th May 2022) the latest talented composers to receive the ground-breaking Composers’ Fund are: 

Alex Ho – Expanding the “Ye Xian: A Story Untold” (anti-)opera
Alex Mills – Recording and production of debut album
Ben Lunn – Composing partner pieces to accompany “Vox Clamantis”, to create a large orchestral symphonic work
Laura Reid – Recordings of new work for vocals, instruments and sounds and a sound walk fusing geo-located software
Seckou Keita – Writing first concerto for Kora
The Venus Bushfires – New work telling British stories from trending topics on Twitter (UK), from a Nigerian perspective expressed through indigenous, African and Western classical instruments
William Mival – A major new work for the Philharmonia Orchestra

Elizabeth Sills, Grants & Programmes Manager at PRS Foundation said. “Congratulations to each of the seven exceptional composers in this round of funding. We’re delighted that through The Composers’ Fund we are able to support talented composers at crucial stages in their careers to take that next step in their development. Together with our friends at Jerwood Arts, we are very much looking forward to seeing the impact of this support for their respective projects on each of their careers moving forward.”

Jon Opie, Deputy Director, Jerwood Arts said “We’re delighted that our funding can unlock critical financial support for two exceptional composers with bold ideas for their projects and future careers. The prospect of Alex Mills’ debut album is a very exciting one, giving him a timely opportunity to consolidate following so many successful commissions in recent years. Ben Lunn’s proposal to scale up and build on his recent work created at Royal Scottish National Orchestra is exactly the step-change support this fund can accelerate so well. Congratulations to all the composers!”

The Composers’ Fund supports the creative and professional development of talented composers with a strong track record and at pivotal stages in their career. Launched by PRS Foundation in 2016 the fund offers grants of up to £10,000 to support and enable composers to realise projects and ambitions that may not be possible through traditional commissioning models.

Since its launch the fund has supported projects such as recordings, the promotion and performance of existing works, international co-commissions and development, performer collaboration, residencies, sabbaticals or childcare costs and project or promotional support.

This round is the fourth in partnership with Jerwood Arts, which since 2020 has enabled increased support to those composers that meet the fund’s criteria and whose activities take place in the UK and who are less than 10 years into their career.

Both organisations recognise the impact the COVID-19 crisis has had and is still having on composer careers’ and this has been reflected in the criteria and decision-making processes. 

The next deadline to apply for Composers’ Fund support will be announced on the PRS Foundation website here