Project funding

Program description

The aim of the Music Fund is to promote contemporary music of all genres in all its diversity and complexity. The Music Fund focuses on highly ambitious music that understands art as an end in itself, as an existential-creative necessity or consequence of an indispensable will to express itself and is not commercially oriented. With radiance and depth, it is independent, forward-looking and experimental, ahead of its time and visionary, explosive, controversial, provocative and thus also formative for established, economically viable parts of the music business. The Musikfonds promotes avant-garde music of all genres, including new music and contemporary modernism; jazz and improvised music; free music and real-time music; electronic and electro-acoustic music; experimental hip-hop, pop and rock; radical trends in DJing and dance music; audio installations and sound art.

In accordance with its statutes, the Musikfonds e.V. supports outstanding projects in all areas of contemporary music that are characterized by their quality, make an exemplary contribution to the artistic development of music and, when viewed together, make the overall national significance of the funding visible.

Applications for projects with application amounts between €3,001 and a maximum of €50,000 can be submitted by two fixed deadlines per year.

Eligible expenses within the scope of project funding are in particular

• Artistic fees of an appropriate amount (minimum fee per concert € 300)
• Other project-related personnel costs
• Event and production costs
• Travel and accommodation costs in accordance with the Federal Travel Expenses Act (BRKG)

Institution

Musikfonds e.V.

At the suggestion of the State Minister for Culture and the Media, Prof. Monika Grütters, the Musikfonds e.V. was founded by seven associations and institutions of musical life in Germany in September 2016. The aim of the Music Fund is to promote contemporary music of all genres in all its diversity and complexity. A total of 1.1 million € is available annually for the fund from the State Minister for Culture and the Media. The Music Fund focuses on highly ambitious music that is not primarily economically or populistically targeted, but rather sees art as an end in itself, as an existential-creative necessity or a consequence of an indispensable will to express oneself. With radiance and depth, it is independent, future-oriented and experimental, ahead of its time and visionary, explosive, controversial, provocative and thus formative and determining even for established, economically viable parts of the music business. With its funding measures, the Music Fund addresses areas, intersections and interdisciplinary approaches of new music, contemporary modernism, jazz, electroacoustic music, free music improvised music, real-time music, experimental rock and pop of the subculture, radical currents of electro and dance, hardcore and ensemble formations of all sizes, audio installations or sound art.

Deadline

Application deadlines for large project funding:

1st funding round 2025: Application deadline March 31 (18:00 CET)

2nd funding round 2025: Application deadline September 30 (18:00 CET)

Funding criteria

The Music Fund supports all genres of contemporary music equally and is open to cross-genre and interdisciplinary approaches. A variety of event and presentation formats are conceivable, and the focus is on artistic experimentation and research.

Formal requirements:

• Applicants must be professionally active in the field of contemporary music.
• Applicants or applicant organizations must have their place of residence or business in Germany and the planned project must (mainly) take place in Germany.
• Projects for which funding is applied for must not have started at the time of the funding decision by the Board of Trustees.
• Projects applied for must be presented publicly.
• The Music Fund may not support projects that receive funding from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM) or from an institution permanently funded by the BKM. (These include, for example, the Federal Cultural Foundation, the Capital Cultural Fund, the German Music Council, the Music Initiative, the Performing Arts Fund, the Socioculture Fund, etc.).

The Music Fund supports all genres of contemporary music equally and is open to cross-genre and interdisciplinary approaches. A variety of event and presentation formats are conceivable, and the focus is on artistic experimentation and research.

Additional conditions

The following event formats are not eligible for funding:

• charity events
• pure audio or video productions
• Educational trips and trips abroad
• Projects that do not take place within Germany
• Applications from musicians or applicants not based in Germany
• Purely educational projects, university projects
• competitions

Acquisitions (e.g. instruments or electronic equipment) are generally not eligible for funding.

Music projects without a clearly recognizable experimental, professional reference are not in the funding focus of the Music Fund and have little prospect of funding.

Application type

electronic application system

Application procedure/documents

Applications can only be submitted via the online application system.

These documents are required for the application:

• 4 short texts describing the project proposal
• Current music examples of the musicians involved (ad-free weblinks!)
• Detailed project description (max. 5 pages, incl. pictures)
• Venue certificates of the planned venues
• Short biographies of the musicians/composers involved and, if applicable, the artistic director and production manager
• Financing plan as specified by the Music Fund.

Further information on the documents to be submitted can be found in the information sheet available for download on the website.

FAQ Url

Funded by

The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media

Funding area

Germany

Funding source of the institution

federal government