MINNESOTA COMPOSERS FORUM:

The Minnesota Composers Forum was organized in 1973 by Libby Larsen and Stephen Paulus, then music students at the University of Minnesota, to provide financial backing and performance opportunities for composers of new music. It began as a series of "informal forums" presented at Scott Hall (University of Minnesota), and later developed into formal programs presented at the Walker Art Center, the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center (Macalester College), the Minnesota Federation of Music Clubs, Minnesota Public Radio, Thursday Musicale, and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. For these concerts it received funding from the University of Minnesota, the Minnesota State Arts Board, and the National Federation of Music Clubs.

In 1975 the Forum was incorporated and established its headquarters in St. Paul. Later, the Forum received more financial assistance from a number of Minnesota foundations and was able to establish a recording program.

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Minutes of board, executive committee, and staff meetings contain information on all aspects of the Forum's activities, including its financial condition and support, budgets, fundraising activities, board membership, resignations from and elections to the board, bylaws changes, and discussions of the Forum's philosophy and aims. The board consisted of composers and community leaders. This information is supplemented by fairly complete sets of newspaper clippings, news releases, and newsletters. The clippings also contain reviews of musical performances.

Four major activities of the Forum are documented in the records of the Performance Assistance Fund, which provided financial support to composers and was funded by the Northwest Area Foundation; the Ensemble Reading Fund, funded by the Dayton Hudson Foundation, which allowed composers to attend rehearsals of their works; the Composers Commissioning Program, funded by the Jerome Foundation to create interest in and support of the composition and performance of new works; and the Demo-Tape Recording Project, which provided funds for recording new works. These files contain correspondence, reports, application forms from composers, lists of composers accepted by the programs, and related records.

At the end of the collection are grant files documenting gifts from individual foundations and government granting agencies. The files contain correspondence, reports, some financial data, and related records.

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Minnesota Composers Forum. Organizational Records. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 14,998

Processing Information:

Processed by: Kathryn A. Johnson, September 1994.

Catalog ID number: 990017313990104294

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Related materials: Minnesota Composers Forum recordings and scores are held by the University of Minnesota Music Library.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Charitable uses, trusts, and foundations -- Minnesota.

Composition (Music)

Corporate sponsorship -- Minnesota.

Grants-in-aid -- Minnesota.

Music patronage -- Minnesota.

Musical groups -- Minnesota.

Persons:

Dirlam, Richard.

Larsen, Libby.

Skrowaczewski, Stanisław, 1923-2017.

Organizations:

Bush Foundation -- Art patronage.

Center for Arts Criticism (Minneapolis, Minn.)

Composers Commissioning Program.

Dale Warland Singers.

Dayton Hudson Foundation -- Art patronage.

Ensemble Reading Fund.

Innova Recordings (Firm)

Jerome Foundation -- Art patronage.

McKnight Foundation -- Art patronage.

Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (Minn.).

Minnesota Humanities Commission -- Arts patronage.

Minnesota State Arts Board.

National Endowment for the Humanities -- Art patronage.

Northwest Area Foundation (U.S.) -- Art patronage.

Performance Assistance Fund.

St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

St. Paul Companies -- Art patronage.

United Arts (Minnesota)

Walker Art Center.

Places:

Minneapolis Metropolitan Area (Minn.)

Saint Paul Metropolitan Area (Minn.)

Occupations:

Composers -- Minnesota.

Musicians -- Minnesota.

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