We support projects and award grants to:
- Applications for musical projects that closely address one of our focus areas in old classical music
- Musical projects that are clearly defined
- Musical projects that are in the start phase, but have potential to expand to a larger and/or extended body of participants and beneficiaries. I.e., projects meeting our criteria with scalability
- Musical events, both large and small
- Musical performances of old classical music, by:
- individual musicians
- ensembles
- larger groups
- Certain longer term musical projects
- Based on merit, we may guarantee funding over a period of five or even ten years
In general, we work to support high quality projects, we engage in partnerships with other foundations and charitable organisations sharing the same goals as ourselves and we often take a long term perspective in the areas we support. For example, our funding for a specific project may extend over many years where we guarantee, on continued fulfilment of certain terms and conditions, the continued funding over five or even ten years of a specific project with multiple performances over the time span.
Further we look to support worthy projects that may have been neglected or under-resourced. For example, we may support the performance of certain musical works that have not received much attention or works that have not been performed since the time of writing. We also look to support the performance of old works on old ( i.e. period) instruments, providing a degree of authenticity to the performance not possible with modern instruments in modern tuning.
Recipients of grants may include:
- Professional musicians, music ensembles or small groups active in Switzerland
- Concerts, music festivals or event organisers in Switzerland
- Guest appearances by Swiss musicians at festivals in other countries
The support of Freunde der Alten Musik can be the start of a long term mutual relationship. We value long term relationships and work to build partnerships. We actively monitor, accompany and support projects on a larger scale over extended periods of time. Depending on the project, particularly for larger projects, specific goals, objectives, performance metrics and other criteria for evaluation may be agreed on to qualify for continued support.
Not Supported: We do not award grants for music composed outside of the timeframe 1200-1800AD. No modern or experimental music, jazz, pop, rock or any other form will be supported. We do not support exclusively commercial projects nor any group or individual promoting political or religious views. We don’t support individuals unassociated with a foundation, event, performance or musical group, unless under special circumstances for an educational project. “plug-financing” for already on-going projects is not provided nor is any funding provided for projects related to activities that fall within the responsibilities of a government agency. We don’t support anniversaries, prizes or competitions, nor amateur performances, books or funding for infrastructure and running costs of existing institutions. We do not support research or study projects, unless in the special situation that it leads to a concert.