Site Search

Rhode Island composers who dream of having the resources to push their work to the next level have until Aug. 10 to apply for $30,000 fellowships from the Rhode Island Foundation. The grants are considered to be among the largest no-strings-attached awards available to composers in the United States.

The Foundation will award grants to three emerging or mid-career composers through its Robert and Margaret MacColl Johnson Fellowship Fund. The awards are intended to free them to concentrate time on the creative process, to focus on personal or professional development, to expand their body of work and to explore new directions.

“By offering the financial support these composers need in order to hone their craft we are investing in them, and in growing a sector that makes our state such a wonderful place to live,” said David N. Cicilline, president and CEO. “This assistance demonstrates the importance we put on investing in Rhode Island’s cultural life.”

Previous recipients of the fellowships for composers include cellist Adrienne Taylor, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Courtney Swain and Kristina Warren, who composes and performs electroacoustic music.

Applicants must have been residents of Rhode Island for at least 12 months prior to the Aug. 10 deadline. High school students, college and graduate students who are enrolled in a degree-granting program and composers who have advanced levels of career achievement are not eligible.

Applicants will be judged on the quality of their work samples, their artistic development and their creative contribution to the arts, as well as the potential of the fellowship to advance their career.

Submissions may be of any genre of original musical composition, including chamber, choral, contemporary, electronic, experimental, jazz, opera, musical theater, symphonic and world music, among others.

Although the fellowships are unrestricted, recipients are expected to devote concentrated time to their art and to engage in activities that further their artistic growth. Examples include creating new work, training in technologies or techniques, purchasing equipment, travel, research and developing artistic endeavors.

The recipients will be selected by a panel of out-of-state jurors who are industry professionals managed by the Artist Communities Alliance. For more information about applying for a MacColl Johnson Fellowship, visit artistcommunities.org.

The Fellowships are just one example of the Foundation’s support for the arts. In 2025 alone, the Foundation made more than $4.3 million in grants through its Civic and Cultural Life Community Priority.

Established in 2003, the MacColl Johnson Fellowships rotate among composers, writers and visual artists over a three-year cycle. Next year’s round will be awarded to writers.

Rhode Islanders Robert and Margaret MacColl Johnson were dedicated to the arts all their lives. Mrs. Johnson, who died in 1990, earned a degree in creative writing from Roger Williams College when she was 70. Mr. Johnson invented a new process for mixing metals in jewelry-making and then retired to become a full-time painter. Before he died in 1999, Johnson began discussions with the Foundation that led to the creation of the fellowships.

The Rhode Island Foundation is the largest and most comprehensive funder of nonprofit organizations in Rhode Island. Through civic leadership, fundraising and grantmaking activities, together with neighbors and partners, the Foundation is helping to create progress that lasts.