Sibelius Fund

The next application period is from 1 to 31 October 2024. Submit your application on Klaavi.

The Sibelius Fund of the Society of Finnish Composers awards the following types of grant to promote creative Finnish composition:

1. Working grants

These are grants principally intended for composing concert music or other contemporary art music. Grants may secondarily be awarded for composition studies. Working grants will not be awarded for recording projects or for purchasing instruments or equipment.

Grant recipients must submit a report on how the grant was spent by the end of the calendar year following the year in which the grant was awarded.

2. Commissioning grants

These are grants paid out of the commissioning fund for the purpose of commissioning new chamber music or concert music works. Commissioning grants may be applied for by musicians, ensembles or organisations such as choirs or festivals, for the purpose of paying commissioning fees. A working group may also apply.

Commissioning grants are also available for commissioning contemporary musical works suitable for pedagogical purposes from a professional composer. In such a case, it is considered an advantage if the composition process is undertaken in collaboration by the composer and an instrument teacher.

Commissioning grants will not be awarded to cover costs already paid or for projects already under way; in other words, the project for which a grant was applied for must not begin until after the application is submitted. Grants will not be awarded for works that have already been completed and/or performed. It is the responsibility of the composer to ensure that no more than one application per composer is submitted for a commissioning grant.

NOTE: When a commissioning party submits an application, the composer will receive an e-mail link that they must use to confirm that the commission and the fee have been agreed with the composer. A composer must not confirm more than one application per round of applications. The composer’s confirmation must be submitted before the application deadline (31 October at 23.59 EET).

The commissioning agreement or letter of intent does not need to be appended to the application.

These grants are primarily intended for applicants that are not recipients of regular public funding.

3. Pegasus grants

Pegasus grants are intended to support the writing and setting to music of Finnish poetry and librettos. The grants are primarily awarded for the purpose of setting writings by living Finnish poets to music. Poets and librettists may also apply for a grant in projects where the text being created is specifically intended for a musical work. A grant awarded to a poet or librettist is not considered a grant awarded to the composer, i.e. it is not relevant to whether the composer is awarded a grant.

Pegasus grants are financed by donations from the Union of Finnish Writers, the Society of Swedish Authors in Finland and the Society of Finnish Composers. The donations originate from the collective copying remuneration funds collected by the Kopiosto copyright society.

4. Grants for writing church music

These are grants intended for professional composers of art music for writing church music or as grants for commissioning church music; in the latter case, the applicant may be e.g. a musician, a choir or a parish.

The application must explain the church connection of the project.

If the applicant also wishes to be considered as an applicant for the grants referred to above in sections 1 and 2, they must submit a separate application for each of those. A composer may apply for both an ordinary working grant and a church music grant, but in such a case only one of these may be awarded. Each grant application must be submitted on a separate form.

General application instructions

Please formulate the justifications for your application carefully. Applications must include a clear and concise project plan. It is important to explain why you are applying for a grant for this work or this composer in particular and when and where the world premiere and any subsequent performances of the work will be given.

The composer, performer(s) and commissioning party should be described as applicable, with e.g. a CV, a description of past artistic activities, a recorded example of the composer’s music and a link to their website. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure that the links given are functional. Any audio linked to must be accessible without registration or login.

You should append a detailed budget to the application, describing the overall budget of the project and any other funding already awarded or applied for.

For technical reasons, it is not possible to update your application once you have submitted it. If any other funding is awarded to the project after you have submitted the application, you must notify the director of the Sibelius Fund.

The grants referred to in sections 1, 3 and 4 are tax-free income up to a maximum that is confirmed by the Tax Administration each year. These are grants applied for by creators themselves.

The grants referred to in sections 2 and 4 are taxable income for the composer.

Moratorium

To ensure that as many composers as possible are eligible for support, a composer cannot be awarded a grant from the Sibelius Fund in consecutive years – neither under the same grant type nor a different one. A composer is also not eligible for a grant if another project for which a grant was awarded by the Sibelius Fund is incomplete or if the composer has not submitted a grant report for it. A composer who has been awarded a grant in the previous year or has an incomplete project that was awarded a grant must not confirm any applications submitted by a commissioning party.

A commissioning party may be awarded commissioning grants in consecutive years for justified reasons, especially when the commissioning party is in a position to ensure that the work(s) will be performed in a prominent context.

Members of the Board of Directors of the Sibelius Fund cannot be awarded a grant.

Contact information

Sibelius Fund of the Society of Finnish Composers
Keilasatama 2 A
FI-02150 Espoo
Finland
Sibelius fund – Klaavi

Director
Vappu Verronen
vappu.verronen(at)composers.fi
+358 40 500 5905
Phone service:
Wed 23 Oct 2024 at 15.00–16.00
Mon 28 Oct 2024 at 15.00–16.00

General information about the Sibelius Fund

The Sibelius Fund of the Society of Finnish Composers was established on 18 October 1945, in connection with the establishing of the Society of Finnish Composers and to abet its principal function, viz. supporting composers financially. Jean Sibelius, celebrated his 80th birthday in that year, gave permission for the Fund to be named after him.

The Sibelius Fund awards working grants, and since 1991 it has also been awarding commissioning grants. The Fund is an independent entity, but the members of its Board of Directors are elected at the autumn meeting of the Society of Finnish Composers. The initial capital of the Fund was raised through a public appeal.

Funding for the grants awarded by the Sibelius Fund also includes collective copying remunerations collected by Kopiosto and allocated to the Society of Finnish Composers and funds allocated to this purpose by the Finnish Composers’ Copyright Society Teosto.