OneBeat is looking for 50 worldwide musicians from up to 54 qualifying nations and territories to participate in two month-long music exchanges in the United States in the spring and fall of 2024.
OneBeat is a music exchange and incubator for music-based social entrepreneurship, where brilliant artists from all over the world establish collaborative initiatives to benefit local and global communities.
OneBeat, a project of the United States State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the trailblazing New York-based music organization Bang on a Can’s Found Sound Nation, uses collaborative creative music as a powerful new form of cultural diplomacy.
OneBeat provides a chance for musicians and artists from an incredible diversity of backgrounds to seek common ground, create new musical combinations, push the boundaries of music technology, and find ways to involve all members of society in the process of musical creativity. Produced and designed by the NYC-based arts organization Found Sound Nation, OneBeat endeavors to be the nexus of a new way of thinking about how music and artistic expression can help us collectively build healthier communities, prosperous societies, and a more peaceful world.
Benefits:
- All costs will be covered for OneBeat Fellows, including travel and accommodations. Fellows will also receive a per diem and a modest honorarium.
Eligibility:
- Age: Applicants must be 19 or older by the start of the program (September 1, 2024) and 35 or younger at the end of the program (October 31, 2024).
- Musical Excellence – A high level of performance, composition, improvisational, production and/or technological skill. Ideally OneBeat musicians will be innovating stylistically, lyrically, or technologically within their musical worlds.
- Collaboration – Applicants’ willingness to reach across cultural and musical divides in creating original music or re-interpreting traditional music, while respecting the essence of each tradition. Applicants should be prepared to try new things musically.
- Social Engagement – Musicians who have used music to serve their communities or greater societies. This might consist of guiding young people in music education, addressing social or political issues through musical content, reviving dying musical traditions, and more.
- English Proficiency – Applicants should be able to converse in and understand basic English, as it will be the common language of the OneBeat program.
- Country or Territory of Origin – OneBeat Fellows must currently live full-time in one of the 45 eligible countries and territories. We also seek applicants who have not traveled extensively to the U.S. or have rarely performed in the U.S.
- Internet Proficiency – Whenever possible, OneBeat Fellows should actively use email and be able to connect to the internet to participate in website-based activities.
- Eligible Countries and Territories
- Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Greece, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mexico, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United States, Uzbekistan, Venezuela
