OneBeat Virtual 2023 – Applications Open until 17 February!

OneBeat is an annual music exchange program that brings together musicians from around the world to share and collaborate musical ideas and projects. OneBeat is the result of a partnership between Found Sound Nation, Bang on a Can and the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Launched in 2012, OneBeat began as an annual U.S-based residency and tour program that brings early-career musicians together from around the globe to collaboratively write, produce and perform original music, and develop strategies for arts-based civic and social engagement. Since then, OneBeat has grown into a constellation of programs in production around the globe.

Launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, OneBeat Virtual announced an exciting new series of virtual exchanges. OneBeat Virtual 2023 will digitally convene approximately 20 musicians from up to 50 eligible countries and territories. This fully virtual residency program will take place from July 10 – September 4, 2023. During this 8-week period, OneBeat Fellows will investigate new forms of virtual collaboration, and work together to write, produce, and perform new musical works. The fellowship involves 28 working days over 8-weeks to allow for both online connection and asynchronous offline project development time. Selected Fellows will attend virtual masterclasses and open-studios, participate in online workshops, and produce a final concert streamed to a global audience.

OneBeat Virtual offers a unique opportunity for Fellows to incubate ideas for new forms of virtual collaboration engaging communities around the world, supported by mentorship and collaborative exchange. Past participants have developed projects that foster diversity and inclusion, develop new technologies, broaden access to education, encourage economic empowerment, engage with issues like climate change, and build community resilience.

Fellows will receive a $1,500 USD honorarium and a modest per diem for their online participation. Musicians, sound artists, and sonic explorers with the following qualifications are invited to apply:

• Age: Applicants must be between 19- and 35-year-old during the program dates.
• English Proficiency: applicants should be able to converse in and understand basic English, as it will be the common language of the OneBeat Virtual program.
• Musical Excellence & Innovation: a high level of performance, composition, improvisational, production and/or technological skill.
• 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-political issues, reviving dying musical traditions, etc.
• 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.

Application Deadline: apply via online application system at https://onebeatvirtual2023.fsn-apply.org/ by February 17, 2023

Application Results: the program office will notify the applicants on their selection by end of May, 2023

Eligible Countries: Albania, Algeria, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bolivia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Colombia, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Egypt, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Senegal, Serbia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United States, Uzbekistan, Venezuela

By U. S. Embassy Ulaanbaatar | 8 February, 2023 | Topics: Art & Culture, Scholarships and Exchanges