New World Symphony Honored with $100K Nat’l Science Foundation Award

The National Science Foundation, the Federal agency that supports science collaboration, research, and education, has awarded the New World Symphony in Miami, FL, a technology grant of $102,200. This marks the first time an award has been granted by the NSF to a music ensemble. The funding will support the orchestra’s research and experimentation with high performance network connections in music education and interactive music collaboration via Internet2. Specifically, it will allow the NWS to finance a tremendous increase in bandwidth (an upgrade in connectivity to a Gigabit Ethernet) through the NSF’s High Performance Network Connections Program.

NWS Founder and Artistic Director Michael Tilson Thomas noted that Internet2 technology has helped create an environment where the “constraints of geography dissolve, and music will be made and shared with extraordinary freedom and ease among composers, performers, audiences, teachers, and students the world over.”

Thomas Greene, NSF senior program officer, concurred, adding that “with this award, computers talking to computers will change how musicians communicate with musicians.”

The NWS will match the grant on a one-to-one basis.

Read more about New World’s involvement with Internet2 technology on NewMusicBox at “Taking Music Virtually Everywhere.”