Details and Eligibility

Financial aid is available to students who are enrolled at least part-time in a college or university music program. While we would love to fund every applicant fully, at this time our program is primarily tuition driven, with additional support from our partner institutions and, most recently, the William Thomas McKinley Foundation for American Music. Most years, our awards will range from $100 to $1000. In addition, an assistantship will be available for students of current composition faculty and/or who are studying music full-time at one of our partner institutions. The assistantships come with nominal duties that may include assisting the program director with administrative and technical work (recording concerts, etc.).

If you are interested and eligible in one or more of these awards, you will be asked to submit, after receipt of your application, a letter of recommendation from a current or former composition teacher, and a copy of your most recent course enrollment/registration to verify academic status.

The David Stock Award (Undergraduate)

• Open to students currently enrolled at least part-time in undergraduate music study at an accredited US-based institution (college or university). More than one may be awarded, pending available funds.
• Award: Up to $500

The Leslie Bassett Award (Graduate)

• Open to students currently enrolled at least part-time in graduate music study at an accredited US-based institution (college or university). More than one may be awarded, pending available funds.
• ​Award: Up to $1000

The Ruth Crawford Seeger Award

• Open to any female applicant currently studying at least part-time at an accredited US-based institution (college or university). More than one may be awarded, pending available funds. This award may be combined with other awards as well.
• Award: Up to $1000

The Alba Festival Assistantship

• Open to all applicants who are currently studying with one of the composition faculty or composer-in-residence. This also includes students who are currently enrolled at least full time in music at one of the associated partner institutions.
• Award: Up to $500

The William Thomas McKinley Alumni Award

• A yearly commission for a new work to be premiered at the Alba Festival, awarded to one of the past composition fellows.
• Award: Commission to compose a new work. Variable each year.

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​Our awards bear the name of four late American composers: David Stock (undergraduate award), a prolific composer and tireless supporter and advocate of fellow composers, especially those who were young and in the emerging stages of a career, Leslie Bassett (graduate award), a Pulitzer-prize winning composer who was a beloved teacher and mentor for a number of generations of composers  at the University of Michigan, Ruth Crawford Seeger, an early twentieth-century musical pioneer, and one of the first widely recognized women composers, and William Thomas McKinley (alumni commission), a formidable jazz pianist and prolific composer of nearly 500 works, who was a highly respected and loved teacher of composition and jazz at the New England Conservatory of Music and the University of Chicago.

William Thomas McKinley

David Stock

Leslie Bassett

Ruth Crawford Seeger

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