ABS Publication Subventions support English-language books exploring any aspect of Brahms’s life or works and volumes about Brahms’s contemporaries or epoch that substantially contribute to research on Brahms. The Society encourages the broadest range of approaches to studying the composer, including, but not limited to, music history, theory, and performance. Both monographs and collections of essays by a number of authors will be considered. The subventions are awarded on a competitive basis to ABS members who have been in good standing for at least two years. Members of the Subventions Committee who wish to submit an application are either ineligible during the years of their service, or they must recuse themselves from the deliberations for that round of proposal evaluations. Awards are intended to reimburse scholars for certain types of costs incurred in preparing a book that has been accepted for publication.
Decisions for the awards are based on (a) the scholarly value of the project and its potential to contribute to the field; and (b) the need for the subvention and the impact the subvention will have on the success of the project.
Subvention funds may be applied to the copying and setting of musical examples, the payment of copyright or permission fees, indexing, the production of graphic and illustrative material, and the development of any relevant computer software, audio material, or other multi-media components essential to the text’s production. Funds are not intended to support the basic costs of publication (copyediting, in-house production, printing, binding, distribution, advertising, etc.). In the case of a multi-author volume, only the editor of the volume should submit an application for a subvention.
Subvention recipients will be expected to collate all related receipts and submit them in one package to the Treasurer of the Society. This submission should take place within three years of the date of the award. Members may not request reimbursement of any expenses that have been covered or that will be covered by a grant from another source. Recipients will maintain their membership in the ABS through the entire grant period, and it is expected that they will continue after the subvention has been paid.
Recipients must acknowledge the subvention in the publication.
Application materials should be emailed to the Chair of the Subvention Committee, Ryan McClelland, at ryan.mcclelland@utoronto.ca. File attachments must be in PDF format. Applications must include the following items:
- Contact information.
- A brief CV. (Limit: 3 single spaced pages; 12 point font).
- A short abstract (approx. 1,000 words) describing the project and its contribution to the field of Brahms studies, accompanied by a table of contents for the book. In the case of a collection of essays, this table of contents should provide the names of all contributing authors.
- A copy of one or two representative chapters of the book under consideration, in PDF format. For volumes that are not primarily on Brahms, submit the chapters that most clearly deal with Brahms. (Maximum of 10,000 words.)
- A signed contract with a publisher, or a letter to the author from the publisher, confirming acceptance of the publication. This document, or an additional document from the publisher, must include information about the expenses the publisher will not cover.
- A detailed explanation of the expenses to which the grant would be applied. Where possible, documentation itemizing these expenses should be included.
- A list of other grants applied to and an explanation of how they will be used, should they be funded.
Applicants may request funding up to $1,000. However, given the expense involved in such projects, it is likely that the entire budget will exceed the requested amount. Given the limited funds available and the desire to support as many deserving requests as possible, grants may be made in smaller amounts. Only one ABS subvention grant will be awarded to support a given project. No individual can receive a subvention more than once in a three-year period.
DUE DATE
The main deadline for each year is February 15. If no award is made after that competition, there will be a second deadline of August 15. Scholars interested in submitting applications for the second deadline should first contact the ABS President to confirm that the second round will take place.