We’ve got big new music dreams

From our first concert in 2006, to our 10th Strange Beautiful Music marathon, we’ve made it our mission to bring you expert-level performances of music by living composers. Now we want to take it up a notch. We need your help to commission Annie Gosfield for a new piece inspired by one of Detroit’s most prized artworks, the DIA’s “Detroit Industry” murals.

Break it down now!

You’re just like us, you love new music! That’s why we came up with a bunch of rewards we know you’ll love. The Knight Arts Challenge is just that: a challenge to engage our community and draw on your support to make exciting, strange, new music that is unique to Detroit. When you give to our campaign, you’re helping us generate new Detroit-centric music by a major composer AND getting access to an incredible spectrum of rewards, such as…

• Next-generation NMD t-shirts
• Flashdrive roulette (with some super exclusive stuff from the archives)
• Our forthcoming Marc Mellits album and access to the release party on April 2 at El Club
• Strange Beautiful Music swag and superfan care packages
• And you could even pick a song for us to cover, yes any song.

Iconic work, important meaning

Odds are that anyone from Detroit will have a relative who worked in the auto industry. You don’t need to look hard at Rivera’s murals to see the message: that working together, we can achieve incredible things. Detroit Industry depicts the Ford Assembly Line, a place where anyone could come to work and everyone played and important part. It didn’t matter who you were, you could sign up and get that famous $5-a-day wage. These murals have become one of the city’s most beloved pieces of art and we think the message is worthy of celebrating with new music!

So why Annie Gosfield, you ask? First off, Annie has long been inspired by the Rivera murals and has always wanted to write for them. Secondly, to put it simply, her music is "industrial". She has a distinctly futuristic way of using sounds that we absolute love and that makes her music as innovative & timely as ever.

Annie is also one of the most important voices in the current American new music scene. She recently premiered her new opera "War of the Worlds" with the LA Philharmonic, to top-notch reviews -- just the latest in a long string of accolades & accomplishments. As NMD looks to work with the most significant composers of our time, Annie -- whose work so creatively balances art and industry -- was an obvious choice for this project.

Risks & Challenges

Along with a considerable amount of tender loving care, New Music Detroit is able to pull off big projects like Detroit Industry with support from our community, contributors, and friends. The Knight Foundation has agreed to fund half of the project, but we need your help to raise the other half!

NMD’s got a big 2018 lined up - helping us with this campaign ensures we can do the other stuff too, like:

• Another 3-day Strange Beautiful Music in September
• Our new Marc Mellits album (forthcoming in April)
• Performances in new areas of the city and beyond

Perks, swag, rewards, and thank you's!

NMD Gen-II t-shirt (Back us at the $30 level)

Strange Beautiful T-shirt (Back us at the $40 level)

Other Ways You Can Help

Hey we get it, you might not have enough to spare. But you can still help us amplify the love of new music! Make some noise about our Detroit Industry on social media, find us on Facebook / Instagram / Twitter or at newmusicdetroit.com - Indiegogo has provided lots of sharing options right here on this page. Let people know you value new music!