Last year, Will Dailey received an Iguana Music Fund grant to help develop his home studio. This year, the singer-songwriter is on living it up the Billboard charts.
We’re not entirely saying the former was responsible for the latter, but it no doubt helped contribute to Dailey’s personal crusade in successfully relaunching his music career on his own terms. Now, the deadline to apply for this year’s round of Iguana Music Fund grants is tomorrow, October 15.
Thee is roughly $45,000 at stake.
A program of the Cambridge-based nonprofit performance arts organization Passim, the Iguana Music Fund awards grants between $500 and $2,000 to individual musicians “with an affiliation to New England either by residence or tour history for specific career building projects and for projects that provide community service through music,” according to the presser.
Among the 26 winners of last year’s grants were Dailey, Brian Carroll of Red Line Roots, Annie Lynch of Annie and the Beekeepers, and Winterpills’ Philip Price.
“The Iguana Music Fund grants really help cultivate our music community,” Dan Hogan, executive director of Club Passim, told Cambridge Day back in January. “The grants reinforce our overall mission not only to support the live experience but to help build careers.”
Eligibility for Passim’s 2014 grants is limited to the first 300 applicants by tomorrow’s deadline. Here’s more from the presser:
Areas of support include (but are not limited to) recording or manufacturing assistance, publicity & marketing support, instrument repair or replacement, additional equipment & instruments, special projects and other specific activities promoting artistic and/or professional growth or community service. Twenty-six New England musicians were chosen in 2013 to receive $45,000 in grants from the Iguana Music Fund. Over $200,000 total has been granted to more than 125 artists since the Fund’s inception.
The Iguana Music Fund was launched in 2008 after an anonymous donor approached Passim with the idea to start a program to help local artists. The grants have provided support for a wide range of artists including David Wax, Girlyman, Zachariah Hickman (and Barnstar!), Rose Polenzani (for the Three Mile Island Songwriting Retreat,) Kristin Andreassen (for Miles of Music Camp,) Mark Erelli, and Kimber Ludiker.
Past grants have also been awarded to the band Della Mae, which received a 2013 Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album, and directly supported Alastair Moock’s release Singing our Way Through, which was nominated for the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Children’s Album. Recipients of the 2014 Iguana Music Fund grant will be announced in December.