OneBeat is accepting applications from 50 global artists from up to 54 eligible countries and territories for two month-long U.S.-based music exchanges scheduled for the spring and fall of 2024.
OneBeat is a music exchange and incubator for music-based social entrepreneurship, where innovative musicians from around the world launch collaborative projects designed to make a positive impact on local and global communities.
An initiative of the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs in collaboration with the groundbreaking New York-based music organization Bang on a Can's Found Sound Nation, OneBeat employs collaborative original music as a potent new form of cultural diplomacy.
OneBeat provides a chance for musicians and artists from an incredible diversity of backgrounds to seek common ground, create new musical combinations, push the boundaries of music technology, and find ways to involve all members of society in the process of musical creativity. Produced and designed by the NYC-based arts organization Found Sound Nation, OneBeat endeavors to be the nexus of a new way of thinking about how music and artistic expression can help us collectively build healthier communities, prosperous societies, and a more peaceful world.
Eligibility Criteria
Age
Applicants must be 19 or older by the start of the program (September 1, 2024) and 35 or younger at the end of the program (October 31, 2024).
Review Criteria
- Musical Excellence – A high level of performance, composition, improvisational, production and/or technological skill. Ideally OneBeat musicians will be innovating stylistically, lyrically, or technologically within their musical worlds.
- Collaboration – Applicants’ willingness to reach across cultural and musical divides in creating original music or re-interpreting traditional music, while respecting the essence of each tradition. Applicants should be prepared to try new things musically.
- Social Engagement – Musicians who have used music to serve their communities or greater societies. This might consist of guiding young people in music education, addressing social or political issues through musical content, reviving dying musical traditions, and more.
- Age – Applicants must be between 19-35 years old.
- English Proficiency – Applicants should be able to converse in and understand basic English, as it will be the common language of the OneBeat program.
- Country or Territory of Origin – OneBeat Fellows must currently live full-time in one of the 45 eligible countries and territories. We also seek applicants who have not traveled extensively to the U.S. or have rarely performed in the U.S.
- Internet Proficiency – Whenever possible, OneBeat Fellows should actively use email and be able to connect to the internet to participate in website-based activities.
Offered Benefits
OneBeat Fellows will travel under a J-1 Visa, a non-immigrant visa for individuals approved to participate in work- and study-based exchange visitor programs.
The program will be 30-33 days in length. While in the U.S. the Fellows will participate in a two-week residency, during which they will develop and rehearse original material. They will then go on a 10-14 day tour, during which they will perform the music they developed and rehearsed during the residency period. Throughout the program Fellows will develop and lead creative workshops for youth and community groups.
