Original Work
Premier Award
Supporting the creation of new original works across four distinct arts disciplines.
- Music
- Dance
- Theater
- Visual Arts
Est. 1963
Supporting
Excellence
in the Arts
For more than 60 years, Masterwork Music and Art Foundation has supported artists, original works, community programming, and emerging creative voices across music, dance, theater, and visual arts.
Our mission
For more than six decades, Masterwork has invested in the people and ideas that keep the arts moving forward.
We support original artistic work, community-based programming, and emerging artists through grants, awards, and storytelling. The Foundation is small by design: decisions are made by people who know the disciplines, and support goes directly to the making.
Awards & Programs
Three ways we support the arts
Each program answers a different need — the making of new work, the reach of community programming, and the earliest years of an artistic career.
Community
Community Arts Awards
Supporting local arts programming that brings creative experiences into communities.
- Music
- Dance
- Theater
- Visual Arts
Emerging Artists
Emerging Artist Award
Celebrating and supporting promising artists at the beginning of their creative journeys.
- Music
- Dance
- Theater
- Visual Arts
Awards and programs
The Series
A Life in the Arts
Conversations with people who have dedicated their lives to artistic pursuit.
Visual Arts
The Artist Who Never Stopped Asking Questions
Sample Interviewee — Visual Artist
Six decades into a studio practice, she still begins each canvas the same way: by admitting she does not know what it will become.
31 minMusic
Listening for What Isn't There
Sample Interviewee — Conductor
Forty years on the podium taught him that the hardest thing to conduct is silence — and that an orchestra hears everything you do not say.
Discipline: Music
27 minDance
The Body Remembers First
Sample Interviewee — Choreographer
She builds work from the floor up, and she does not write anything down until the dancers have already found it.
Discipline: Dance
34 minTheater
A Room Full of Strangers
Sample Interviewee — Theater Director
He has directed in storefronts, gymnasiums, and one converted grain elevator. The room, he insists, is always part of the play.
Discipline: TheaterArts & Disciplines
Four disciplines. One commitment to excellence.
Masterwork's support is organized around four practices, each with its own working culture, timeline, and needs.
Music
Composition, performance, and new listening
From chamber ensembles to new composition, Masterwork supports musicians making work that asks something of its audience.
Dance
Choreography and the moving body
Support for choreographers and companies developing original movement work, from studio residency through premiere.
Theater
New plays and live performance
Playwrights, directors, and ensembles building new work for the stage — including devised and community-rooted theater.
Visual Arts
Studio practice and exhibition
Painters, sculptors, printmakers, and interdisciplinary artists whose studio practice is ready for a larger audience.
Arts and disciplines
The arts shape communities. Artists shape the future.
Masterwork supports the people, ideas, and creative work that strengthen our cultural life.
Support
Help Masterwork keep the arts moving forward.
Your support helps fund new work, strengthen communities, and provide opportunities for emerging artists.
News
Latest from Masterwork
Awards
Masterwork Announces the 2026 Award Recipients
This year's cohort spans four disciplines and eleven communities, from a chamber commission to a neighborhood theater residency.
Artists
Meet the Artists Shaping What's Next
Protected studio time, a first professional recording, a second draft. What early-career support actually buys.
A Life in the Arts
A Life in the Arts: New Conversations
The series continues with conversations spanning a painter's sixth decade in the studio, a conductor's ear for empty halls, and a choreographer who refuses to write anything down.
Latest stories
Stay connected
Get occasional updates about awards, artists, programs, and stories from Masterwork.
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