You are a truly adventurous music listener. We know this, and we're thrilled about it! We started Bang on a Can because we knew that people like you were perfectly capable of appreciating sounds that were strange, unfamiliar or even radical. We wanted to invigorate the world of contemporary music and make it seriously fun to seek out new musical ideas. You may not even know that you've been part of a revolution for composers and ensembles and innovative sounds, but we know how important you are and how the world has changed for all of us. And this is a success story that's only just begun.

We're constantly reminded by our friends and supporters just how meaningful it is to help support the creation of a new work of art. We created the People's Commissioning Fund so that more people than ever before could experience this joy for themselves. In the last 15 years, more than 50 new pieces have been created using what essentially is (to our knowledge) the first crowd-funding model for commissions. In fact, if you go to Wikipedia and type "crowd-funding," you'll see that the whole concept dates to 1997, the very year we started the PCF. In the years since, more than 1,000 people have contributed to PCF, many giving year after year anywhere from $10 to $1,000. You too can join, then join us in NYC for the open rehearsal and world premiere of the pieces.

This year we're proud to commission an extraordinary foursome of emergent composers. Paula Matthusen is a devoted electro-acoustic experimentalist and installation artist; Baltimore's mad electronic scientist Dan Deacon can be both cerebral AND whip a dance floor into a frenzy; Anna Clyne creates astonishing and intense soundscapes and frequently collaborates with artists in other media; and Icelandic electronica minimalist Jóhann Jóhannsson makes compelling and hypnotic works, many released to wide acclaim by legendary record labels 4AD and Fat Cat.

In addition to PCF, next year we'll be playing gigs worldwide; recording and releasing new records; presenting the NYC Marathon;  running our 12th annual Summer Festival at MASS MoCA; leading the second year of our international cultural exchange program OneBeat; commissioning new work from brilliant composers and invigorating the musical conversation wherever we go. With your support of any or all of our programs, we'll continue to champion bold new ideas from every conceivable source.

Thanks for listening closely!

Michael Gordon, David Lang, Julia Wolfe