For candidates who meet the eligibility requirements, characteristics and criteria of successful applicants include

Artistic Excellence: Superlative musical skill in one or more musical traditions, preferably with a demonstrated ability to blur musical genres and excel in cross-cultural environments, and demonstrate innovation as a composer. We are looking for audacious, foreword-looking musicians who embrace experimentation and risk.

Values: Alignment with core human values of empathy, humility, intercultural understanding, and respect; paired with core artistic values of collaboration, curiosity, experimentation, improvisation, and innovation. If you are accustomed to being a bandleader, you will need these values to adjust your expectations to a new experience.

Community/Leadership Experience: Demonstrated background in social engagement through music, whether through teaching, mentoring, volunteering, or other means, such as supporting a cause you care about or NGO. Those lacking such experience have space to articulate their vision and/or passion for this arena in their application.

A lot! You will collaborate to create new, original music with the other Music Action Lab Fellows every day during the week (Monday-Friday) during four-hour rehearsal blocks. We also encourage anyone to practice during free time. We also sprinkle in jam sessions, workshops, and concerts throughout the Lab. Participants should expect to be rehearsing, as well as composing, on a nearly-daily basis during the residency.

We welcome musicians of any and all genres to the Music Action Lab, and in fact encourage and embrace diversity as a cornerstone of the residency. Diversity to us is not only musical, but also geographic, socio-economic, ethnic, and cultural as well. Whether you excel in a specific genre — folk, rai, Afrobeat, gamelan, highlife, jazz, classic, rock, hip-hop, rap, electronic, blues, or bluegrass — or defy categorization, we encourage you to apply. We are particularly excited about musicians who are skilled in intermusicality – the ability to shift and adapt between musical traditions with ease. There are no formal education or training requirements to be eligible for the Lab.

We encourage all prospective applicants to apply, regardless of their current level of experience in social engagement or community development. You will have the opportunity to tell us about your vision and/or passion for social change in the application.

Of course! Participants of the Music Action Lab will complete a full album, a suite of compositions collaboratively composed by the participants, and debut your original work in California. At the close of the residency, participants will then make their international debut at the Opportunity Collaboration social impact conference in Cancun, Mexico, in October while learning from and networking with some of the world’s foremost and leading thinkers in the social impact space.

Unfortunately, no. The Music Action Lab is seeking to create new connections across the globe with as much musical, geographic, socio-cultural, and ethnic diversity as possible. We encourage you to review our broader approach with musicians and to contact us if you are interested in a possible engagement directly.

Fantastic! If you are looking to deepen your artistry and career trajectory to create positive change through music and improve your local community, then the Music Action Lab would be a great investment for you.