So, those of you who are composers, who are BUSILY prepping your applications for the June 1 deadline of the Con Edison Musicians’ Residency: Composition Program…in the midst of preparing your proposals, your work samples, updating your (please-keep-to-a) 2-pg resume…and you stop and think, what are they doing over there at Exploring the Metropolis?

Just hanging out drinking lattes and reading murder mysteries while they wait for applications to pour in?

To which I can only say..au contraire, my friends. Au contraire.

For one thing, Grace Chandarlapaty, our esteemed Program Specialist, who has been focusing on outreach, is going to have a baby.  Very soon. So we’re going to have to cover for her.  Somehow.

But mainly – we’re looking for panelists to select the new composers-in-residence.

We go to all of our partners and collaborators – local arts councils, City and state agencies, arts service organization, music publishers, previous residents and panelists – and ask for their recommendations. We’re looking for a broad and diverse range of skills. We cover all genres in the residency and we also need panelists with expertise in various boroughs. We’re close to having the panel assembled.  And we’ve been fortunate this year that the panel rooms are being donated by the New York Foundation for the Arts.

We’ll have dates soon on upcoming programs with the Queens Public Library, and also our programs at Union Settlement with 2010 composers Judith Sainte Croix and Octavio Vazquez, funded by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Fund for Creative Communities.

So get busy on your application. We’ll be here when you’re ready to submit.