Support and recognition for LGBTQ+ composers
Introducing Jordan Deal—multidisciplinary artist and alchemist.
As an initiative to support and recognize exceptional and innovative LGBTQ+ composers, the OT microgrants provide selected artists with licenses, mentoring, and a platform to showcase their music.
The latest recipient of an OT microgrant is Jordan Deal, a Philadelphia-based multidisciplinary artist and alchemist.
Defying convention and categorization across a variety of mediums, Jordan’s work explores, disassembles, and reinvents narratives of power and resistance.
Musically, their work tackles heavy themes through an intricately woven blend of soundscapes, field recordings, and folk traditions, embracing chaos as both material and method.
They were a 2023-2024 Artistic Fellow at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, a Fall 2022 research fellow at the Amant Foundation, and were most recently invited to Berlin to perform at the CTM Festival—a platform for adventurous music and art.
We are thrilled to support Jordan and share their fascinating work with the world.
About the microgrants
The OT Microgrants initiative aims to support and recognize LGBTQ+ composers by awarding selected artists a package of licenses and mentoring—a microgrant. With each microgrant we will shine a spotlight on the artist's music, and hopefully help to advance their work and extend their professional network.
Why are we doing this? The composer community is slowly becoming more diverse, but it’s still hugely imbalanced, and its doors are not always open for queer composers. Encouraged by OT staff members from the queer community, we’ve initiated these microgrants to provide support and recognition to LGBTQ+ composers of all levels. We believe wholeheartedly that increased diversity will make the composer community more dynamic and vibrant, and ultimately lead to more exciting music.
Would you like to be considered? To apply for a microgrant, please write to: microgrants@orchestraltools.com
This project is audited by dif e.V.