How does M³ – Mutual Mentorship for Musicians work?

• Start

Each season starts with the solstice and lasts 10 months, culminating in a collaborative pre-recorded music video within 7 months of duo & group meetings; plus 3 months of one-on-one writing development for a writing contribution to the Anthology of Writings.

Each season features 12 musicians, randomly paired by name-draw at the first meeting, so that each person is paired with someone with whom they haven’t collaborated before. 

• Meetings

Meetings are held online. The total meetings for each musician is 24 meetings that are at least 2 hours long: 12 group meetings and at least 12 duo meetings within the 7 months.

At the group meetings, musicians discuss relevant issues affecting their work and lives.  In the duo meetings, each pair of musicians meets online to create a work together. 

All meetings are confidential and everyone signs an agreement that they commit to the initiative and the final performance. 

• Collaborative Performance

The musicians agree on a performance date (virtual or live, depending on global circumstances), to occur at the end of the season. Each pair’s performance of the work should last around 10 minutes.

The performance of each of the 6 pairs’ works will be followed by a Q&A with the audience after each pair (with the total time lasting about an hour). Each musician who participates receives $3000 USD for creating the duo collaborative work.

For promotional purposes, each pair of musicians will record an interview of each other about their collaboration to be shared on social media, etc. ahead of the final performance. 

Each cohort member should be available for press opportunities/interviews.

• M³ Anthology

Each musician who participates will be invited to contribute with an essay/writing/poem for that season’s M³ Anthology of Writings, Guest Editor, TBD. Our previous anthologies have been edited by Jordannah Elizabeth, Naomi Extra, and Kyla Marshell.

• Selection

The selection process is organized in 3 phases:

•  Phase 1 is the Open Call, welcoming women and non-binary musicians from around the world to apply for the next cohort. From this Open Call, 6 applicants will be selected to be in the next cohort. Apply here!

• In Phase 2, the current cohort nominates 12 musicians. From these 12 musicians, 6 are chosen to be in the next cohort.

• In Phase 3, the M³ Team and the current cohort members use a vigorous scoring and rating system in order to find a balance and diversity among these Criteria for Selection: Each nominee’s career experience; Artistic excellence; Age; Instrument(s); Access to networks; Representation; Musicians who are compassionate, egoless, and generous in their collaborative process.

• Announcement of next cohort will be made in June 2024.