The Alice M. Ditson Fund, founded in 1940,[1] supports contemporary American music.[2] Significant ongoing awards include the Ditson Conductor's Award.
In its early years, the fund supported notable 20th-century musicians such as Bela Bartok,[3] Benjamin Britten, Aaron Copland, Gian Carlo Menotti, Virgil Thomson,[4] and Walter Piston.[5] From 1945 to 1952, the Fund sponsored the week-long Columbia Festival of Contemporary American Music.[6] The Ditson Fund was also active in supporting the Composers' Forum concerts in New York.[7]
The fund's namesake, Alice Ditson, was the wife of music publisher Charles Healy Ditson and daughter-in-law of Oliver Ditson, founder of the publishing house that bore his name.[8] She was a supporter of American classical music during her lifetime, and her will bequested $400,000 (equivalent to $8.7 million in 2023) to Columbia University[9][10] for "the encouragement and aide of musicians."[11]
