The University of Missouri has announced a $2.5 million gift from the Sinquefield Charitable Foundation in support of the Mizzou New Music Initiative at the university's School of Music.

The gift, to which the university will contribute a $300,000 match for undergraduate scholarships, will help fund the New Music Initiative over the next three years and subsidize graduate student assistantships and two annual full-tuition scholarships, underwrite costs for student composers attending the Missouri International Composer's festival, and provide additional support for program faculty and staff.  

In 2009, Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield established the New Music Initiative as an incubator for new music composition and performance and to support aspiring student composers seeking a professional career. In the past decade, seventy students have received full scholarships and assistantships, more than five hundred pieces of new music have been created or performed, and a hundred and sixty-four guest composers and performers have visited campus.

"We are extremely proud of the Mizzou New Music Initiative here at the University of Missouri and the College of Arts and Science," said Patricia Okker, dean of the College of Arts and Science. "Over the past decade, this program has transformed the School of Music. It encourages innovation in our music students, letting them experiment and discover, then share their creativity with the world."