Apply for a session
Applying and recording are free. A community panel chooses the sessions.
Applications aren’t open yet. The first window runs [date] to [date]. Get word when it opens.
Who can apply
You can apply if:
- at least one main performer lives in Peoria, Tazewell or Woodford county;
- everyone performing is 18 or older (our first-year rule);
- every song is an original (we don’t record covers); and
- everyone performing signs the session agreements before the first take.
Any genre, tradition or language. You don’t need to be a professional, to have recorded before or to play shows.
For now, traditional songs such as hymns, spirituals, folk songs and corridos count as covers.
Who can’t apply: our founders and their families, and our directors, staff and panelists while they serve and for 12 months after.
How sessions are chosen
A panel of [three to five] community members scores every application. None are founders, directors, staff or their relatives, and they sit out anyone they know.
| What the panel looks for | Points |
|---|---|
| Documentation value. Is it unrecorded, or recorded only poorly? | 25 |
| Significance to greater Peoria. Does it carry a local tradition, community or era? | 25 |
| Limited commercial market. Is the industry unlikely to record it? | 20 |
| Need. Could you otherwise pay for professional recording? | 20 |
| Readiness. Can we record it live in one session? | 10 |
Need counts only if you ask. Tell us if your household earns at or below 80% of the Peoria-area median, or gets a means-tested benefit. No documents, and your answer is used only for scoring.
The panel never considers sales, followers, donations or any protected characteristic. Ties go to need, then to documentation value.
Offers go in ranking order until the year’s [24] sessions are filled, then to a waitlist. We publish the numbers every year.
What a session is like
- Where
- Our room at the Mill, [street address], Peoria.
- How long
- [Session length, e.g. one day] with an engineer.
- How
- Live in the room, together when you can. Overdubs only if you ask.
[Photograph of our room at the Mill]
What you keep, and what we ask for
You keep your songs and your masters. On session day, we sign over to you anything we or our engineers might own in the recording.
We ask permission to:
- keep it in the public collection, free to hear;
- preserve it, including a copy with our archive partner, [archive partner, e.g. Peoria Public Library];
- release it digitally under our name and include it on a yearly compilation;
- use it to raise money for the archive.
You can take back permission for sales and fundraising by giving notice. The public copy stays as long as copyright law allows (at least 35 years), and preservation copies are never deleted.
Read the full agreement before you apply. [Link to the session agreement, after attorney review]
The application
About [15] minutes. Prefer paper? Print this page and mail it to us.
- Your name and contact details.
- Where each main performer lives.
- Who’s performing (all 18 or older).
- Your music, in your own words.
- The songs, and who wrote each one.
- Any samples or borrowed parts. They need their owners’ permission before we publish.
- Links to hear you, if any. A phone video is fine.
- The need question, if you want it counted.
- Anything you need to take part.
[Application form (plan Step 9)]
Need help? Write to [email address] or call [phone].