Other Minds

Other Minds is a San Francisco-based American nonprofit organization focused on the encouragement and dissemination of contemporary music. Founded in 1992 by composer, broadcaster, and archivist Charles Amirkhanian and arts administrator Jim Newman, the organization developed around an expansive understanding of new music that includes experimental composition, electronic music, improvisation, sound poetry, performance art, and historically important work by under-recognized composers. Its name has been associated with a 1992 New Yorker obituary describing John Cage as having composed music in other people's minds, a phrase that reflects the organization's interest in collaborative, unconventional, and audience-expanding approaches to musical creation. Since 1993, Other Minds has presented an annual festival in the San Francisco Bay Area. The festival has brought together composers and performers from the United States and other countries, with programming that has included figures such as Meredith Monk, Muhal Richard Abrams, Terry Riley, Philip Glass, Frederic Rzewski, Margaret Leng Tan, Henry Brant, Conlon Nancarrow, Robert Ashley, Pauline Oliveros, Lou Harrison, Laurie Anderson, Julia Wolfe, LaMonte Young, Michael Nyman, Brian Eno, Gavin Bryars, Raven Chacon, and many others. In earlier years, festival activity was connected with artist-residency retreats at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in Woodside, California, allowing participating artists to exchange ideas before public performances. The festival and related events have subsequently been staged at Bay Area venues, including the Brava Theater in San Francisco. Beyond the annual festival, Other Minds produces year-round concerts and programs. These have included the Nature of Music and Latitudes series, as well as New Music Seances devoted to live performances of works by lesser-known or historically neglected composers. Its programming has also marked composer anniversaries, explored the music of Philip Glass, examined the Fluxus movement, and presented major works such as Henry Brant's Pulitzer Prize-winning Ice Field, which Other Minds commissioned in 2001. The organization has also featured prominent artists and award-winning composers, including Louis Andriessen, Jason Moran, Ikue Mori, and Tyshawn Sorey. Archival preservation is a central part of the organization's identity. Beginning in 2000, Other Minds worked to preserve audiovisual recordings, including materials from the KPFA Music Department Archives and recordings generated by its own concerts, interviews, and events. In 2002 it introduced radiOM, a free online collection offering archival interviews, festival performances, sound poetry, and other historical recordings. The archive was relaunched as the Other Minds Archives on January 26, 2024, with expanded access to audio interviews, musical recordings, photographs, and ephemera. Since 2016, the organization's physical archival materials have been housed at the University of California, Santa Cruz; the collection includes approximately 4,000 reel-to-reel, cassette, DAT, and video tapes originating largely from KPFA and Other Minds activities. Other Minds also operates a media and publishing-oriented program. Music from Other Minds, a weekly radio program produced and hosted by Charles Amirkhanian and Other Minds staff, has been broadcast by San Francisco station KALW since 2005 and is available through online streaming. The Other Minds Podcast, launched in 2022, extends this interview and discovery work to digital audiences. Guests and subjects have included composers and performers such as Raven Chacon, Pamela Z, Theresa Wong, Lars Petter Hagen, Morton Subotnick, and Mari Kimura. The organization's record label issues CDs, LPs, DVDs, and digital recordings, including historical reissues, archival discoveries, commissions, and contemporary performances. Its catalog has drawn on material associated with the former 1750 Arch Records label, inclu…

Other Minds was established in San Francisco in 1992 by Charles Amirkhanian and Jim Newman. Its mission is the encouragement and dissemination of contemporary music, interpreted broadly to include new composition, experimental practices, improvisation, sound poetry, electronic music, and the recovery of historically important works that have received limited exposure. The organization's name is linked to a 1992 New Yorker obituary concerning John Cage and the idea that music may be composed in the minds of others. The organization began presenting its annual festival in 1993. The festival became a principal platform for international and American composers whose work challenged conventional genre boundaries. Earlier festival editions were associated with a residency retreat at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in Woodside, California, where invited artists could exchange work before public concerts. Other Minds later expanded its activity into a year-round Bay Area program, including the Nature of Music and Latitudes series, New Music Seances, anniversary concerts, and special programs devoted to movements and composers ranging from Fluxus and electronic music to Henry Cowell, Ruth Crawford, Dane Rudhyar, Alan Hovhaness, Lester Bowie, Morton Feldman, Conlon Nancarrow, and Philip Glass. A notable part of the organization's performance history is its support for large-scale and historically significant repertoire. Other Minds commissioned Henry Brant's Ice Field, which received the Pulitzer Prize in 2001, and presented artists including Louis Andriessen, Jason Moran, Ikue Mori, and Tyshawn Sorey. Its festival roster has included Meredith Monk, Muhal Richard Abrams, Terry Riley, Philip Glass, Pauline Oliveros, Laurie Anderson, Robert Ashley, LaMonte Young, Brian Eno, Michael Nyman, Gavin Bryars, Raven Chacon, and numerous other composers and performers. From 2000 onward, Other Minds increasingly emphasized preservation. It collected and digitized audiovisual materials from the KPFA Music Department Archives and its own programs. The organization launched radiOM in 2002 as a free online archive containing interviews, live performances, sound poetry, and other recordings. The physical archival collection was placed at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 2016. It contains approximately 4,000 reel-to-reel, cassette, DAT, and video tapes, including material from KPFA and Other Minds activities. On January 26, 2024, the online service was relaunched as the Other Minds Archives with expanded collections that also include photographs and ephemera. Other Minds has developed complementary broadcast and recording operations. Music from Other Minds, a weekly program produced and hosted by Charles Amirkhanian and Other Minds staff, has been broadcast on KALW since 2005 and is also available online. The Other Minds Podcast began in 2022, extending the organization's interviews with contemporary musicians to podcast listeners. Through its record label, Other Minds releases physical and digital recordings, including archival reissues, documentation of contemporary performers, and discoveries from the history of electronic and experimental music. The Modern Hits digital series concentrates on overlooked Bay Area and related electronic-music pioneers. The organization also offers selected recordings, books, and scores from other publishers. Its work has received recognition from the American Music Center, ASCAP, and the American Composers Forum. The annual festival and related programming continued into the 2020s, with the festival held at San Francisco's Brava Theater in 2025.

1. 2025Annual festival held at Brava Theater

   The annual Other Minds festival is held at the Brava Theater in San Francisco.

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2. 2024Other Minds Archives relaunches

   The former radiOM service is relaunched with broader archival collections, including photographs and ephemera.

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3. 2022Other Minds Podcast launches

   The organization begins a podcast featuring interviews with composers and performers.

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4. 2016Physical archives move to UC Santa Cruz

   Other Minds places its physical archival holdings at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

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5. 2005Music from Other Minds begins broadcast

   The weekly Music from Other Minds program begins broadcasting on KALW in San Francisco.

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6. 2002radiOM online archive launches

   Other Minds makes hundreds of hours of interviews, performances, and related recordings freely available online through radiOM.

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7. 2001Other Minds commissions Ice Field

   The organization commissions Henry Brant's Ice Field, a work that later received the Pulitzer Prize for Music.

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8. 2000Archival preservation program expands

   The organization begins major preservation work involving KPFA Music Department materials and recordings of Other Minds programming.

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9. 1993Annual festival begins

   Other Minds starts presenting an annual festival featuring contemporary and experimental composers from the United States and abroad.

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10. 1992Other Minds is founded

    Charles Amirkhanian and Jim Newman establish the San Francisco nonprofit to encourage and disseminate contemporary music.

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A nonprofit cultural organization combining adventurous contemporary-music presentation with archival preservation, broadcasting, publishing, and education-oriented discovery.

• Annual Other Minds FestivalMusic festival1993

  A recurring San Francisco Bay Area festival presenting international and American composers and performers in contemporary, experimental, improvised, and historically overlooked repertoire. Its programming has included major commissioned works, composer retrospectives, anniversary programs, and artists working across concert music, electronic music, and performance practice.

• Other Minds ArchivesDigital archive2024

  The organization's online archival platform, relaunched in 2024, provides access to recordings and documentation connected with contemporary music. Its materials include interviews, festival performances, sound poetry, photographs, and ephemera, building on the earlier radiOM service.

• Music from Other MindsRadio program2005

  A weekly radio program produced and hosted by Charles Amirkhanian and Other Minds staff. Broadcast on KALW, it surveys international contemporary music and makes programs available through online streaming after broadcast.

• Other Minds PodcastPodcast2022

  A digital interview and discussion series featuring contemporary composers and performers, including artists connected with experimental, electronic, improvised, and new-music practices.

• Other Minds Record LabelRecord label

  A nonprofit-oriented label issuing CDs, LPs, DVDs, and digital recordings. Its catalog combines archival reissues, historical discoveries, contemporary performances, and documentation of composers and performers associated with experimental and new music.

• Modern HitsDigital music release series

  A digital release series focused on recovering archival works by under-recognized pioneers of electronic music in the Bay Area and beyond, alongside recordings by contemporary composers connected to the region.

• 2024Other Minds Archives relaunch

  Global online audience

  The organization relaunched its digital archive with additional interviews, musical recordings, photographs, and ephemera.

  Outcome. The relaunch broadened the public-facing archive beyond the earlier radiOM audio collection.

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• 2002radiOM

  Global online audience

  Other Minds created a freely accessible online archive of interviews, festival performances, sound poetry, and other contemporary-music materials.

  Outcome. The initiative established the organization's long-term digital-preservation and public-access role and later developed into the Other Minds Archives.

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• 2024Relaunch the online archiveStrategy

  The earlier radiOM archive provided a substantial audio record but the organization's holdings also included photographs, ephemera, and additional collections.

  What changed. Other Minds relaunched the service as the Other Minds Archives and expanded the types of material available online.

  Aftermath. The organization strengthened its role as a public digital repository for contemporary and experimental music history.

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• 2022Launch the Other Minds PodcastProduct launch

  The organization sought to extend its interviews and contemporary-music outreach beyond concerts, radio, and its archival website.

  What changed. Other Minds introduced a podcast featuring conversations with composers and performers.

  Aftermath. The podcast became an additional digital channel for presenting contemporary-music voices and ideas.

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• 2000Expand into audiovisual preservationStrategy

  Other Minds possessed access to historically valuable recordings from its own programming and the KPFA Music Department Archives.

  What changed. The organization began a sustained preservation effort covering interviews, concerts, and other audiovisual materials.

  Aftermath. The work led to the radiOM online archive, the transfer of physical materials to UC Santa Cruz, and the later Other Minds Archives platform.

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• 2024Other Minds relaunches its digital archive

  Other Minds relaunched its online archival platform as the Other Minds Archives, expanding access beyond earlier radiOM materials to include interviews, recordings, photographs, and ephemera.

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• 2022Other Minds launches a podcast

  The organization introduced the Other Minds Podcast to distribute conversations with composers and performers in a digital audio format.

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• 2017Other Minds receives Champion of New Music award

  The American Composers Forum recognized Other Minds executive and artistic director Charles Amirkhanian with its Champion of New Music award.

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• 2009Other Minds receives ASCAP award for adventurous programming

  ASCAP honored Other Minds for adventurous programming.

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• 2005Other Minds receives American Music Center letter of distinction

  The American Music Center recognized the organization's service to American composers with a letter of distinction.

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1. Other Minds (organization)
2. Other Minds official website