These are the new NICA artists 2023

NICA artist development starts 4th funding round in September with four musicians.

NICA artist development offers outstanding musicians from North Rhine-Westphalia who work in the field of jazz and contemporary music a platform for artistic profiling and professionalisation of their careers. The funding is initially for one year and can be extended to a maximum of three years.

Based at the European Centre for Jazz and Contemporary Music at the Stadtgarten in Cologne and financed by the state with 420,000 euros annually, the artists:inside support programme started as a pilot project in 2019 and has been in the institutional support of the Ministry of Culture and Science of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2022.

After being nominated by selected North Rhine-Westphalian promoters as well as music journalists and other cultural professionals, the artists living in NRW were selected by a jury of experts.

We are pleased to announce the following participants who will start as NICA artists of the 4th funding generation in September this year:

• Marlies Debacker (Pianstin, 1992)
• Ray Lozano (singer-songwriter, 1989)
• Theresia Philipp (saxophonist, 1991)
• Stefan Schönegg (bassist, 1986)

Further information and press material on the NICA artists and the programme itself can be found on the website www.nica-artistdevelopment.de.