Peer Review in Contemporary Music in France and the United States
This article looks at peer review in the field of new music, in particular as practiced in two institutions: the Ministry for Culture (France) and New Music usa (usa). We look closely at a figure that we’ve chosen to call the “broker” (after the work of sociologist Ronald S. Burt), characterized by ties with several creative networks, rather than being anchored in one, cohesive network. This leads us to discuss the genre of sound art—which requires its artists to maintain ties with diverse networks—and the surprising institutional success of women composers in this field. This is followed by a comparison of the different voting systems used in the two institutions studied, with a conclusion on gatekeeping work in new music, and how this work might influence the creative process of composers.