NEWCOMP, Inc. (1981-1991)
The New England Computer Music Association, Inc.
(NEWCOMP) was founded by O. Laske and C. Roads in Cambridge, MA, in 1981. For a decade, it had its "headquarters" at O. Laske's home in Needham, MA. (1981-1991). The telos of NEWCOMP was to create, rather than consume, culture, and to make the notion of "computer music" redundant (given that eventually all music would, technically speaking, be produced by computerized equipment.) As the organization grew and received financial support from the Massachusetts Council on the Arts, it increasingly became multidisciplinary, specializing in concerts combining at least two media (music and dance; music and visuals; music and poetry). NEWCOMP gave at least 4 concerts a year, also presenting computer music in Brno, Czechoslovakia (1985-87); Helsinki and Jyväskylä, Finland (1989); Bonn, Darmstadt, Köln, München, and Stuttgart, Germany (1981-85); Warsaw, Poland (1984); New York City, N.Y. (1982), and College Park, MD. (1982; 1985). In its 65 concerts, NEWCOMP showcased about 300 computer artists.
NEWCOMP was sustained by an International Advisory Board that comprised composers and visual artists. The organization maintained an International Jury for its annual competition. Every year, J.A. Appleton, F. Barrière, R. Boulanger, M. Battier, H. Brun, J. Dashow, R. Doati, E. Karkoschka, G.M. Koenig, P. Lansky, O. Laske, R. Ruzicka, and B. Truax would judge the submitted compositions, evaluating them in terms of esthetic value, structural depth, formal cohesion, and technical mastery). Three winners would be declared. Between 1983 and 1990, the following composers won first prize: Horacio Vaggione (1983), Tracy L. Petersen (1984), Paul Dolden (1985), R. Boulanger & R. Karpen (1986), T. Ungvary (1987), A. Wolman (1988), Takajuki Rai (1989), and C. Penrose (1990). In addition, NEWCOMP held Symposia on Creativity in the Computer Arts (1989-90) and in its early years organized annual computer music workshops. NEWCOMP its Tenth Anniversary Concert in April of 1991. It did not survive the end of O. Laske's artistic directorship of 1991.