Excerpt from the Statutes

§ 1 Name, form of legal entity, state of incorporation

  1. The name of the charitable organization is
    "Forberg-Schneider-Stiftung".
  2. The charitable corporation is a legal entity according to the German Civil Code.
  3. The charitable corporation is incorporated in Munich.

§ 2 Purpose of the charitable corporation, charitable cause 

  1. The purposes of the corporation is to promote
    - the arts, in particular the creation and dissemination of contemporary music and of music in its present and potential relation to other areas of art, including the performing and visual arts and those generated by the new media, and
    – musicology
    both in Germany and abroad.
    The charitable corporation is also entitled to carry out its own projects.

  2. Resources permitting, the purpose of the charitable corporation listed above in paragraph 1 will be realized through
    a) awarding the Belmont Prize in accordance with the stipulations listed in Article 3 below;
    b) stimulating musical creativity, mainly by
    – disbursing funds to commission new works of music,
    – granting prize money, and
    – awarding study grants
    to creative or performing musicians (composers, conductors, singers, instrumentalists), music ensembles, or musicologists exclusively to augment their existing artistic or scholarly qualifications (post-graduate support);
    c) promoting public appearances of musicians (in terms of paragraph 3b above) or music ensembles, also by promoting their participation in music competitions and workshops, including the reimbursement of application fees and travel expenses, provided that the achievements itemized in Art. 3, paragraph 2a have been demonstrated. However, the funds may not be used to cover administrative or organizational expenses of festivals or similar events;
    d) disseminating contemporary music in the form of performances, recordings, and printed publications.
  3. The charitable corporation decides freely, depending on the resources available, which purposes to promote, which manner of their realization to choose, and the scope in which the subsidy or operational activity is to be made. 
  4. No person shall have any legal title to the disbursement of the charitable corporation’s funds, not even if these funds have been granted over a lengthy period of time. The subsidies may be revoked at any time.
  5. The charitable corporation is politically independent.

§ 3 Award of the Belmont Prize

  1. The charitable corporation awards the Belmont Prize according to its own discretion and the state of its resources, wherever possible at two-year intervals. 
  2. The Belmont Prize is awarded for the following achievements:
    a) the special progress of a musician (in terms of Article 2, paragraph 3ba) or a music ensemble on the path to virtuosity, as demonstrated by public performances of 20th- or 21st-century music or by another manner of reproducing this music;
    b) the research and description of the work of a musician (in terms of Art. 2, paragraph 3b) of formative impact on his or her period or on the present day, or of a corresponding music ensemble.
  3. Only in justifiable special instances may individual prizewinners be over the age of forty. The Belmont Prize may be awarded only once to the same person or music ensemble.
  4. Whether and to whom the Belmont Prize is to be awarded is decided by majority vote of the Board of Trustees. In case no majority is reached, the vote of the chairperson of the Board of Trustees is definitive. Personal applications for the Belmont Prize shall not be taken into consideration. 

§ 13 Responsibilities of the Board of Trustees

  1. The Board of Trustees is responsible for expressing and enacting the will of the charitable corporation. In particular, besides the responsibilities placed upon it by these statutes, the Board of Trustees is responsible for the following tasks:
    a) Defining the guidelines for
    – the work of the charitable corporation,
    – points of emphasis in its charitable activities, and
    – administering the Board’s day-to-day business;
    b) Determining the winners of the Belmont Prize,
    c) Ratifying the annual budget and the medium-term financial plan, and
    d) Controlling the budgetary and business operations, preparing the business statement, and discharging the Board.