Kevin Freeman Travel Grants enable MLA to assist its newer members by supporting and encouraging their participation in the Association's national meeting. Grants support travel costs and other expenses relating to meeting attendance, including a registration fee waiver. Applications are welcome from MLA members who are in the first three years of their professional careers, graduate library school students, or currently working toward a post-MLIS (or equivalent) graduate degree or advanced certification. Preference will be given to applicants who demonstrate and clearly describe their commitment to working with music collections and services. At least one grant will be awarded to a first-time attendee, if applicable. At least one grant will be awarded to an individual from an underrepresented minority group, if applicable. The number of grants awarded will be determined by the income available from the endowment fund.

The Kevin Freeman Fund, endowed by contributions of members of the Northern and Southern California chapters as well as colleagues and friends of Kevin’s across the country, supports the Kevin Freeman Travel Grant. Few new members of the music library profession—as was Kevin—receive adequate funding from their institutions to attend and participate in the highly-valued annual meetings of the Music Library Association, their primary professional organization. The Kevin Freeman Travel Grant enables MLA to assist its newer members by supporting and encouraging their participation in the Association's national meeting.

Kevin Freeman (1953–1993) served as Head of Music Technical Services at Stanford University. He had worked previously at the University of California at Berkeley Music Library. Kevin was Chair of the Subject Access Subcommittee of MLA's Bibliographic Control Committee and was active in the Northern California Chapter, serving as Secretary-Treasurer, Vice-Chair, and Chair. Kevin was concerned about encouraging and developing young/new talent and believed strongly in MLA and its work. He was also known in the San Francisco area as a singer in the Symphony Chorus and Choral Artists of San Francisco. In the early 1980s he was a member of the male vocal ensemble, Chanticleer. A San Francisco native, Kevin graduated magna cum laude from the University of Utah with a B.A. in Music in 1977. He earned an M.A. in French Linguistics from Georgetown University in 1985, and an M.A. in Library and Information Science from the University of California/Berkeley in 1987.

Apply here for the Kevin Freeman Travel Grant.

2024 recipients:

Jacob Mauldwin, Alison Nikitopoulos, and Emily Paulson

Past recipients: