Avery Fisher Artist Program Oral History - Incite at Columbia University

Avery Fisher was a prolific philanthropist whose Artist Program has recognized outstanding instrumentalists since 1974 — a legacy now illuminated through interviews with Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, and others.

Since it began in 1974, the Avery Fisher Artist Program has given outstanding instrumentalists recognition and support in two categories: Career Grants and the Prize. Career Grants are awarded annually to young artists of exceptional talent to help them build their careers. The Prize is given less frequently as the highest form of recognition for excellence and contributions to classical music. Avery Fisher was a prolific philanthropist who donated to arts and music organizations while also starting his own.

In 2020, Columbia Oral History undertook an oral history project to establish a distinct record of the founding, legacy, and continued work of the late Avery Fisher and the Avery Fisher Artist Program. 

The AFAP Oral History project contains interviews that illuminate Fisher's impact through musicians and other music-industry professionals, including Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, Mary Lou Falcone, Pamela Frank, Polly Kahn, Joseph W. Polisi, Robert Sherman, and members of the Fisher family.