History

The Kendrick Arts Group is a nonprofit organization established in 2026 as the next evolution of JMK Foundation Services, a New York-based consulting organization specializing in 20th- and 21st-century American composers and the foundations which support their music. JMK Foundation Services itself was born out of one lawyer’s relationships with a small handful of composers, estates, and foundations.

In the 1990s, James M. Kendrick, an attorney specializing in classical music intellectual property law, was serving on the boards of a handful of grantmaking music foundations, among others. As the foundations’ needs grew, Jim rose to the occasion, hiring staff first through his law firm, and later through JMK Foundation Services, to provide support. For nearly two decades, JMK Foundation Services worked in the background, quietly supporting the day-to-day operations of organizations including the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, the Amphion Foundation, and the Virgil Thomson Foundation, in addition to a small roster of other organizations.

Over the years, as the JMK Foundation Services team deepened their skillsets and the needs of the foundations and field evolved, it became clear that the work and trajectory of the organization was better aligned with the non-profit sector, and so The Kendrick Arts Group came to be. Today, The Kendrick Arts Group continues to build on the legacy of JMK Foundation Services, advancing its charitable mission to strengthen the performing arts field for the artists who create it, the organizations that support it, and the audiences who sustain it.