Applications.Jury review.Decisions, delivered.

1. Stage 1

   Applications & prescreen

   A branded application form with prescreen audio/video, declared repertoire, uploaded materials, and teacher references — collected in one place with a prescreening deadline, not scattered across email and forms.

2. Stage 2

   Blind jury review

   A jury panel scores from anywhere against a weighted rubric, with anonymous review, several aggregation modes (weighted average, trimmed mean, median), and multi-round advancement from prescreen to finals — on an auditable trail.

3. Stage 3

   Decisions & embargo

   Accept, waitlist, or reject, then release privately and flip a whole cohort visible at once on a scheduled date. Until the embargo lifts, applicants never see a staged decision.

4. Stage 4

   Offer letters, e-signed

   Send an offer letter the applicant accepts or declines online. Acceptance is a typed-name e-signature recorded with a timestamp — recorded evidence for your file, not a loose email reply.

5. Stage 5

   Scholarships & aid

   Award named scholarships, fellowships, and prizes, and package financial aid from line-item components — scholarship, grant, work-study, loan, fee-waiver — with an offered → accepted funnel and dollars-committed reporting.

6. Stage 6

   Deposits & the season

   Track enrollment deposits to hold a seat (recorded, collected off-platform), then sell week passes, single tickets, and masterclass observer seats on one ledger with a patron CRM and donations for your donors.

Enrollment deposits are recorded, not processed — the festival collects the deposit through its own channel and the applicant submits proof here, so nothing routes through Cadenza. Offer acceptance is a typed-name e-signature recorded with a timestamp for your file.

From sign-up to open applications, in minutes.

1. 1

   Post your program — free

   Festival, fellowship, competition, or audition. Write it, or reply “draft for me”.

2. 2

   Take applications

   Branded form, audio/video, repertoire, and references in one place.

3. 3

   Jury, decide, sell

   Score the panel, advance rounds, send decisions — then sell passes and masterclass seats.

$12,000/yr Festival Admissions Pro runs the full season; selected founding festivals can arrange a private implementation pilot.

Also: free festival profile and program posting · ticketing & donations $0 setup, 7% + $0.99 per order · enterprise rollout available by quote.

Frequently asked questions

Is it really free to post?

Yes. A claimed festival profile, your multi-day calendar, and your first program or competition posting are free — no card required. Season passes are free to build and sell too — paid plans lower the per-order fee. Paid plans add the full jury-review Audition OS, ticketing analytics, and the patron CRM.

Can we take applications AND run the jury on one platform?

Yes — that’s the point. Take applications with a branded form, prescreen audio/video, declared repertoire, and teacher references, then run the jury panel with scoring from anywhere, weighted rubrics, several aggregation modes, rounds and advancement, and anonymous review — all the way to the decision, with an auditable trail.

Does it go past the decision — offers, scholarships, deposits?

Yes. Release accept/waitlist/reject decisions (with an optional embargo so a whole cohort flips visible at once on a set date), send offer letters the applicant accepts online with a typed-name e-signature, award named scholarships, fellowships, and prizes, package financial aid from scholarship / grant / work-study / loan / fee-waiver line items, and track enrollment deposits to hold the seat. Deposits are recorded, not processed — you collect them through your own channel and the applicant submits proof here, so no deposit money routes through Cadenza.

What happens after an artist is admitted and enrolled?

Cadenza runs the admissions cycle end to end — applications, jury, decisions, offers, scholarships, and deposits — and sells your season. Admitted artists then get a participant portal: they open it from their offer, see their status and the festival schedule, and submit their own housing, travel, dietary, accessibility, and emergency-contact details. Your team works the same roster from the festival dashboard. Day-of-festival operations — room assignments, rehearsal scheduling, and faculty timetabling — are not part of it.

We run one application cycle a year — what’s the cheapest way?

Festival Admissions Pro at $12,000/yr runs the full season — applications, media, recommendations, prescreening, scoring, rounds, decisions, and export. Selected festivals may qualify for a private implementation pilot to configure their real workflow first, with any setup fee credited toward the annual plan.

How is this different from Acceptd or SlideRoom?

Those collect applications and stop. Cadenza runs the whole cycle — blind jury scoring, weighted rubrics, rounds and advancement, audition-day operations, decisions with an embargo, e-signed offer letters, named scholarships and financial-aid packages, and enrollment-deposit tracking — and also sells your passes, single tickets, and masterclass seats and keeps your donors in a patron CRM. One platform, not three.

What does ticketing cost?

Ticketing and passes are $0 to set up — just 7% + $0.99 per order (5% + $0.99 for paid subscribers), added on top and paid by the buyer. You keep 100% of the face price you set.

Do we have to sign a contract?

No. Every paid plan is a fixed one-year term billed once, with renewal reminders before it ends so you decide whether to continue. Nothing auto-renews — when the term is up you choose whether to buy another year, and access continues through the period you already paid for.