Creative
Risk

The Foundation intentionally embraces risk-taking and curiosity as an emergent strategy for discovering and developing new ideas, methods, or approaches that may generate innovative or transformative outcomes. We recognize that not every risk-taking experience results in success and fully support trying and failing as part of the creative process. We consider risk broadly through the ways artists are expanding, questioning, experimenting with, or imagining film forms, practices, and approaches in unique ways.

Jerome does not have a singular definition of risk, but the context for this value is framed by our commitments to intersectional racial equity and our values of risk, innovation, and humility. The Foundation acknowledges that definitions of risk related to resources tend to focus on risk avoidance, framing people as risks through the lens of racism and other forms of oppression. The Foundation encourages and supports artists to intentionally test, push, question, and experiment—and welcomes artists to share the ways they are exploring creative risk. We recognize that inviting risk requires a respectful and nurturing environment built on trusting relationships. The uncertainty of risk generates many reactions, from exhilaration to discomfort to anxiety and fear. We strive to sustain these responses within a culture of care and belonging. We celebrate curiosity, learning, empowerment, and healing over punishment, hierarchy, extraction, and exclusion.