Jerome-Eligible
Artists
Julie Mayo, Movement Research. Photo by Whitney Browne.
Jerome Foundation’s mission is to support early career generative artists and culture bearers residing in Minnesota or the five boroughs of New York City to create, develop, and present their own original artistic work.
Jerome Foundation explicitly uses the terminology of “early career” rather than “emerging” to define the artists we support. We do not use the term “emerging” because artists at all career stages may identify with the experience of emerging. While we understand that individuals and organizations may have different ways of defining “early career”, Jerome Foundation’s intention is to proactively provide grantees and our ecosystem with the clearest and most consistent information possible to ensure we have a shared understanding around artist eligibility.
- Artists must reside in Minnesota or the 5 boroughs of New York City for at least 1-year at the time of their involvement in the organization’s program or opportunities. Citizenship is not required.
- Generative artists with 2–10 years of experience creating and presenting new original work. Jerome’s primary consideration around early career status, and eligibility, is timeframe as a generative artist.
- The 2–10-year timeframe is intended to be expansive, taking into consideration diverse creative experiences. Breaks of 2+ years (e.g., caregiving, school) do not count toward this timeframe.
- Generative artists are those who are currently conceiving and creating new original work, including choreographers, composers, playwrights and devisers, filmmakers, poets, writers of fiction or creative non-fiction, visual artists, technology-centered artists, etc. “Interpretive artists” such as dancers, musicians, actors, editors, designers, journalists, etc. are not eligible.
- New original work is work that has been conceived and created by the artist. Work cannot be a remount, revival, or interpretation of existing material.
- Creating new artistic works that are innovative and/or that take creative risks in expanding, questioning, experimenting with or re-imagining artistic forms.
- There are many factors that determine what is a creative risk or how an approach is innovative. We encourage artists and organizations to self-define these terms, and have examples here. We embrace risk and are intentional in working to create a culture that supports risk-taking.
- Artist collaboratives and collectives are eligible if they meet all the eligibility requirements both individually and collectively and have a demonstrated history of creating new work together.
- Enrollment as a full-time, part-time, or low residency student in any degree-granting education program.
- Tenured faculty status (or the equivalent)
- Mid-career or established artists, including those who have more than 10 years in one field and are shifting to a new field. An artist with a significant history of generating work in one field is not considered early-career because they have changed or entered a new field.
- Artists who have received significant artistic recognition even if they are within a 2–10-year timeframe of generative practice—such as a MacArthur Fellowship. Early career status is also determined by the number of completed projects, e.g. writers with 3 or more published (or under contract to be published) novels or novellas, memoirs, and/or collections of short stories, poetry, or essays are beyond early career or filmmakers who have completed, released and have in distribution 3 or more feature-length films (running time of 50+ minutes or more). See Field-Specific Eligibility below.
- Artists with a conflict of interest. Jerome Foundation and our grantee organizations screen for conflicts of interest, including but not limited to familial relationships, board memberships, and leadership or program involvement within an organization. We do this to create as much access as possible and avoid actual and perceived bias in the selection of artist participants in Jerome-funded programs.
Age and formal training in a degree program are not factors in determining eligibility.
Field-Specific Eligibility Information
Awards, prizes, and accomplishments that impact eligibility
| Artistic Field | Not Eligible Artist Types and Amount of Work | If you have received one of these awards, you are not eligible: |
|---|---|---|
| Dance |
A dancer, dramaturg, designer, producer, critic, arts administrator, agent, manager, scholar, etc., who is not also a generative choreographer, is not eligible to apply. Choreographers with more than 7 evening-length, fully produced works presented by an organization (not self-produced), or have achieved significant commercial success are not eligible to apply. |
|
| Film, Video, and Digital Production |
A producer, actor, cinematographer, screenwriter, etc., who is not also a generative filmmaker, is not eligible to apply. Filmmakers who have completed, released and have in distribution 3 or more feature-length films (running time of 50+ minutes or more), or have achieved significant commercial success are not eligible to apply. |
|
| Literature |
An editor, agent, screenwriter, journalist, business or self-help writer, translator, interpreter, critic, scholar, arts administrator, producer, manager, artist representative, agent, designer and/or illustrator who is not also a generative writer, is not eligible to apply. Writers with 3 or more published (or under contract to be published) novels or novellas, memoirs, and/or collections of short stories, poetry, or essays, or have achieved significant commercial success are not eligible to apply. Playwrights and spoken word artists should apply in Theater/Performance/Spoken Word. |
|
| Music |
An accompanist, musical arranger, lyricist (or songwriter or librettist who writes the words but not the music), editor, sound or recording engineer, producer, agent, arts administrator, manager, singer (of non-original work), arts administrator, etc., who is not also a composer or sound artist, is not eligible to apply. Composers with more than 7 releases (CDs or albums) and/or fully produced, evening-length projects presented by an organization (not self-produced) are not eligible to apply. Composers with significant commercial success (e.g., signed with a major label such as Atlantic Records, Def Jam, Sony, etc., or consistently scoring commercial feature films with DreamWorks, etc.) are not eligible to apply. |
|
| Technology Centered |
A designer, architect, scientist, coder, web designer, agent, producer, manager, arts administrator, etc. who is not also a generative technology-centered director/lead artist is not eligible to apply. Artists with more than 7 fully produced projects presented by an organization (not self-produced), or who have achieved significant commercial success, are not eligible to apply. |
|
| Theater, Performance and Spoken Word |
An actor, critic, scholar, supporting puppeteer, dramaturg, architect, agent, technician, producer, arts administrator, director, designer, screen writers, journalists, translators, etc., who is not also a generative artist is not eligible to apply. Artists with more than 7 fully produced, evening-length projects presented by an organization (not self-produced) are not eligible to apply. Artists with significant commercial success, such as having their work produced on Broadway, are not eligible to apply. |
|
| Visual Arts |
A designer, architect, arts administrator, producer, manager, agent, artist representative, hobbyist, etc. who is not also a generative visual artist is not eligible to apply. Artists with more than 3 solo museum (or equivalent) exhibitions, or who have achieved significant commercial success, are not eligible to apply. |
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