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Panelists

Jerome Hill Artist Fellow Mazz Swift. Photo by Nisha Sondhe Photography.

Jerome Foundation engages artists and arts leaders to assist with the review of applications for our grant programs. These panelists have direct experience with early career artists and a deep knowledge of their respective arts field/s. Panelists are asked to review the applications based on explicit review criteria, which are identified in the guidelines for each program, and to assess the applicant’s fit with the Foundation’s values of diversity, innovation and risk, and humility.

Panelists frequently have had prior experience with Jerome through either participation in Jerome-funded programs or direct grants support from the Foundation. The Foundation rigorously adheres to standards of conflict of interest to assure that no panelist reviews materials or participates in a discussion about an application in which they have a vested interest or are involved, whether directly or indirectly. Below please find a list, organized by discipline, of the Foundation’s panelists for the past few years.

Dance Panelists

  • Jonah Bokaer, choreographer and media artist and co-founder of Chez Bushwick
  • Peggy Cheng, Director of Development, Danspace Project
  • Ananya Chatterjea, Artistic Director of Ananya Dance Theatre
  • Thomas DeFrantz, Director of SLIPPAGE@Duke
  • Emily Johnson, choreographer and Artistic Director of Catalyst Dance
  • Christopher K. Morgan, Executive Artistic Director, Dance Place
  • Cynthia Oliver, Choreographer, Performer, and Professor and Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Illinois, Urbana
  • Craig Peterson, Artistic Director of Abrons Arts Center and Deputy Program Officer for Visual and Performing Arts at Henry Street Settlement
  • Toni Pierce-Sands, Artistic Director, TU Dance
  • Aparna Ramaswamy, Co-Artistic Director and dancer, Ragamala Dance Company
  • Charles Rice-González, Executive Director, BAAD! (Bronx Academy of Art and Dance)
  • Rosy Simas, choreographer and Director of Rosy Simas Dance
  • Clarissa Soto Josephs, Associate Director, Pentacle
  • Pamela Tatge, Director, Jacob’s Pillow
  • Kristin Van Loon, choreographer (HIJACK), co-director (HAIR+NAILS), Artistic Director of BLB Theater
  • Pramila Vasudevan, choreographer, dancer and founder of Aniccha Arts, program director of Naked Stages
  • Julie Voigt, Senior Program Officer of Performing Arts, Walker Art Center
  • Sixto Wagan, former Executive Director of Diverse Works and Director of the Center for Arts and Social Engagement at the University of Houston
  • Martin Wechsler, former Director of Programming at the Joyce Theater
  • DeeArah Wright, mover, strategist, Education and Programs Consultant for Brooklyn Children’s Museum and former Associate Artistic Director of JACK
  • Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, founder/visioning partner of Urban Bush Women

Film, Video and Digital Production & New Media Panelists

  • Anthony Adah, Professor, Minnesota State University-Moorhead
  • Claire Aguilar, Director of Programming and Policy, International Documentary Association
  • Toni Bell, Filmmaker Services Manager at the International Documentary Association
  • Daniel Bergin, Senior Producer at Twin Cities Public Television
  • Mridu Chandra, Documentary Producer and Director IF/Then Shorts, Tribeca Film Institute
  • Rachel Chanoff, Director, The Office performing arts + films
  • Kecia Élan Cole, Supervising Producer at BRIC Media
  • Valerie Deus, Film Curator and Programmer at FilmNorth’s Cinema Lounge and Programmer for the Provincetown International Film Festival
  • Jim Finn, filmmaker
  • Deb Girdwood, Moving Image Department Program Manager, Walker Art Center and former curator Childish Films
  • Johannes Goebel, Founding Director of Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
  • Marlina Gonzalez, Twin Cities Public Television, Community Impact Manager, arts curator and media arts producer
  • Alison Guessou, filmmaker, Djini Productions
  • Leya Hale, Producer at Twin Cities Public Television
  • Ange Hwang, Executive Director of Asian Media Access
  • Rasu Jilani, Cultural Network Curator at Lambent Foundation and independent curator, cultural producer and social sculptor
  • Grace Lee, filmmaker
  • Wendy Levy, Executive Director of the Alliance for Media Arts + Culture
  • Yo-Yo Lin, interdisciplinary media artist
  • John Mhiripiri, Director, Anthology Film Archives
  • Moon Molson, filmmaker and Associate Professor, Princeton University
  • Paola Mottura, Program Manager, Independent Filmmaker Project
  • Lucy Jane Mukerjee, Senior Programmer at the Tribeca Film Festival
  • Alyce Myatt, consultant and former Director of the NEA Media Program and PBS Executive
  • Jenni Olson, Film Curator, filmmaker, author and LGBT film historian
  • Raúl O. Paz Pastrana, filmmaker
  • Sarah Peters, Co-Director of NorthernLights.mn
  • Adam Piron, Film Programmer at Sundance Institute
  • Craig Laurence Rice, filmmaker and professor at Minneapolis College of Art and Design
  • Jose Rodriguez, Director of Documentary Programs at Tribeca Film Institute
  • Jules Rosskam, filmmaker and Assistant Professor of Visual Arts at University of Maryland
  • Hebe Tabachnik, Senior Programmer at the Seattle, Palm Springs and Cartagena International Film Festivals, Artistic Director of Cine Latino Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Co-Founder and VP of Lokro Productions, Inc.
  • Merit Thursday, filmmaker, host of Cinema Lounge, programmer of Video Variant and animation teacher with MCAD/Perpich/COMPAS
  • Jiny Ung, filmmaker and animation artist
  • Rosa Valado, visual artist and founder and director of The Greenpoint Film Festival
  • Barbara Vasconez, Program Manager at New York Women in Film & Television
  • Francisco Velasquez, Associate Director at Project Involve (Film Independent)
  • Missy Whiteman, independent filmmaker
  • Kuye Youngblood, Head of Development and Production, BRIC Media
  • Rini Yun Keagy, filmmaker and adjunct faculty at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design
  • Debbie Zimmerman, Executive Director, Women Make Movies

Literature Panelists

  • Barrie Jean Borich, literary nonfiction author and Associate Professor at DePaul University and editor of Slag Glass City
  • Ken Chen, writer and former Executive Director of Asian American Writers’ Workshop
  • Gabrielle Civil, performance artist, writer, poet and Professor of Critical Studies at CalArts
  • r. erica doyle, poet and facilitator for Tongues Afire
  • Heid Erdrich, poet and founder of Turtle Mountain Writing Workshop
  • Elliott Figman, Executive Director, Poets and Writers
  • Chris Fischbach, publisher of Coffee House Press
  • Kim Foote, writer and Assistant Director of Global Programs, Gallatin School/NYU
  • Rigoberto González, writer and critic, professor of English and director of the MFA Program in creative writing at Rutgers University–Newark
  • Carolyn Holbrook, author, founder of SASE, and Adjunct Professor of creative writing at Hamline University
  • Paolo Javier, poet and editor/publisher of 2nd Ave Poetry and Program Director at Poets House
  • David Mura, writer, memoirist, poet, performance artist and teacher
  • Tony Perez, Senior Editor at Tin House Publishing
  • Gabrielle Rucker, fiction author
  • Chris Santiago, poet, fiction author and Assistant Professor at University of St. Thomas
  • Sun Yung Shin, poet and editor
  • Ellery Washington, fiction author and Associate Professor at the Pratt Institute
  • Diane Wilson, author, past editor for Minnesota Literature; founder and editor of The Artist’s Voice
  • Jamia Wilson, Executive Editor for Penguin and former Executive Director of the Feminist Press
  • Kao Kalia Yang, writer, teacher, Minnesota Book Award Winner
  • Monica Youn, poet and creative writing lecturer at Princeton University

Music Panelists

  • Doug Benidt, Associate Curator at Walker Art Center
  • Helga Davis, vocalist and performance artist
  • Amir ElSaffar, trumpeter, composer, santur player, and vocalist
  • Douglas Ewart, composer, performer, instrument maker
  • Janis Lane-Ewart, development consultant and media producer
  • Ronen Givony, founder and Artistic Director of the Wordless Music Series and Senior Curator for National Sawdust
  • David Hamilton, musician and Executive Director, The Cedar Cultural Center
  • Amy Iwano, Executive Director, UChicago Presents at University of Chicago
  • Michelle Kinney, composer and faculty at the University of Minnesota
  • Miya Masaoka, composer and sound artist
  • Todd Nicholson, Executive Director, Arts for Art
  • John Nuechterlein, retired President/CEO of American Composers Forum
  • Aruán Ortiz, composer
  • Laura Ortman, musician, composer and artist
  • Elena Park, Director and Curator at National Sawdust
  • Marina Rosenfeld, composer and Professor and co-chair of the MFA in Music/Sound at Bard College
  • Davu Seru, composer
  • Gargi Shindé, jazz musician, Program Director of Jazz at Chamber Music America
  • Bora Yoon, composer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, interdisciplinary artist, and educator

Theater, Performance & Spoken Word Panelists

  • Abigail Browde, theater artist, 600 HIGHWAYMEN
  • Emilya Cachapero, Director of Artistic Programs and International Theater Institute, Theatre Communications Group
  • Michelle Coffey, founder and Executive Director of the Lambent Foundation
  • Kristy Edmunds, artist, curator, and Artistic Director of UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA)
  • Paige Evans, Artistic Director of the Signature Theater
  • Joseph Haj, Artistic Director of the Guthrie Theater
  • Signe Harriday, director and multidisciplinary artist
  • Michelle Hensley, founder and former Artistic Director of Ten Thousand Things
  • Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Vice-President and Artistic Director of Social Impact at the Kennedy Center
  • Masanari Kawahara, performer, designer, and educator
  • Ellen McLaughlin, playwright and actor
  • Lou Moreno, Artistic Director, INTAR Theatre
  • James Nicola, Artistic Director of New York Theater Workshop
  • Matthew Paul Olmos, playwright
  • Nicky Paraiso, Director of Programming for The Club at La MaMa and Curator of La MaMa Moves!
  • Sarah Rasmussen, Artistic Director of the Jungle Theater
  • Lily Tung Crystal, actor, director and Artistic Director, Theater Mu
  • Mark Valdez, former Executive Director of the Network of Ensemble Theaters and freelance director, organizer, consultant and resident artist at Mixed Blood Theater
  • MeiYin Wang, producer and curator of live performance
  • Harry Waters, Jr., actor and theater professor, Macalester College
  • Jay Wegman, director of NYU Skirball Center and former director of Abrons Arts Center
  • Rhiana Yazzie, playwright, director, filmmaker and founder of New Native Theater

Visual Arts Panelists

  • Lia Gangitano, Director, Participant Inc.
  • Gabriel de Guzman, Curator and Director of Exhibitions, Smack Mellon
  • Tricia Heuring, Curator and Co-Director at Public Functionary
  • Rujeko Hockley, Assistant Curator and Co-Curator of Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum
  • Dakota Hoska, Assistant Curator of Native Arts, The Denver Art Museum
  • Mike Hoyt, Creative Community Liaison Pillsbury House + Theatre
  • Karissa Isaacs, Associate Curator, Tweed Museum of Art
  • Chris Larson, artist, Director at Second Shift, adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota
  • Melissa Levin, Vice President of Artists, Estates and Foundations, Art Agency Partners
  • Natasha Logan, Deputy Director at Creative Time
  • Miguel Luciano, multi-media visual artist and faculty, School of Visual Arts
  • Anna Metcalfe, ceramicist and public artist
  • Jennifer-Navva Milliken, Artistic Director at Center for Art in Wood
  • Smooth C. Nzewi, Curator, The Museum of Modern Art
  • John Rasmussen, Curator and Director at Midway Contemporary Art
  • Aki Sasamoto, visual artist and educator
  • Colleen Sheehy, President and Executive Director, Public Art St. Paul
  • Xavier Tavera, photographer, filmmaker, Professor at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
  • Dyani White Hawk, contemporary artist and curator
  • Diane Willow, artist and Professor Interdisciplinary Art + Participatory Media at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
  • Risë Wilson, Senior Advisor, Art for Justice Fund
  • Laura Youngbird, Curator at Plains Arts Museum