Past
Grantees

Choreographer JENNIFER MONSON, through the sponsorship of PERFORMANCE SPACE 122, New York City, received a two-year grant of $24,000 toward the creation and production of new work. Monson has been pursuing an original approach to experimental dance since 1983. Funding in the initial year will enable her to create a full-evening work titled The Hearts of Small Lives, which will investigate ideas of navigation and location through the natural and cultural history of pigeons. Funding will also be directed toward a touring project, Bird Brain, which will broaden the scope of the first dance work to include an investigation of the migratory patterns of birds and other animals, set to an original sound score by composer James Lo. Both dances will look at how the meaning of location becomes more fluid as communication technologies develop.

A grant was awarded to SARAH JANE LAPP, for The House of the Living, a thirty-minute experimental narrative that portrays the last day in the life of a professional eulogist. The film will explore the function of a memory industry and the place of individual humans in producing social nostalgia. It will also delve into the following questions: Why do we strive to create a verbal imprint of a dead soul? How does the individual figure in the collective spiritual mind? How does memory translate the faults of our loved ones? And, why and how does one learn to love a perfect stranger?

STEVE LARSON, St. Paul, MN. Larson received support for Beyond Duluth, a digital narrative about a 17-year-old named Olivia O'Leary Miller, who leaves the home of her couples' therapists parents in order to ostensibly confront a boyfriend who dumped her. Along the way she meets Leon Benson, a man in his 40s who doesn't talk and carries about three to four thousand watts of light bulbs on his coat. As they drive northward, things change and start to get complicated. Light becomes dark, dark becomes light. The story culminates with Leon confronting his past, and Olivia her future through that past.

JULIA LOKTEV, was awarded a grant for the installation/movie, Said in Passing, that presents portraits of 20 women from different backgrounds as they ride the New York City subway. The film portion appears on five screens as it unfolds in space and time. The installation melds documentary and fiction, street photography and performance within the context of urban space. Loktev is a previous Jerome Foundation New York Media Arts grant recipient for Moment of Impact.

MIXED BLOOD THEATER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, acting as fiscal agent for theater artist Zaraawar Mistry, received funding of $10,000 for the production of Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Mistry is creating the stage adaptation of this novel, and will also direct and produce it at Mixed Blood in October of 2000. Haroun and the Sea of Stories is described as an exuberant and joyous homage to the power of stories, drawing upon sources as disparate as Hindu mythology, the Arabian Nights, Grimm Fairy Tales and contemporary popular culture. His adaptation stresses the sea of stories as a larger metaphor for the diversity of peoples and their stories in this country. It is a collaboration of many distinct voices, and will be performed by a multi-ethnic cast.

MOVIN' SPIRITS DANCE THEATER, Brooklyn, New York, received a grant of $15,000 in support of the development and production of new work in 2000. Movin' Spirits expands the boundaries of dance through sustained educational programming and major performance projects undertaken in collaboration with writers, composers, photographers and video artists. The strength of its interdisciplinary work lies in its combined use of the diverse traditions, styles and cultures of the artists engaged. The organization was established in 1989 by choreographer Marlies Yearby. Jerome support covers the development of America the Beautiful, Yearby's collaboration with poet Carl Hancock Rux, and continued work on Feathers at the Flame. Yearby is also developing a new music driven dance work titled Brown Butterfly, exploring the cultural shift sparked by Muhammad Ali, and composed by Craig Harris with visual design by artificial intelligence technician Jonas Goldstein.

ERIC MUELLER, Minneapolis, MN. Mueller received support for Pete & Adrian, a dual-screen digital narrative (in the tradition of the recently released Mike Figgis film Timecode) that looks at the humorously romantic relationship of two men: Pete, a "meter-maid" with low self-esteem and Adrian, an "A-list" aerobics instructor. When the two meet at Adrian's birthday party, it's a simple chemistry of opposites attracting.

Choreographer BEN MUNISTERI requested a grant under the sponsorship of the FOUNDATION FOR INDEPENDENT ARTISTS, New York City. The Jerome Foundation Directors authorized $12,000 to support Lucky Boy, a new work involving six dancers to be performed in 2001 at the Pyramid Club and in a concert space, with an exploration of ways in which the work bridges the two. Munisteri traverses the worlds of club dancing and more formal concert dances.

KELLY NATHE, Minneapolis, MN. Nathe received support for I Took a Bosnian Lover, a web-based multi-media docu-drama about an American artist traveling solo throughout the post-war Balkans. It's the story of an individual who goes to one of the most politically turbulent places on this planet. She discovers around every corner, over every mountain, and in every ethnic enclave, other individuals who dare to believe that living in a multi-ethnic society is the only path to peace, harmony and spiritual prosperity.

The Directors authorized a grant of $10,000 to the HOUSE OF DANCE/THE NETA COMPANY, New York City, in support of the creation and development of River of Orchids. The Company was founded in 1986 by choreographer Neta Pulvermacher. It brings contemporary performance arts to the public, promotes artistic collaborations among artists working in different media and supports innovative artists' activities in all media. River of Orchidswill be an evening-length work set to original music by the English alternative rock band XTC. The set for the work will depict a magical swamp, where other-worldly beings, portrayed by dancers, come to life as their stories unfold. The provocative image of the orchid as an eternal object of mystification and allure speaks to the heart of the human condition. In Pulvermacher's fantastical swamp, orchids wink and fairies go wild. This project follows the progression of Pulvermacher's interest in developing choreography to original music in all forms and genres.

CHRISTOPHER NEWBERRY, Minneapolis, MN. Newberry received support for Agora, a short narrative about a little girl lost in a crowd who has to set aside her panic in order to help another child. Newberry hopes to create a journey into the mind of a lost child by filming from the child's point of view. Ultimately, he hopes to reveal tragedy as only a child sees it.

THE FIELD, New York City, is a service organization that supports the work of independent artists and frequently acts as fiscal agent for those artists. One of those is TERE OCONNOR DANCE. OConnor challenges the boundaries of dance through a dense eclectic movement style filled with reference and nuance, and a fierce commitment to encountering stark emotional territory. His persistent themes include the unveiling of an inner emotional dialogue and the frailty and nobility of an individual life accented by a frequently hilarious sense of humor. Jerome Foundation support of $32,000 was authorized over two years. Portions of that funding will go toward the development of a new evening-length piece with the working title The New and Improved Earth, continuing OConnors practice of intermingling dance and text.

A grant of $12,000 was made to THEATRE DE LA JEUNE LUNE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, as fiscal agent for independent artist MICHAEL SOMMERS, to continue development on A Prelude to Faust for a New York City run. Sommers is an artist who has worked in the many disciplines that constitute multidisciplinary performance. With a Jerome commission awarded through the Walker Art Center in 1998, A Prelude to Faust was premiered as part of a New Adventures in Puppetry Series. Further development on that work will enable Sommers to bring Faust to New York City in September and present it as part of the Henson Foundations International Festival of Puppetry. To give this work more prominence on national and international levels, Jerome funding was authorized.

INTERMEDIA ARTS, Minneapolis, Minnesota, a multidisciplinary organization that has a long tradition of supporting individual artists, acted as fiscal agent for composer, guitarist and songwriter SHANE OSLUND. A grant of $12,000 was authorized for the creation of new work, including a recording of new pieces and a subsequent tour. His music has been described as "avant-rock". He works with the band Liars Club, a group that is all about blurring boundaries and experimentation. While maintaining the avant-garde spirit of his previous work, Oslunds new music will embody a more focused and developed aesthetic.

A grant was awarded to THOMAS PIPER for Can You Get to That: The Welfare to Work Trip, a documentary that tells the uncelebrated stories of lives in transition - stories that can fundamentally change the discussions about poverty and welfare in America, and, in a time of unprecedented wealth, wake people up to the need for a little more compassion.

MARK PITSCH, Minneapolis, MN. Pitsch received support for Uneasy Peace: Ten Years After the Contra War, a 55-minute documentary that asks the question, "Are the lives of ethnic minorities of the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua better off now than they were ten years ago?" The lives of the Nicaraguan people, particularly the multiethnic, multilingual residents of the Atlantic Coast region suggests a much bleaker portrait of living conditions than most Nicaraguan or American officials will admit. This film looks at the plight of the Nicaraguans.

ARCADIAN ARTS, New York City, is an arts and education service organization dedicated to encouraging and enabling artists of all disciplines to make new works, and to developing socially relevant projects that strengthen the connection between artists and social service organizations. It acted as fiscal agent for jazz composer ROB REDDY who sought funds to support an ambitious new work, a three-movement suite performed by a 19-piece ensemble comprised of five winds, five brass, six strings, two percussionists and a pianist. The work will draw heavily from 20th Century American music including gospel, marches, Appalachian folk music, blues and jazz. A Jerome grant of $10,000 was authorized.

ALEX RIVERA received a grant for Death of a Cybracero, an experimental sci-fi narrative about Mexican farm laborers who live in Tijuana but work in the United States via the internet. They are, in effect, virtual laborers. As the principal character, Jorge, grows closer to achieving his dream of living in the United States in reality, he is forced to choose between continuing to pursue his dream or saving his sister. His sister, Victoria, has been seized by a violent group of vigilantes that patrol futuristic networks looking for illegals, or Netbacks. Will Jorge save his sister from these villains?

DARREN ROARK, Minneapolis, MN. Roark received support for Tilt!, a feature-length film that follows the adventures of four rough and tumble women. After one of them loses a botched beauty pageant, they hit the road to get rich playing pinball. This film will be a loud and obnoxious blend of action and comedy, with a few thrills thrown in for good measure.

TOM SHROEDER, Minneapolis, MN. Shroeder received support for Riding With Harv, a 15-minute animated film about a character named Dave, a college student who is entertained one afternoon by his grandparents' neighbors, Harv and Olga. He is driven around the small town where they live, while they tell stories. Harv and Olga are an old couple who can barely stand each other, but cannot possibly live without one another. During their drive, another motorist scratches Harv's car, which angers him to the point of seeking revenge.