Past
Grantees

BEN HEYWOOD, Executive Director of The Soap Factory, Minneapolis, Minnesota, will travel to Venice, Italy, to attend the 53rd Venice Biennale. The Soap Factory supports new and emerging practice across the visual arts. The Venice Biennale, since its founding in 1882, has promoted new artistic trends and organized international events in the contemporary arts in accordance with a multi-disciplinary model. This trip will be a powerful professional development opportunity for Heywood to connect with what is new in a global contemporary arts context.

The HIGHPOINT CENTER FOR PRINTMAKING, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $14,400 in support of three Emerging Printmakers Residencies. The Center, dedicated to advancing the art of printmaking, provides educational programs, studio access and collaborative publishing opportunities to engage a diverse community of printmakers and to increase public understanding of and appreciation for the printmaking arts. Since 2003, the Center has operated an Emerging Printmakers Residency program with support from the Jerome Foundation. An annual open call produces submissions reviewed by an independent jury, which selects three emerging artists for nine-month residencies followed by a culminating group show. Artists receive access to etching presses, lithography presses, lithographic stones, screenprinting tables, the technical and program support of a Printshop Coordinator, discounts on classes, free access to master classes and lectures, professional sets of digital images of their work, a group show and post-residency support. During the residency, the artists come together for group meetings and critiques led by art professionals. The program provides complete technical facilities and opportunities to engage in a professional community.

Playwright CORY HINKLE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, will travel to Oklahoma and Kansas to do historical research on the creation of each of the two states and the failed attempt by Native Americans to create their own separate state, Sequoyah. Hinkle hopes to incorporate the research into a new play examining issues of American myths, dreams and cycles of injustice and violence.

Performance artist SOOZIN HIRSCHMUGL, Minneapolis, Minnesota, will travel to England to study spectacle theater and celebratory art traditions of England's Horse and Bamboo Theater, The Heben Parade, The Liverpool Lantern Theater, and Walk the Plank Theater. She will utilize and integrate new skills and techniques in her work with Barebones Productions, a Minneapolis-based collective of visual and performing artists who create installations and performances.

SAMUEL D. HUNTER, a playwright residing in New York City, will travel to the Precious Moments Chapel and Park in Carthage, Missouri, to to conduct research for his play meat, which centers on the culture surrounding Precious Moments. Inspired by Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel in Rome, Precious Moments artist and creator Sam Butcher designed and constructed the Chapel as an extension of the spiritual ideas behind his figurines of teardrop-eyed children he calls "Precious Moments".

A grant was awarded to GABRIELA ILIJESKA for a narrative short titled Azra, a story about a young girl who longs for her family's old life in her home country as her parents attempt to forge a better life in America. The film will focus on Azra's perception of the new world, her rebellion against it, and her escapism into dreams where raspberries grow all year around, where her father is an astronaut, not an asbestos worker, and her mother is a beautiful queen, not a waitress. The film will use a visual style of storytelling, with little to no dialogue, blended with fantasy imagery that provides an important relief from the claustrophobic and cluttered reality in which the family lives.

INTERMEDIA ARTS, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $37,607 in support of the VERVE Awards for Spoken Word Artists and the S.A.S.E./Jerome Awards for emerging writers. The mission of Intermedia Arts is to be a catalyst that builds understanding among people through art. It operates multidisciplinary arts programs, stimulates broad civic dialogues, and gives voice to the issues and experiences of under-represented communities. The S.A.S.E./Jerome Awards are available in amounts up to $5,000 for five to seven emerging Minnesota writers who submit proposals in response to an open call. An independent peer panel selects recipients. The VERVE Awards are given to emerging spoken word poets, who submit applications for review and selection by a nationally recognized spoken word artist.

A grant of $12,000 was authorized for ISSUE PROJECT ROOM, Brooklyn, New York, to support an Artist In Residency (AIR) Program for four emerging New York City-based composers. ISSUE Project Room, founded in 2003, is dedicated to the presentation of works by contemporary composers. It provides an open and versatile environment in which both established and emerging artists conduct, exhibit, and perform new and site-specific work according to their individual visions. The AIR program focuses on emerging composers and sound artists whose works demonstrate an interest in pioneering new exploration within a field. Four emerging composers or composer-led ensembles will be selected for three-month, individually designed residencies to test new compositional ideas with the option to perform them as works-in-progress. Artists are given rehearsal space, technical and production support, and promotional/marketing resources.

Directors authorized $22,500 to THE JAZZ GALLERY, New York City, in support of commissions to emerging composers for new vocal works, lyrics and music. The Jazz Gallery provides an international venue where the youngest generation of professional jazz musicians can be nurtured, giving them an audience for their performances and a stage upon which to assemble their bands. This commitment marks the third from the Jerome Foundation, each grant intended to support commissions to emerging composers. The current grant supports four commissions for new works to be premiered at The Jazz Gallery in a sequence of two-night engagements. The composers to be commissioned have demonstrated significant innovative abilities in their chosen area. The Gallery believes that the commissions will have a major impact on their careers and allow them to extend their reach as leading figures of their generation.

MOLLY WORRE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, CARRIE VOLK, St. Paul, Minnesota, and CARRIE BUSH, Minneapolis, Minnesota, were awarded a grant for Golden Hour, a mixed media HD and 16mm narrative short about a man named Jim who wakes up to the gray world around him. He suffers from dementia and is desperate to remember his past. His memories are tangled together in filmstrips projected in the black box of his mind. He relies on his book of prompts and Post-It reminders to carry him through the daywithout them, simple tasks like remembering to turn off the stove and take his medication are completely forgotten. Jim wanders alone in life but chases the fragmented memory of a lost love. As the visions of this love are revealed, his memories begin to invade his realitysnow speckled streets are blurred with crashing waves and hot summer sand. Jim becomes consumed with unraveling the Golden Hour. Near the end of the film, as his fragmented memories come rushing back in full clarity, he realizes the missing memories stolen by dementia have been romanticized and are better left forgotten.

Laptop composer and sound artist SAWAKO KATO, Brooklyn, New York, will travel to the Florida Keys to research echolocation, a sensory sonar system used by dolphins, to gather field recordings from the oceanic soundscape of the area, and to find inspiration for a new work involving underwater sound. Kato plans to attend a formalized program through the Dolphin Research Center in addition to the field recording work. Kato engages in prolific audio file exchange with other composers.

Puppeteer and performance artist MASANARI KAWAHARA, St. Paul, Minnesota, will travel to the Deer Park Monastery in Escontito, California, to participate in a retreat led by Thich Nhat Hahn. Kawahara is developing a puppet show entitled A Path Home: A Story of Thich Nhat Hanh about Hanh's life teachings-especially focused on his peace activism in Vietnam and the U.S. Kawahara expects that this focused experience will bring real-world insight and spiritual foundation to the new work.

A grant was awarded to HOSSEIN KESHAVARZ for Dog Sweat, a narrative film about the schism between six young Iranians and their more conservative elders, in a country where over two-thirds of the population is under thirty. The film aspires to show the real Iran, a portrayal neither sanctioned by the government nor seen by the outside world. An Iran where young people drink alcohol, party, socialize with members of the opposite sex and cautiously allow themselves to be gay, all behind closed doors and blackened windows. The young actors in this fictional film, which was shot in Iran on HD video, put themselves at great risk to participate. The risk was worth taking in their view in order to tell the stories of this film.

THE KITCHEN (Haleakala), New York City, received $14,700 in support of commissioned performance and exhibition projects by emerging New York City-based artists. The Kitchen is an internationally recognized performance and exhibition space dedicated to supporting new work by innovative artists working within and across the fields of music, dance, theater, video and film, digital art and literature. The Kitchen is known for its commitment to experimental new work and for providing instrumental support during the early years of artists' careers. Jerome support allows The Kitchen to offer commissions to emerging creators to seed new works, which are then presented at The Kitchen. Building upon the commissions, The Kitchen offers technical and production support and increased exposure to a large audience base

The LARK PLAY DEVELOPMENT CENTER, New York City, received $10,800 in support of programs serving emerging playwrights and the development of their works. A laboratory for new voices and new ideas, the Lark provides playwrights with resources to develop their work, nurturing artists at all stages in their careers, and inviting them to express themselves freely in a supportive and rigorous environment. Programs and services are divided into the three areas of play scouting, play incubation and play advancement. The Larks commitment to emerging playwrights is manifested in multiple programs and services, beginning with the practice of open access in which the Lark invites scripts from writers throughout the country and abroad. Programs encompass a playwrights workshop, an annual fellowship with a year of free housing in New York City, fully rehearsed public presentations of plays in the form of BareBones productions, studio retreats, roundtables, an annual playwrights week festival of eight to 12 new plays, international exchange programs, an alumni playwright program and launching new plays into the repertoire initiative. Jerome support is focused on emerging playwrights based in New York City and Minnesota.

Photographer LEIGH LEDARE, Brooklyn, New York, will travel to Moscow, Russia, to continue research on a Russian motorcycle gang, the Night Wolves, before and during their annual meeting in Moscow. Ledare is investigating Russian subculture and youth culture. He sees their social practices as alternative models for participation in society. Ledare's expectations of this trip are to collect materials and establish connections that will lead to a broader film/photography/archive project exploring the group's cultural positioning as well as his relationship to them as a documentarian.

LIVE ACTION SET, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $5,000 in support of the creation and production of My Fathers Bookshelf. Live Action Set creates ensemble-driven performances that dissolve artistic boundaries, elicit profound responses in audiences, and address issues of relevance to the contemporary world. My Fathers Bookshelf was originally conceived by artistic director Galen Treuer, one of the four members of the ensemble. The work explores Alzheimers Disease through multiple perspectives: the personal through a solo character suffering from the disease, the factual through a neuroscience lecture and PowerPoint presentation, and the community through a short play of scenes with a chorus of individuals who interact with the Alzheimers patient. Stories of science, memory and communication are at the core of My Fathers Bookshelf.

THE LOFT LITERARY CENTER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $45,000 in support of the 2010-11 Mentor Series in Poetry and Creative Prose. The Loft Literary Center, one of the nations largest independent literary centers, supports the artistic development of writers, fosters a writing community, and builds an audience for literature. The Mentor series was launched in the late 1970s as a vehicle for emerging Minnesota writers to work in small group settings with nationally recognized writers, and to be mentored in ways ranging from review of their work to providing inspiration and examples for the writing life. Twelve emerging writers (four in poetry, four in fiction, and four in creative nonfiction) are selected through an open competitive process to work intensively with six nationally acclaimed writers, over the course of a year. Program components include seminars, discussions, manuscript conferences, public readings, public craft talks, and intensive workshops.

The Jerome Foundation made a grant of $45,000 to THE LOFT LITERARY CENTER, Minneapolis Minnesota, in support of the 2010 Minnesota Writers Career Initiative Program. The Lofts mission is to support the artistic development of writers, foster a writing community, and build an audience for literature. The Loft offers a diverse range of programs and services for over 600,000 individuals each year. Jerome support is directed to the Minnesota Writers Career Initiative Program, which provides financial support and professional assistance to writers who want to develop and implement substantial, multifaceted plans to help them enter into the next phase of their careers. There is an open call for applications reviewed by an independent panel. Writers and spoken word artists apply with individually designed plans. Examples include conducting a reading or spoken word performance tour, hiring a publicist to market to target audiences, creating a website, consulting with an editor or agent, spending time at an artists retreat or colony, and the production and promotion of a CD/DVD.

LOWER EAST SIDE PRINTSHOP, New York City, received $15,300 in support of the Keyholder and Special Editions Residencies. The Printshop supports contemporary artists of all creative backgrounds by enabling them to create new work. It offers open access to its studio space, stipends, expertise in printmaking, exhibitions, and career services. Its studio facility is a laboratory for artists to develop new work through experimentation and exploration, serving over 150 artists annually. Jerome support focuses on residency programs that serve emerging artists. The Keyholder residencies provide eight competitively selected artists with free studio access for one year, stipends, and other benefits that foster their studio practice and career advancement. The Special Editions Residency Program serves four competitively selected artists with free studio access, stipends, assistance from the Master Printers, and other benefits to enable them to create new bodies of work.