Past
Grantees

A grant of $9,000 was awarded to PANGEA WORLD THEATER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, as fiscal sponsor for ANANYA DANCE THEATRE, in support of the creation of new work for a 2006 concert season. Pangea World Theater is committed to international works, styles and traditions that illuminate the human condition, end divisiveness, and celebrate differences. Ananya Dance Theatre, under the direction of choreographer Ananya Chatterjea, is a performing company of women artists of color who create theater and dance to stir thoughts, raise questions and inspire social change. Chatterjea brings together sculptural forms, strong footwork, emotional articulation of the Odissi classical style of dance, yoga, the energy of street theater and issue-based work in social justice and women's lives. Chatterjea is working on a new piece titled Duurbaar: Journeys into horizon, inspired by the relentless striving of women around the world to keep going, to realize a horizon where there is none visible, to create light when all seems dark. Duurbaar means unstoppable in Bengali; it is also the name of an organization created and led by sex workers in Kolkata, India.

ARTISTS SPACE, New York City, received $18,000 in support of the participation of emerging artists in the 2005-06 Exhibition Program and the provision of services to artists. Founded in 1972, Artists Space supports contemporary artists working in the visual arts, including video installation, electronic media, architecture and design. Its mission is to encourage experimentation, diversity and dialogue in contemporary arts practice, provide an exhibition space for new art and artists, and foster an appreciation for the role that artists play in their communities. Project spaces, inaugurated in 1998, offer emerging artists their first small-scale solo shows, typically booked no more than six months in advance so that the curators may respond to emerging trends and present new artists. Services include the Irving Sandler Artist File and Survival Skill Workshops, which focus on such practical matters as tax filing, studio visits from the artist's point of view, preparing submissions and portfolios, and hazards and safety in the studio.

In an exception to its geographic policy, but in accordance with the history and circumstances of the Foundation's creation, the Board approved a two-year grant of $15,000 to THE ASPEN INSTITUTE's Nonprofit Sector and Philanthropy Program, Washington, D.C., which is acting as the base for a study under the direction of Christine Vincent. There is a growing number of private foundations being created and endowed by artists, especially visual artists. Vincent proposes to study this expanding sector at a critical moment of development in order to support and strengthen it. The study will measure and profile the sector; examine trends in the formation and focus of artist-endowed foundations; convene foundation leaders to discuss issues influencing artist-endowed foundations; and document sound practices. Outcomes will include a published study with recommendations, a database housed at Princeton University's Cultural Policy and Arts National Data Archive, an online resource directory and annotated bibliography. A dissemination initiative consisting of published articles, papers, conference programs and other strategies will encourage the formation and vitality of artist-endowed foundations. The Jerome Foundation was created and endowed by artist and philanthropist Jerome Hill.

A grant of $12,000 was authorized for BANG ON A CAN, Brooklyn, New York, in support of commissions for three emerging composers, Stefan Weisman, Lukas Ligeti and Joshua Penman. Bang on a Can brings innovative and adventurous music of our time to broad and diverse audiences. It aims to discover emerging composers and ensembles that explore new musical frontiers. In the People's Commissioning Fund, Bang on a Can offers commissions to emerging composers to create music for the Bang on a Can All-Stars, an ensemble of virtuoso musicians whose collaborations with experimental composers push both into new areas. The new works are performed during the People's Commissioning Fund week, which culminates in a concert at Merkin Hall. WNYC/FM produces live broadcasts of the People's Commissioning Fund concerts, including interviews with the composers. Select works become part of the repertoire of the All-Stars, whose performance tours take them to various parts of the world.

MICHELE BATTISTE, a poet residing in Astoria, New York, will explore the city of Budapest, Hungary, and research its post World War II area history, the place and time in Part One of her collection of narrative poems-in-progress titled Uprising. Battiste will conduct research at the Central European University History Department and Library and the Open Society Archives. Battiste will also investigate museums, historical sites and the Institute for the History of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.

KEITH BEARDEN received a grant for Train Town, a experimental narrative film that will center on two middle-aged men in a small American town who attempt to live out their fantasies of a perfect world through the creation of an elaborate realistic model train diorama. The idyllic happenings in the totally controlled miniature town will be inter-cut with their own sharply contrasting real lives: one, a schoolteacher with contempt for his students, little connection to his own children and a strained relationship with his ex-wife; the other, a paranoid reactionary who shelters himself in pre-60's nostalgia and sees enemies of the American Dream in every immigrant, progressive or libertine. Train Town will examine themes of male fantasy, obsession, non-communication, fear of age and death, and the role sexual/emotional frustration plays in the seeds of fascism.

DON BERNIER, a documentary filmmaker in New York City, received funding to travel to Sheffield, England; Paris, France; Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Boston, Massachusetts; Utrecht, The Netherlands; Leiden, The Netherlands; St. Petersburg, Russia; Bridgeport, Connecticut; Syracuse, New York; Austin, Texas; Reading, Pennsylvania; Dayton, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Gibsonton, Florida; London, England; Briston, England and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. His purpose is to conduct research for a new project about the fabrication, propagation and evolution of the freak in Western culture. Bernier uses the term not as a definition of a group of people or a specific individual, but rather as an historical Victorian-era term invented by the entertainment industry for its select circus, sideshow, fair, or dime museum employees. Bernier will visit historical societies, amusement parks and circus museums, as well as collections of photographs from the period.

The BLACKLOCK NATURE SANCTUARY, Moose Lake, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $44,000 in support of Emerging Artist Fellowships. The Sanctuary was founded in 1994 to preserve undeveloped land and provide artists with uninterrupted time and space to develop new work. The Sanctuary fosters creative growth through direct experience, study and interpretation of nature. It has two locations, the first over 520 acres of land on which is housed a retreat center with an all-season house, two studios, hiking trails, space for temporary installations and a photographic darkroom. The second site is on the Lake Superior shoreline, the Cedar Cliffs cabin. Jerome dollars will support two-week and one-month residencies for emerging artists working in the performing, visual and literary arts. Artists will receive stipends for materials, food and supplies. An annual open call yields proposals that are reviewed by a peer panel of artists.

PERFORMANCE SPACE 122 (P.S. 122), New York City, acting as fiscal sponsor for playwright THOMAS BRADSHAW, received $8,000 in support of the creation and production of Purity. P.S.122, a well-established presenter of new and experimental works in the performing arts, often provides development and fiscal sponsorship services to artists. Playwright Thomas Bradshaw writes to challenge social norms and provoke audiences to question deep-seeded beliefs about the world. Bradshaw believes that theater should slap audiences awake with its audacity and rivet them with its electricity. Jerome funding will support the premier production of Bradshaw's work Purity at P.S.122 in January of 2007. It addresses the role of assimilated African-Americans in American society.

ARIADNA CAPASSO, a New York City documentary filmmaker will travel to Mexico City, Jalisco, Tamaulipas and Chihuahua, Mexico, to visit places that were significant to Juan Rulfo in order to experience the land, the solitude, the dejection and also the beauty of nature as he did. Rulfo was among the most influential Spanish language writers in the twentieth century and pioneered the school of Magic Realism. Capasso's research constitutes the pre-production phase of her video Across the Silence.

CAVE CANEM, New York City, is celebrating its tenth anniversary as a multi-service literary organization that offers an annual summer workshop/retreat, regionally-based poetry workshops, the Cave Canem Poetry Prize, readings and publications. Jerome funding of $16,000 will support intermediate and advanced level New York City workshops for emerging African American poets. The workshops are organized in two semesters, with weekly three-hour sessions. Established writers with teaching experience are contracted to lead the workshops. Participants are selected by the lead poets/instructors. The workshops include writing assignments and exercises, criticism, professional development, peer interaction and reading opportunities.

A special memorial grant of $15,000 honoring the service of Maud Hill Schroll, Jerome Hill's sister, to the Jerome Foundation as one of its original Members was authorized to CHANTICLEER, an exemplary orchestra of voices, based in San Francisco, California, for the commissioning and presentation of a new work.

ANANYA CHATTERJEA, a Minneapolis-based choreographer, will travel travel to Mayurbhanj, Orissa and Assam, India, to study the martial arts form of Mayurbhanj Chhau, and the iconographic representation of feminine energy in the goddess shrines in the surrounding areas in India. Chatterjea is a contemporary South Asian choreographer who has created her work through a deconstruction of the classical dance form Odissi and Yoga. Chatterjea will study with Chhau master Guru Mohanta and his primary disciples.

THE CHILDREN'S THEATRE COMPANY, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $30,000 in support of the Playground Program. The Children's Theatre Company aims to create extraordinary theater experiences that educate, challenge and inspire young people. Playground is a collaboration of The Children's Theatre Company and New York City-based New Dramatists. Its purpose is to introduce emerging playwrights to the growing field of theater for young people and to support the creation of new work. This grant will allow the collaborating organizations to embark on the third round of Playground, which will serve three playwrights: Liz Duffy Adams, Zakiyyah Alexander and Karl Gajdusek. This process evolves over two years and includes components designed to support the writers in the development of new work that is then considered by The Children's Theatre Company for further development and production.

NORA CHIPAUMIRE, a New York City choreographer, will spend a month in Senegal, Africa, deepening her understanding of African traditional dances as well as the emerging African contemporary and modern dance of West Africa. Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Chipaumire received most of her training in the United States. She will study African and contemporary dance at the International Center for Traditional and Contemporary Dance, under the instruction of Germaine Acogny, a renowned African dancer and choreographer.

THE CIVILIANS, New York City, received $10,000 in support of the development and production of new work. Founded in 2001, The Civilians is an artist-run company that creates original projects from investigations into real life. Using methods that combine documentary and artistic practices, the company develops shows that illuminate the interplay between individual experience and the larger cultural landscape. Funding will support the development of a music-theater piece examining the intersection of religion and public life in contemporary America through the context of the activist Christian movement in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and additional new works by company members. The company is also developing a cabaret series that will serve as an experimental space for the development of new work by Associate Artists and guest artists.

COFFEE HOUSE PRESS, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $50,000 in support of the publication of six titles by emerging authors. Founded in 1984, Coffee House Press is a nationally recognized literary arts organization whose mission is to promote exciting, vital and enduring authors of its time; to delight and inspire readers; to contribute to the cultural life of its community; and to enrich our literary heritage. Jerome dollars will assist in paying royalty advances and cover some of the expenses of editing, design, printing and marketing of books by authors including Sarah Fox, Sam Savage, Yuko Taniguchi, Sun Yung Shin and Brenda Coultas.

THE COUNCIL OF LITERARY MAGAZINES AND PRESSES (CLMP), New York City, received a two-year grant of $92,000 in support of a pilot program titled Face Out: Maximizing the Visibility of Emerging Writers. CLMP, a national service and advocacy organization, supports and promotes noncommercial literary publishing to ensure that readers and writers are well served by a strong and vibrant literary culture. Through Face Out, CLMP will competitively award eight grants of $5,000 to $7,000, over two years, to four independent publishers to build emerging author/publisher relationships with eight writers. Funding will support author advances, author tours and author-focused marketing initiatives. CLMP will also provide technical assistance through workshops, roundtables and evaluation sessions for the publishers and emerging writers participating in the program. The strategies and techniques developed will be documented in a monograph. The selection process will begin with a request for proposals distributed to independent literary presses in New York City.

CONCRETE TEMPLE THEATRE, New York City, received $10,000 to create and develop two new works. The Artistic Directors are Carlo Adinolfi and Rene Philippi. Concrete Temple Theatre is a multidisciplinary company that emphasizes the creation of original theater works incorporating drama, dance, puppetry and the visual arts. These works focus on the individual struggle for identity and society's struggle for a cohesive community. Jerome funding will support the creation and development of two new works, The Bird Machine and Imperia. The Bird Machine is a two-act play that contemplates technology and its place in people's lives. Imperia examines how one possesses power, especially political power, through the characters of Margaret Thatcher and Cleopatra.

Minneapolis, Minnesota, novelist ALICIA CONROY will travel to the Poitou region of France to conduct primary research for a novel-in-progress about the history of French immigrants to Acadia (Nova Scotia) in the 17th century. Conroy is particularly interested in investigating the Marais poitevin, or estuarine Poitou marshes, that lie between the city of Niort and the Atlantic Coast. The Marais poitevin are coastal marshes and floodplain traversed by an intricate network of centuries-old canals and dykes and dotted with small towns and farm plots. In Acadia, the Poitevins significantly altered the land by using their traditional skills in making dykes and managing flood waters. Conroy will visit churches, museums, canal villages, bird sanctuaries and wild animal preservation areas in the region.