Past
Grantees

THE PLAYWRIGHTS' CENTER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $122,000 in support of the Jerome Fellowship Program for emerging playwrights. An additional commitment of $23,000 was authorized for the Jerome Many Voices Program, which serves emerging playwrights of color. The Playwrights' Center fuels the theater by providing services that support playwrights and playwriting. The Jerome Fellowship Program, initiated in 1976, serves five emerging playwrights each year. Competitively selected by an independent panel, the emerging playwrights are given fellowship subsidy and assistance to maximize their creative work and professional advancement. The Many Voices Program awards eight nine-month residencies to writers of color interested in developing their playwriting skills and creating theater. They attend biweekly roundtables, and receive stipends, scholarships for classes, developmental funds and a public showcase of their work.

PROTO-TYPE THEATER, Brooklyn, New York, received $8,000 to create and produce a new work titled WHISPER. Proto-Type Theater creates new works of live performance that give equal weight to form and content. Physical theater, text, circus, original music and evocative lighting merge into an unpredictably dynamic form through which the Theater dissects modernity. The content continually returns to family, obsession, mythology, sexuality and life in an urban landscape. WHISPER is an audio-driven performance work. The audience dons headphones to listen to the secrets of three performers who create a virtual world of sound. The work is a discussion of what it means to be in a shared space in the modern age of mediation.

A grant of $10,000 was awarded to RAIN TAXI, Minneapolis, Minnesota, in support of the State-to-State Poets Exchange, operated in cooperation with The Poetry Society of America, New York City. Rain Taxi is dedicated to promoting a broad spectrum of contemporary literature. It publishes the Rain Taxi Review of Books, enhanced by a website, a reading series, a chapbook publishing program, and the Twin Cities Book Festival. Jerome funding will enable Rain Taxi to launch a pilot program, the State-to-State Poets Exchange, serving two emerging poets, one from Minnesota and one from New York City. The purpose is to provide opportunities for emerging poets to advance works-in-progress by reading and discussing them in public dialogues with noted literary editors in the two cities. Rain Taxi will publish an edited version of each dialogue in the Rain Taxi Review of Books. Poets will be selected through review of applications submitted in response to an open call.

RAGAMALA MUSIC AND DANCE THEATER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, as fiscal sponsor for choreographer APARNA RAMASWAMY, received $10,000 in support of the development and production of two new dance works, Yathra (Journey) and Sva (Vital Force). Yathra explores the intricacies of the human journey from the dawn of birth to the twilight of life, tracing the physical and emotional passage of a soul through the phases of life. Sva is a collaboration between Aparna Ramaswamy and Nagano, a Japanese Taiko ensemble. Sva will explore rhythm and movement through the cultural and philosophical kinships between the Bharatanatyam style of dance and Taiko.

Playwright MARCIE RENDON, Minnesota, will travel to Bega, New South Wales, and Melbourne, Australia, to conduct research for a play that explores such questions as: why and how do Native American expatriates connect so intensely with Aboriginal people and spiritual communications in Australia; and how do their shared histories of being invaded by English-speaking, protestant peoples and forced boarding schools polarize these two indigenous groups as soul mates across continents? She will conduct interviews. She is at a stage in the development of the play when having a physical visit to place and people will help move the script to fruition.

RHIZOME.ORG, New York City, received a two-year grant of $30,000 in support of the Commissions Program. Rhizome supports the creation, presentation and preservation of contemporary art that engages new technologies in significant ways. It maintains a focus on works that deal with the Internet and network technology. Rhizome awards commissioning fees for the creation of new works by emerging artists, chosen from a field of applications submitted in response to an open call. Approximately 11 commissions are awarded each year. Rhizome delivers substantial audiences for the online exhibition of the new works.

The ROCHESTER ART CENTER, Rochester, Minnesota, received $12,000 in support of the 3rd Floor Emerging Artist Series. The mission of the Center is to foster an appreciation and understanding of contemporary art through the organization and presentation of exhibitions and the creation of innovative educational programs and interpretive materials that effectively engage regional audiences with contemporary art. An open call to Minnesota artists results in applications, reviewed by an independent panel, for exhibitions in the 3rd Floor Emerging Artists Series. The focus is on emerging Minnesota artists who are producing exciting new works that both challenge and inspire viewers. Each exhibition is on view for seven weeks and is accompanied by a brochure containing a curatorial essay as well as color images of the works. Artists deliver lectures for each show.

ROULETTE INTERMEDIUM, New York City, received a two-year grant of $40,000 in support of the Jerome Commissioning Program for Emerging Composers. Since its founding in 1978, Roulette's purpose has been to increase the awareness and understanding of experiments in music and intermedia by supporting artists creating work in these forms. The Jerome Commissioning Program identifies and supports young composers of promise whose explorations promise valuable contributions to the development of contemporary music. Commissions support an extraordinary variety of musical approaches including music for traditional concert situations in the classical experimental tradition, sound installations, avant jazz, digital multimedia, music composed for the Internet and even Frankenstein-type resuscitations of obsolete digital and analog technology. The commissions are made through a nominating process that relies on the experience and generosity of more established artists who serve as nominators. Each nominates one artist, paying special attention to artists who've not yet entered the world of competitive grants and commissions, and artists who are unlikely to receive support from other sources due to the experimental nature of their work.

DAVE RYAN received a grant for The Hungering Deep, an experimental animated video that explores the foundations of self in the murky mixture of memory, subconscious realms of longing, and the physical realms of neural signals. As science peers deeper into the mechanics of our physical brains, the mystery of that mixture, and of the self inside it, grow ever more potent to the contemporary imagination. The primary metaphor for The Hungering Deep is an ocean at the very roots of the nervous system-the imaginary shore of the synapse. This metaphor establishes three levels: memory, subconscious and neural signal-each represented as distinctly different chapters in the film. The Hungering Deep brings video and film footage into a 3D environment, and applies texture mapping to create animated moving landscapes.

THE FIELD, New York City, as fiscal sponsor for artist ERIK SANKO, received $8,000 to produce the new work Dear Mme.,. Sanko is a musician and visual/performance artist best known in the downtown music scene. After secretly making marionettes for 15 years, with a small grant from Henson Foundation and a HERE Arts Center HARP residency, he created his first marionette play, The Fortune Teller, in 2006. Jerome funding will assist in the creation of the new work Dear Mme.,, which has been commissioned by the Kronos Quartet to be premiered during its performance series in the Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Dear Mme., is the story of a writer who continually endeavors to rewrite his life story, taking the role of the heroic protagonist in a series of short stories in which he tries to win the affections of a woman. He fails until he finally learns that it is simplicity and pureness that ultimately win her.

JAMES SEWELL BALLET, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $12,000 to develop new works by emerging choreographers in the Ballet Works Project. The mission of the James Sewell Ballet is to create and perform works that connect artists with audiences and to advance contemporary ballet. The annual Ballet Works Project supports the creation of new works by two emerging choreographers using company dancers and rehearsal space. The program invests in the aesthetics of individual choreographers, in the cross training of the company's dancers and in the overall health of the dance community. Some of the choreographers use the program to work on ideas without specific outcomes in mind. Some use it to create new dances that are performed by the Sewell Ballet, set on other companies or produced in other venues. In-progress public showings of the works are presented.

THE SOUTHERN THEATER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, as fiscal sponsor for artist KAREN SHERMAN, received $12,000 in support of the creation, development and production of copperhead, a new work to be produced in the fall/winter of 2008. The Southern Theater cultivates artistic exploration by providing a vibrant home for performance, fostering a multiplicity of voices, and catalyzing connections among artists and audiences. Karen Sherman is a choreographer and performance artist whose work is known for its commentary, both humorous and dark, on the human emotional landscape. copperhead explores violence and the relationship among victim, aggressor and place. Excerpts of performance material for copperhead will be workshopped before the 2008 premiere.

Photographer XAVIERA SIMMONS, New York City, will travel to Istanbul, Turkey, to study the history of that country's women's rights movement with a focus on birthing and child bearing practices, through meetings with women's advocacy and health organizations. Simmons expects the journey to enrich, enlighten and encourage her artistic pursuits. Her photographs explore a non-fixed and multiple self.

THE SOAP FACTORY, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $30,000 in support of the participation of emerging New York City and Minnesota artists in the 2007 Exhibition Program. This alternative space is dedicated to the production, presentation and promotion of emerging contemporary practice across the visual arts. Committed to experimentation and risk taking, The Soap Factory encourages a wider understanding of and appreciation for artists and their work. The 2007 program began with the Art Shanties project on Medicine Lake. It continues with a Circuit Bending Festival and a group exhibition curated from submissions to the annual open call. Curatorial processes are designed to insure a variety of viewpoints and aesthetics. Independent curators bring exhibition concepts and new artists to the mix. Each season, The Soap Factory serves approximately 100 emerging artists and is steadily increasing its visibility and reach.

GABRIELLA SPIERER received funding toward the production of Raising Inmate 3851, a documentary that takes a look at the practice of prosecuting children as adults in the United States, a phenomenon that has put thousands of children behind bars with adult criminals. It unfolds in segments, using personal stories to illustrate different aspects of the problem. The idea of the film is to offer glimpses into the lives of children who committed crimes, their parents and the authorities, in order to raise questions about and provide perspectives on the real consequences of judicial and legislative policies.

LAURA SPLAN, New York City, will travel to Chicago, Illinois; Washington, D.C.; London, England; and Rome and Florence, Italy; to study the history of medical instruments, imaging and procedures, particularly the unique histories behind instrument invention and development within their respective cultural and scientific contexts. Splan is interested in the cultural relationships between form and function. These investigations will inform her conceptually and research based work, which attempts to represent the complex cultural histories within science.

Artistic Directors DAWN STOPPIELLO and MARK CONIGLIO, New York City, will travel to Berlin, Germany, to work closely with dramaturge Peter Salis on Troika Ranch's next evening-length hybrid performance piece and to study German in an immersive class in Berlin. Working with Salis will be the first time that the two Artistic Directors of Troika Ranch have included a dramaturge during the formative stages of a new work. Salis previously worked with them on examining how viewers will read iconic images in different ways depending upon the practices established in the piece itself. The three weeks of study will enable the artists to analyze images and narratives, clarify themes, edit images and gain a greater understanding of creative processes and narrative choices.

The Foundation made a grant of $21,000 to STREB@SLAM/RINGSIDE, Brooklyn, New York, in support of a pilot Emerging Artists Commissioning Program. Elizabeth Streb has developed a lexicon of action, a way of moving, that investigates and deconstructs many notions about dance such as the nature of grace, the camouflage of gravity, the presence or absence of transitions, gender distinctions, the investigation of spatial and temporal dimensions and the incorporation of action-sound and specifically structured equipment into theatrical presentations. The new home of the company, SLAM, provides a space for multidisciplinary experimentation. The Emerging Artists Commissioning Program will use the space as a site for investigations. An open call will invite artists to apply for commissions, production subsidies and access to space and equipment to develop new works. Applicants will be asked to state why their work can best be developed within the special environment and resources of SLAM.

KELLY STUART and EMRAH KANISICAK, New York City, will travel to Turkey to interview, transcribe and translate songs and stories of The Dengbej Singers, and then use this material to create a music-theatre piece. Their collaborative work will focus on the act of translation, and loss of a culture, specifically Kurdish culture in Turkey. The Dengbej Singers carry cultural stories through music and oral literature. Their study will be assisted by a connection with the Dicle First Culture Center and by a connection with singer Shoe Shiner Seyidxan.

The TEXTILE CENTER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $16,000 in support of the participation of emerging artists in the Exhibition Program, intensive seminars and workshops, and access to the dye lab. The Textile Center honors textile traditions and promotes excellence and innovation in fiber art, which encompasses a wide range of forms including weaving, quilting, knitting, sewing, needlework, lace making, basketry and beading. Jerome support for emerging professional textile artists, given annually to the Center since 1995, is applied to three program tracks: the participation of emerging artists in the Exhibition Program, advancing the professional development of emerging artists through intensive seminars and workshops, and providing access to the well equipped and state-of-the-art dye lab.