Past
Grantees

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.

Jerome Foundation authorized two general support/membership grants to the COUNCIL ON FOUNDATIONS, Washington, D.C. The Council on Foundations is a national membership organization that serves the public good by promoting and enhancing responsible and effective philanthropy. Jerome Foundation joins more than 1,900 members of the Council in a commitment to responsible values, principles and practices that ensure accountability and effectiveness in philanthropy.

HERE ARTS CENTER, New York City, as fiscal sponsor for independent artist LISA D'AMOUR, received $9,000 in support of the development and production of STANLEY (2006) at HERE Arts Center. This is the third grant that the Foundation has made to playwright and multidisciplinary artist Lisa D'Amour in support of her experimental, collaborative and often site-specific performance work. STANLEY (2006) is a multimedia solo-performance piece that uses the character of Stanley Kowalski from A Streetcar Named Desire to launch a meditation on desire, power and regret as they play out in the individual and the world at large. STANLEY (2006) is a visceral exercise in the potential of the theatrical moment. The work reflects an ardent desire to do something in the midst of overwhelming grief and deep uncertainty.

A grant was awarded to CHERIEN DABIS for Make a Wish a short narrative personal journey that follows Mariam, a young Palestinian girl, on the day of her late father's birthday. While the film does not specifically indicate how the father died, it does make political references that indicate it is related to the current political turmoil. The theme is the devastating impact of political conflict and war: love, loss and grief on a deep, personal level. The film is both a celebration of life and a work of mourning.

A two-year grant of $40,000 was awarded to DANCE NEW AMSTERDAM, formerly known as Dance Space Center, New York City. These funds support In the Company of Men, a concert series that commissions new work by male emerging choreographers. Established in 1994, In the Company of Men promotes the development and growth of today's emerging male choreographers and inspires the next generation of male dance artists. Six to eight choreographers present new works over a four-day series.

DOUGLAS DANOFF, a creative non-fiction writer based in New York City, will spend time in Piedmont, Italy, to study ancient winemaking techniques as a step toward continuing his creative nonfiction writing on rural traditions. While in Piedmont, Danoff will meet with Massimo Martinelli who is widely considered one of Italy's foremost experts on the history of wine making. Martinelli also presides over the Museo Renato Ratti, which is devoted to the history of Piedmontese winemaking. Danoff's destination is among the most ancient and venerable winemaking zones in the world.