Past
Grantees

PERFORMANCE SPACE 122, New York City, received a two-year grant of $85,000 in support of commissions for emerging artists producing new work for the 2006-07 Presenting Series. P.S. 122 supports and presents artists whose work challenges the traditional boundaries of dance, theater, music and performance. A comprehensive commissioning program provides direct subsidies to emerging artists, combined with access to rehearsal and workshop space prior to a production run. Approximately 15 emerging New York City and/or Minnesota artists receive commissions each year to create new works. P.S. 122 is steadfast in its search for pioneering artists from a diversity of cultures and points of view.

The Jerome Foundation elected to provide a membership and general support grant of $750 to the NEW YORK REGIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GRANTMAKERS, New York City, in support of its 2006 program. For more than 25 years, the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers has helped members meet increasingly complex challenges and take advantages of exciting opportunities. Its 300 members support the Association's mission of promoting and supporting effective philanthropy and concerted action for the public good.

PILLSBURY HOUSE THEATRE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a professional arts institution committed to the Settlement House tradition of creating art in collaboration with community. Housed within an inner city community center, Pillsbury House Theatre is a diverse company of artists working in partnership with diverse audiences to create transformational arts experiences. The Theatre received a two-year grant of $19,000 in support of the development and production of new works by emerging playwrights on the mainstage and an annual reading series of new works by emerging playwrights. One reading in each series generally includes an extended workshop with actors and a director

PILLSBURY HOUSE THEATRE is an operating program within Pillsbury United Communities, Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Theatre creates and produces challenging theater that inspires choice, change and connection, engaging diverse groups of people in productive interaction around tough issues. A Jerome Foundation commitment of $34,500 was made in support of the 2006 Non-English Speaking Spoken Here: The Late Nite Series. Late Nite is a program that transforms culture, and one in which text, music, spoken word, sounds and images weave together in a fearless celebration of new voices and new art. Emerging artists, primarily artists of color from various disciplines, explore their artistry and push their boundaries. The purpose of Late Nite is developmental in nature. It is not a series that produces finished works. The audience is responsive and engaged, and provides important feedback to the artists as they develop their new pieces. In 2006, the Theatre will produce three Late Nite programs, each comprised of six to ten local and national artists performing new works.

PLAYWRIGHTS HORIZONS, New York City, received $23,000 in support of the participation of emerging playwrights in the American Voice artistic development programs and Peter Jay Sharp Theater productions. The mission of Playwrights Horizons is to support and develop the work of contemporary American playwrights, composers and lyricists, and to produce their new plays and musicals. It has consistently served as a launching pad for emerging writers as well as a home for established writers to bring their new work. Jerome support is directed toward developmental and production programs. This encompasses review of script submissions, play readings, musical theater workshops, commissions and productions.

THE PLAYWRIGHTS' CENTER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $168,000 in support of the Many Voices Residency Program and the Jerome Fellowship Program. This continues support that the Foundation has awarded to emerging playwrights for fellowships since 1976. The Center fuels the theater by providing services that support playwrights and playwriting. Two-year support of $46,000 is dedicated to the Many Voices Residency Program, which encourages the voices of playwrights often overlooked and to respond to an increasingly diversified local and regional culture. An open call and competitive review results in the selection of eight writers of color who work with two facilitators in sessions consisting of writing exercises, readings of works-in-progress, critiques, professional coaching, and community building. Stipends, readings, working with mentors and additional opportunities are provided. The Jerome Fellowship Program at the Center has provided over $1 million to 136 emerging playwrights. Six playwrights each year receive financial support, readings, workshops, literary services, and development opportunities. The Fellowship buys time, creates community and offers professional advancement opportunities.

MARLO PORAS received support for The Candidate (working title), a documentary about the US Senate candidacy of 94-year-old Doris Granny D Haddock. It's a first-person portrait of Doris's remarkable transformation from renowned citizen activist to novice political candidate. The film offers an intimate look at the nation's oldest political newcomer as she struggles against the inherent liabilities of old age and challenges herself to run a US Senate campaign that personifies her democratic ideals of a government of, by and for the people. With no on-camera interviewers or outside narration, Doris's story will be told through an intricate weave of real time scenes and voice-over narration culled from original interviews. The Candidate addresses the entrenched cynicism toward the political system that leaves many skeptical about the motivations of politicians.

QUEENS THEATRE IN THE PARK, Flushing, New York, received $10,000 in support of the Immigrant Voices Project, a new play development program for emerging artists who reflect and address issues relevant to the ethnically diverse county of Queens. The Theatre provides performing arts activities for the residents of Queens and fosters greater cultural awareness and appreciation of artists' works. The Immigrant Voices Project provides opportunities for playwrights to present and develop their work through readings, workshops and productions. The Queens Theatre in the Park works with Manhattan-based theater companies on co-productions of plays developed through the Project. Jerome funding will support works that are developed, read and presented in the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons.

RED EYE COLLABORATION, Minneapolis, Minnesota, is an alternative multidisciplinary arts center dedicated to the creation and presentation of new work. A two-year Jerome grant of $60,000 was approved for the New Works 4 Weeks and Critical Core Programs, encompassing Works-in-Progress and Isolated Acts components. Artists featured in New Works 4 Weeks are experimenting with new artistic challenges. The Works-in-Progress component focuses on conceptual development and staging, and encourages thorough and deep explorations by the artists. The Isolated Acts portion presents fully mounted works ready for public presentation and critical exposure. Often, these are projects that are experimental and still raw, and/or their creators are unknown and unproved. Red Eye is looking for work that shows evidence of clear vision, an idiosyncratic personal perspective that point to a larger realm, and a concept or idea sizeable enough to benefit from an extended development period and flexible enough to incorporate what is discovered in the process

RIPE TIME, Brooklyn, New York, received $10,000 in support of the development of the new work BETROTHED. Ripe Time is devoted to the creation and exploration of performance that bridges dance and theatre. Its ensemble-driven work tells stories through rich language, visual invention and physical rigor. BETROTHED is an adaptation of three tales exploring the dreams, expectations and losses surrounding women's relationship to marriage, sex and the quest for independence. Rachel Dickstein will adapt, direct and choreograph the piece. BETROTHED is a new step in her research into movement-based theatrical adaptation, and in how culturally derived gesture, rooted in ceremony and ritual, communicates story and character in universal terms.

The mission of the ROCHESTER ART CENTER, Rochester, Minnesota, 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. Jerome support of $10,000 was awarded for the 3rd Floor Emerging Artist Exhibition Series, dedicated to emerging Minnesota artists who are producing exciting new work that challenges and inspires viewers. Each exhibition is mounted for a period of seven weeks and is accompanied by a full color brochure with text focusing on the concepts, history, methodology and production of the artists' work. An open call for artists' proposals results in submissions reviewed by an exhibition committee and the program director.

JESSE ROESLER, a Minneapolis-based documentary filmmaker, will travel to Ghent, Belgium, to develop as a documentary filmmaker and video artist by studying musical performance filmmaking at the Logos Foundation with Moniek Darge and Godfried-Willem Raes. In addition to working directly with Darge and Raes, Roesler will view archived films and a performance by the artists in their exhibition space, the Tetrahedron.

ROULETTE, New York City, received a two-year grant of $48,000 in support of payments to emerging composers and services provided to those composers. Roulette is a leader in the field of new music, offering over 50 concerts each year, commissioning new works, offering distribution and information services, providing rehearsal and recording facilities, and producing television and Internet programs that bring the work of contemporary composers to audiences throughout the world. As a substantial programmer of experimental music, Roulette is an incubator in its support for emerging composers. Its adventurous programming provides opportunities for composers to present new works and works-in-progress to audiences knowledgeable and responsive to new directions in music.

The mission of S.A.S.E.: THE WRITE PLACE is to make the literary arts accessible to a diverse community. It was founded with a deeply held belief that the world is a large writing tablet, and that the act of putting pen to paper is one of the most powerful tools we have to create an environment of civic literacy in which everyone's voice is heard. The mission of INTERMEDIA ARTS is to be a catalyst that builds understanding among people through art, fosters excellence in the creative process and product by presenting diverse cultural perspectives, and creates a context in which those multiple perspectives can be understood and ultimately bring people together. S.A.S.E.: The Write Place has received Jerome support for programs serving emerging writers. It intends to move its programming to Intermedia Arts. Jerome Foundation made a one-year grant commitment of $49,500 to both organizations to continue in 2006 the operation of the Verve Grants for spoken word artists, the S.A.S.E./Jerome Fellowships and the Writer-to-Writer Mentorship Program. Since 1997, the Fellowship Program has made it possible for 65 emerging writers to enhance their literary work and careers in ways that are specifically meaningful to them. The Verve Grants for spoken word artists recognize one of the fastest growing artistic movements in the country. Five $3,000 grants are awarded annually for a variety of purposes proposed by the artists. The Writer-to-Writer Mentorship Program pairs emerging writers who want to develop in skill and confidence with senior writers who give them individualized attention as they work together in small groups.

THE SOUTHERN THEATER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, as fiscal sponsor for SAVAGE AURAL HOTBED, received a two-year grant of $16,000 in support of the creation and production of new work. The Southern Theater presents alternative performances by artists working at the grassroots of the Twin Cities' varied cultural, political and economic communities. The musical ensemble Savage Aural Hotbed uses found objects and conventional percussion instruments, bass guitar, modified horns and vocals, and power tools to create visual and aural spectacles with high-energy rhythms and flying sparks. The four members of Savage Aural Hotbed collaborate in the composition process, drawing from modern minimalist, electronic and ethnic styles of music. New works created will be presented in small concerts in the first year and in a major show in the second at The Southern Theater. For that, the members of Savage Aural Hotbed will build large machines/sculptures that produce sounds.

Jerome Foundation Directors authorized a grant of $19,575.48 to THE PLAYWRIGHTS' CENTER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, in support of the further development of Quick and its presentation in the Prague International Fringe. 3-Legged Race originally developed this work. When that organization closed, it entrusted funds committed to this project to the Jerome Foundation as a donor advised fund. A number of factors came together late in 2005 that allowed the artists involved with Quick to return to its active development and ready it for production in Prague.

SCULPTURECENTER, Long Island City, New York, received $14,000 in support of the 2006-07 In Practice program. SculptureCenter, dedicated to experimental and innovative developments in contemporary sculpture, commissions new work and presents exhibits by emerging and established, national and international artists. Founded in 2003, the In Practice program provides emerging artists at pivotal points early in their careers with opportunities to make and exhibit new work and gain exposure that is vital to career advancement. The program primarily serves artists living in New York City, selected from submissions in response to an open call. In Practice artists receive honoraria and production stipends to support the creation and presentation of new work at the Center. In the 2006-07 season, In Practice artists will participate in two exhibition slots, the first this past fall as part of the thematic exhibition Denial is a River. The second installment of works by six to eight artists and artist teams will be mounted January through April of 2007.

JAMES SEWELL BALLET, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $12,000 in support of the participation of two emerging choreographers in the Ballet Works Project. The mission of James Sewell Ballet is to create and perform works that connect artists with audiences and to advance contemporary ballet. The Ballet Works Project promotes the development of new works by choreographers from inside and outside of the company. It provides 30 hours of subsidized workshop time to each of two emerging choreographers to develop new works utilizing the Sewell company. This culminates in open showings of the works-in-progress.

SUZAN SHERMAN, a writer residing in New York City, will travel to Kansas, Nebraska, New Jersey, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Arkansas and California to conduct research for a novel, Pearl O'Shea, which traces an elderly woman's recollection of being an Orphan Train Rider from New York City to Nebraska in 1873. Prior to the establishment of foster care and adoption, the Orphan Train was a social program for unwanted and orphaned children, founded by the Children's Aid Society in New York City. From 1854 to 1929, hundreds of thousands of urban children were sent on trains to rural areas in the United States to be raised by farm families.

SMACK MELLON, New York City, received a two-year grant of $28,000 in support of the participation of emerging artists in the exhibition program. Its mission is to nurture and support emerging, under-recognized mid-career and women artists in the creation and exhibition of new work. Smack Mellon provides exhibition opportunities, studio workspace, and access to equipment and technical assistance toward the realization of ambitious projects. Smack Mellon mounts five exhibitions a year, featuring a majority of emerging artists. The 2006 exhibition program began with Site 92, a group exhibition of 27 artists who created site-specific installations responding to Smack Mellon's new home at 92 Plymouth Street. This summer, Smack Mellon is presenting an emerging artists exhibition designed to build relationships between artists and emerging curators.