Past
Grantees

RANDALL WEDIN, a creative nonfiction writer based in Wayzata, Minnesota, received funding to travel to Banff, Alberta, Canada, to participate in an international workshop, Creative Writing in Mathematics and Science, held at the Banff Centre. Wedin will also conduct extended research in Banff National Park focusing on organisms that grow and thrive in apparently hostile environments. He will use this information as a source for a metaphor or central image that illuminates connections between subjects in creative nonfiction essays.

WOMEN'S PROJECT, New York City, received $23,000 in support of the participation of emerging playwrights in its Artist Cultivation Programs. Women's Project produces rich and imaginative work for the American stage while cultivating the next generation of exceptional women theater artists and redefining their position and influence in the 21st century. Artist Cultivation Programs include the Playwrights Lab, new play development initiatives, readings, festivals of new works and a Directors' Forum. Lab playwrights meet twice a month in sessions that include readings of plays in progress; visits from prominent artistic directors, agents, and playwrights; workshops and collaborations with members of the Directors' Forum; career counseling; and information about opportunities to advance their work. The Pink Room Reading Series and the Women's Work Festival feature readings and productions of new plays.

KIM WOOD, a filmmaker based in Brooklyn, New York, will travel to Paris, France, to conduct research at the Bibliotheque Charcot, which houses the unpublished writings and photographs of the subject of her next film, a psychiatric phenomenon known as hysteria. Hysteria's birthplace is a still-functioning hospital in Paris. Its founders were Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot and his star patient Augustine. The films made of Augustine's behavior and Dr. Charot's papers will be examined by Wood in preparation for her film Into the Ether.

A two-year grant of $30,000 was authorized for THE WRITERS ROOM, New York City, an organization dedicated to providing emerging and established writers with clean, quiet and affordable workspace, 24-hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. The Writers Room serves 400 members, of whom three-quarters are emerging writers. Jerome dollars are used to reduce membership rates for emerging writers and enable them to produce work in a setting that's conducive to writing.

SUZI YOONESSI received support for Dear Lemon Lima, a narrative film that looks at a spell of misguided parenting that pulls together a 13-year-old Yu'pik (Western Eskimo) girl with a vivid imagination, an underdeveloped military enthusiast and a girl who has legally changed her name to the pronoun Nothing. The film thrives off the notion that life is a time to come together and celebrate common traits and differences, inspiring kindness, individuality and equality.

THE SOUTHERN THEATER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, acting as fiscal sponsor for multidisciplinary artist MARCUS YOUNG, received $9,000 in support of the development and production of the new work Ground. The Southern's mission is to help build and sustain a vibrant artistic community by supporting the Twin Cities' most creative independent performing artists and presenting them to audiences in an intimate environment that encourages artistic exploration. Ground is a public art project and ceremonial performance based on flying kites, meditation, hope and good wishes. It will be presented on Harriet Island in St. Paul in April 2007. Kites will carry texts focusing on peace, the environment and mindfulness. The piece is under the creative direction of Marcus Young, an actor, singer, director, dramaturg, performance artist, video producer and installation artist.

ZENON DANCE COMPANY AND SCHOOL, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $50,000 in support of the commissioning and performance of new dance works by emerging choreographers. The mission of the company is to sustain an artistically excellent, professional dance company by presenting the commissioned works of emerging and recognized modern and jazz choreographers to the broadest and most diverse audiences and communities possible. It accomplishes this through performance, education and outreach. Nearly 70% of the company's yearly contracted time is devoted to the development of new work by emerging choreographers. Zenon chooses to work in this way because it brings excitement and risk to the aesthetic of the company. The process of creation is inspiring to the dancers, who are intelligent improvisers. Over two years, six emerging choreographers will be given opportunities to create new works for Zenon.

RANDOLYN ZINN, a poet based in Brooklyn, New York, will travel to Spain to encounter flamenco firsthand in order to work in a more informed way toward the completion of a book of prose poems titled Meson Flamenco. Zinn seeks to understand, in a deeper way, the origins of the songs and dances that serve as models for her writing. Zinn will spend time in Madrid, Andalucia, Seville, Jerez La Frontera, Granada, Cordoba and Montserrat National Park.

ADAM ZUCKER was awarded a grant for a feature-length documentary called Greensboro-Closer to the Truth, which has its roots in the Greensboro Massacre of 1979. This killing of five civil rights and labor activists by Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis occurred with foreknowledge of local police and the FBI. Despite extensive television footage of the murders, no one was ever convicted. For nearly a quarter century, the city of Greensboro has lived in the shadow of these events. Its long history at the forefront of the civil rights movement-the Woolworth's sit-ins of 1961-had been cut short. Mistrust and finger pointing has continued to this day, leaving a polarized community still grappling with the ripple effects of the killings. Now the survivors have convinced the North Carolina community to finally get to the bottom of the alleged conspiracy. To accomplish this, they have amassed a coalition of support, and will stage a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the tragedy. This film provides background on the killings and the progression of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

PAVEL ZUSTIAK, a choreographer in Brooklyn, New York, will travel to Vienna, Austria, and Brussels, Belgium. In Austria, Zustiak will attend the three-week ImPulsTanz International Dance Festival and then will spend time in Brussels researching new approaches to video and dance integration with visual artist Khosro Adibi. While at ImPulsTanz, Zustiak will devote time to the Pro Series, which focuses on the work of extraordinary artists with international influence on the direction and perspective of dance in our times. Zustiak expects the investigation with Adibi to inform his highly visual work.

A grant of $10,000 was authorized to 1+1+1=ONE, Brooklyn, New York, in support of the creation and development of Low's Journey by Rha Goddess. Low's Journey is the first section of Meditations With The Goddess, part manifesto, part family history, and part spiritual evocation. The work explores issues of power, identity, class, and wellness. Three iconic goddesses emerge from the underworld to aid in an autobiographical, interactive search for universal and personal truth. Low's Journey features the character of a psychotic rapper and asks, What is insanity? Rha Goddess works in the convergence of hip-hop and contemporary performance, incorporating a continuum of African-American cultural expressions through music, dance, and theater.

LOUIS A. ABELMAN received support for Heal My People, a feature-length documentary film that addresses the ongoing epidemic of sexual violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. It portrays the lives of women recovering from rape. The war that has gripped the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed an estimated four million people since 1994, when one million Hutu exiles fled into the country following the Rwandan genocide. The conflict's scars run deep, but perhaps none more so than those inflicted by the campaign of sexual violence waged against Congo's women and girls. In the past five years there have been tens of thousands of rapes, reported by girls as young as five, and women as old as 85. This is their story.

The AMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUM, St. Paul, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $234,000 in support of the Jerome Composers Commissioning Program for emerging Minnesota and New York City composers. In conjunction with this commitment, the Foundation authorized the re-purposing of a previous grant awarded for Performance Outreach Grants to be used for a new program, titled Subito, aimed at emerging Minnesota composers. The American Composers Forum links communities with composers and performers, encouraging the making, playing and enjoyment of new music. The Forum's goals are to provide direct support to composers at every stage of their careers and to develop markets for composers and their music. Since 1979, the Jerome Foundation has provided support to the Forum for a Commissioning Program, targeted to composers at emerging levels in their careers. This Program empowers composers to take the initiative in developing their own creative vision and pursuing the creation of new work, rather than relying on performers to generate opportunities. Subito grants are quick turnaround, career advancement grants for composers and composer-performers of new music. It's a program that encourages composers and sound artists working in diverse genres via grants ranging from $500 to $2,000.

The ANDERSON CENTER FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES, Red Wing, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $31,000 in support of the residencies of emerging artists. Since its founding in 1995, the Center has grown both as an artists' community and a regional cultural center. Its residency program has enabled 300 artists, writers and scholars to advance their work during stays of two to four weeks. The Program provides quiet uninterrupted time for artists and scholars to work. Jerome subsidy is directed toward emerging artists from Minnesota and New York City.

APERTURE FOUNDATION, New York City, received a two-year grant of $30,000 in support of a pilot program titled First Books. Aperture operates an active program of publications, exhibitions, and education initiatives. It has one of the most comprehensive publication libraries in the history of photography with nearly 450 titles, of which more than 200 are currently in print. The First Books initiative publishes major volumes dedicated to the work of accomplished but previously unpublished emerging photographers. The extensive work of its editorial advisory committee and curatorial staff facilitates the organization's introduction to emerging photographers. Jerome support will assist, in part, with the release of volumes by Katy Grannan, An-my L, and Gillian Laub.

ART IN GENERAL, New York City, received a two-year commitment of $38,000 in support of the Commission Project, exhibitions, residencies and artists' services. Each year, Art in General supports an average of 100 artists exhibiting in group and solo exhibitions, residencies, site-specific installations, and sound installations. Jerome dollars are directed toward the engagement of emerging artists in several programs. The newest is the Commission Project, which responds to changes in contemporary artistic practice by welcoming artists' use of nontraditional processes or unconventional art materials, work that requires extensive field research, and work that is dependent on the creation of social networks or the investigation of new technologies. The conceptual ground for the first year of the Commission Project is the premise of trade, broken down into three aspects related to artistic processes and interpretations: investment, value, and subjectivity.

BANG ON A CAN, Brooklyn, New York, received a grant of $10,000 in support of the commissioning of new work from three New York City emerging composers, through the People's Commissioning Fund, for performance by the Bang on a Can All-Stars. The ensemble performs a repertoire that reflects a multiplicity of musical genres and traditions. Jerome commissions will go to Annie Gosfield, Yoav Gal, and John Hollenbeck.

SIGNE BAUMANE received support for Birth, a 10-minute animated short that addresses the universal fear of childbirth, which is a transforming experience for every birth-giving woman. This will be a traditional hand-drawn animated film on textured paper with watercolored backgrounds. The film will be a visual poem, equating fear of childbirth with the universal fear of change.

ANDREW BERENDS received a grant in support of a feature-length documentary, The Blood of My Brother: A Story of Death in Iraq, set against the violent backdrop of war and the religious texture of Shia Islam. It tells the story of a family's grief after the killing of the oldest son and breadwinner. After years of hard work, Ra'ad, an Iraqi portrait photographer, saved enough money to open his own shop. On the night of the opening, while volunteering to guard the ancient Imam Kadhim mosque in the Shia neighborhood of Kadhimiya, he was shot and killed by an American patrol. Longing for revenge, Ra'ad's brother Ibrahim dreams of joining the Shia uprising against the American occupation. But as the only male left in the family, he must take on the role of breadwinner. This is his and his family's story.

The NEW YORK FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS, New York City, as fiscal agent for choreographer LARRY GOLDHUBER, received $8,000 in support of a new work titled Julius Caesar Superstar. The New York Foundation for the Arts is a nonprofit arts organization that provides grants and services and offers a range of programs that support the creative evolution and development of individual artists. Choreographer Lawrence Goldhuber is making new work under the auspices of BIGMANARTS. Julius Caesar Superstar is a dance theater work focusing on ballet star Robert La Fosse as the tragic leader, surrounded by nine 300-pound men as the conservative senators who represent the bloated state, and who eventually murder him. The show will move from Roman times through the McCarthy hearings in the U.S. Senate of the 1950s, to the present, highlighting the pervasive themes of ambition, power, and betrayal still at work today.