Past
Grantees

MATTHEW EHLING, St. Paul, MN, was awarded a grant for Taking Liberties, a documentary that examines the effects of four decades of National Security Policy on the Bill of Rights. This video will be comprised of two intertwined strands, or components. The first strand will be a brief history of the contemporary debate over security and civil liberties, charting the growth of our national security apparatus as it relates to internal security measures. The second strand will be comprised of present day case studies, where the viewer will meet real people and witness the real-world impact of pursuing security without regard for basic civil rights.

ELEVATOR REPAIR SERVICE (ERS), New York City, received $14,000 in support of the development and production of new work in the 2003-04 season. ERS has been presenting original work since 1991, with a core group of performers, writers, directors and designers. The ensembles aesthetic combines elements of slapstick comedy, high tech audio, low tech set design, obscure historical events, literary and found texts, found objects, discarded furniture, and an unusual style of choreography. ERS aims to create work that, by accepting, illuminating and exploiting theaters temporal and physical limitations, cannot be presented in any medium other than live performance. It pursues a certain kind of absurdity. Jerome dollars will support development work on a new piece, tentatively titled Big Number/Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Early research is focusing on the structure of musical theater numbers, story ballets and the films of Busby Berkeley. Short scenes will be presented to audiences in the fall of 2003 as a work-in-progress. Text work will be developed in the spring of 2004, deliberately separating physical and text components in order to arrive at a raw synthesis of two distinct strains. The text and form collision should create unpredictable offspring, in the form of a series of problems and opportunities addressed in rehearsal.

A two-year grant of $36,000 was authorized for THE ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATRE, New York City, in support of the creation and development of new plays by emerging playwrights. Since its founding in 1971, EST has evidenced its dedication to the development of new American plays and playwrights, who initiate and develop new work through a thriving membership of more than 450 playwrights, directors, actors, designers, and administrators. The Theatre supports artists at all stages of their careers through a variety of developmental and production programs. These include Youngblood, a collective of writers under 30 who meet weekly to develop new work, and present public readings and workshop performances; the season-opener, Octoberfest, a month-long festival of at least 75 projects in early stages of development; and Going to the River, a series that develops works by African American women playwrights. The Literary Department evaluates approximately 2,000 scripts annually and feeds selected works into the developmental programs. Jerome Foundation has been supporting the Playwright Development Program at The Ensemble Studio Theatre since 1975.

ETHOS PERCUSSION GROUP, New York City, received a two-year grant of $45,000 in support of a commissioning program for emerging composers. Ethos is dedicated to the advancement of the percussive arts in performance and education. It embraces musical styles from around the globe and highlights its players vibrant musicianship as well as an extensive and unique collection of instruments. It maintains an active touring schedule and frequently performs the new works that it commissions. Jerome dollars will support an emerging composer commissioning fund in which ensemble members select composers to commission. Composers are in contact with ensemble members throughout the course of the development of the work and its rehearsal. Ethos makes the commissioned works available to other percussion ensembles through publication, and distribution of recordings. Over 100 performances of new works previously commissioned with Jerome Foundation funding have occurred.

EXIT ART, New York City, received a two-year grant of $38,000 designated for emerging artists fees and exhibitions. Exit Art presents exhibitions, projects and performances that challenge traditional notions of what art is, explore the diversity of cultures and voices continually shaping contemporary art and ideas, and create opportunities to bring artists in contact with their public. It has presented the work of over 1,600 artists, providing support at the beginning of their careers and anticipating trends, movements and ideas in the culture at large. It recently launched a series of five biennial emerging artists exhibitions, each with a specific theme and curated from an open call. Emerging artists are also prominently featured in select group exhibitions; for example, The L Factor, which will investigate the influence of Latin American culture in the United States through the lens of emerging Latino artists.

EYE OF THE STORM THEATRE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, announced that it would close at the end of 2003 after 12 successful years. To do so responsibly, it proposed to produce the world premiere of Slither, by Carson Kreitzer, a playwright to whom the Theatre had made a production commitment following the plays in-progress showing in Seed the Storm, a developmental program. It will also present readings of two scripts by emerging playwrights Sheila Callaghan and Michelle Pett. The Jerome Foundation Board awarded a grant of $9,000. Slither is an episodic history of women and snakes, beginning with Eve and moving through a Cretan snake priestess, to a Depression era carny snake dancer and her granddaughter, a modern-day Holiness Church snake handler.

EYEBEAM, New York City, received a $15,000 grant in support of its Artists in Residence Program. Eyebeam supports the creation and presentation of artworks produced with digital technologies, expands the publics appreciation of new media art through education programs and exhibitions, improves artists access to digital tools, and develops new technologies. The Artist in Residence Program is a multidisciplinary initiative that supports the development, creation and presentation of new works made with digital tools by emerging artists. Resident artists receive stipends, access to cutting-edge tools, support from the Eyebeam staff, production help from apprentices, and the option to participate in an annual group exhibition. The residencies occur in a studio environment where artists of various disciplines and stages of development work individually and collaboratively. This integrates aspects of a studio residency, a high-tech research lab and an academic think tank.

FENCE, New York City, publishes poetry and short fiction in journals issued twice per year; and coordinates discussions, both public and in print, on topics of historical and current concern to illuminate and contextualize contemporary literature. It selects work from a diverse range of writing styles and aesthetic stances. A specific editorial objective is to showcase emerging writers. Jerome Foundation authorized a grant of $10,000 to support the publication of literary work by emerging Minnesota and New York City writers in two issues planned for 2004, with $4,000 of the grant restricted to writers' honoraria. The vibrancy of the writing published in FENCE, the expertise of its editorial team, and the journal's track record in publishing works by emerging artists convinced the Jerome Foundation to authorize support.

FILM/VIDEO ARTS, New York City, received a two-year grant of $60,000 in support of the Artist Mentor Project. Film/Video Arts is dedicated to making the tools and skills of the media arts available to those who might not otherwise have access to media training and technology. This media education and resource center provides services for film, video and multimedia producers. The Artist Mentor Project is designed for individual media artists, with production skills beyond the student level, who wish to achieve higher levels of proficiency. Organized as a six-month workshop, each project is led by a recognized master in the field who shapes the programs content. Jerome Foundation funds will be used to mentor artists of color.

The FOUNDATION FOR INDEPENDENT ARTISTS/UNIQUE PROJECTS, New York City, acting as fiscal agent for REGGIE WILSON/FIST & HEEL PERFORMANCE GROUP, received a grant of $8,000 to develop and produce Black Burlesque (revisited). Reggie Wilsons Fist & Heel Performance Group has joined with Black Umfolosi and Noble Douglas Dance Company in an international creative partnership to create and perform Black Burlesque (revisited). This work is the culmination of ten years of research and illustrates the mutable essence of culturethe complex interaction of popular cultural forms with religious beliefs and behavior, and the ways people have transformed traditions and rituals into dances, musical styles and entertainment venues. Wilsons work explores the intense involvement people of the African Diaspora generally have with religious and/or ritual life, and the historic arc from spiritual practice to popular entertainment in the participating artists homelands.

ELLEN FLANDERS received a grant in support of Zero Degrees of Separation, a feature-length documentary examining the lives of gay and lesbian Palestinian/Israeli couples and their attempts to negotiate, not only the larger conflict in their area of the Middle East, but also those of their daily lives. Upon discovering that Ezra, one of the films characters, once worked for her grandparents in Jerusalem, the director is further encouraged to examine her own family history and its relationship to the current conflict.

Narrative filmmaker STEVEN FOLEY received funding to travel to Paris, Berlin, Lotz and Quebec City to improve his knowledge base and sphere of influences while developing his skills as a filmmaker, storyteller and individual. His trip of six weeks will begin in France, where he will study the history and new trends in French cinema. Foley will also study the work of filmmakers of African heritage, living in France. In Germany, he will attend the 19th Annual Black International Film Festival in Berlin. From there, Foley will travel to Lotz, Poland where he will study the work of Krzystof Kieslowski. He will then move on to Quebec City, Canada, where he will spend one-week at Theatre Ex Machina, a multidisciplinary performance art and filmmaking organization that fuses those art forms with emerging technologies.

STEVEN FOLEY, St. Paul, MN, received a grant for Strange as Angels, a feature-length narrative film that examines the loves, lives and relationships of six African Americans living in Chicago, Illinois. A work about timing and circumstance, two variables that govern all of our lives but over which we have no control. This film is about identity, perception, sex, longing and the way that in one instant, another person's skin and breath can make you feel still and eternal in a weighted world.

JEFF FORESTER, a writer and teacher, will spend three weeks in Cornwall, England, to conduct research and write a book of historical fiction, a novel titled North Country Digs. The book focuses on a Cornish woman, a Druid, who is a pioneer in the Boundary Waters Wilderness in Northern Minnesota. She filters her understanding of her environment, family, and friends through an animistic belief system. Forester will visit the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle, the National Mining Museum in Turo, the Poldark Mine, the Cornish Earth Mysteries Group, the Tolven Stone, the Merry Maidens of Boleigh, and the Hurlers of St. Cleer, among other sites.

THE FOUNDRY THEATRE, New York City, received $23,000 in support of its developmental and production work with emerging creative artists in the 2003-04 season. The Foundry commissions, develops, premieres and tours theater pieces that provoke new questions for our times, and often challenge the definition of theater itself. The organization is a cross between a theater that produces new work and a think tank for the artists who make that work. The 2003-04 season encompasses the world premiere of The Roaring Girle by Alice Tuan, a workshop production of The Myopia by David Greenspan, continued development of Fifth Exotic by Ralph Pena, a workshop of W. David Hancock's play The Generation of Regret, commissions of new work by Steve Cosson and Juliana Francis, and the workshop development of a new piece by performance artist Ann Carlson. Jerome funding is restricted to emerging playwrights and theater creators working with the Foundry.

FRANCONIA SCULPTURE PARK, Shafer, Minnesota, received a grant of $32,500 in support of emerging artists residencies, a majority of which are filled by New York City and/or Minnesota artists. Franconia is a 16-acre site that supports the creation of new work by emerging and mature artists, conducts educational programs, and offers residency support. New works are sited within the Park each year, most built through artist residencies. An open call for applications, reviewed by an independent selection panel, results in residency opportunities for emerging artists each summer.

FRANKLIN ART WORKS, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $19,000 in support of the participation of emerging artists in its exhibition program. Franklin Art Works is a visual and performing arts enter devoted to presenting new work by local, national and international artists. Through a mix of one-person exhibitions, video screenings, performing arts productions, and film, Franklin Art Works celebrates the work of emerging and established artists, predominantly from Minnesota and New York City. Main Gallery exhibitions in the current season will feature artists Bruce Tapola, Ana Lois-Borzi, Stacey Davidson, Chris Larson and a New York City-based artist yet to be selected. A portion of Jerome dollars may support installations in the Video Gallery. Each exhibition is personally designed by the artist in conjunction with the Gallery Director, and is accompanied by an artist's talk and brochure.

BRIGITTE FRASE, a freelance book reviewer, editor and writer, will travel for six days to various cities in Texas to conduct research, which will inform a memoir that she is currently writing about her familys two immigrations to the United States. Frases maternal great-grandparents settled in what is known as German Texas in 1867, in the town of Clinton on the Guadalupe River. Deaths drove her great-grandmother, a widow, back to Germany in 1883. A great uncle settled in Texas in 1859, and represents a new area of investigation. Frase is working from her father's manuscript, which is nothing more than family oral history. This travel will allow her to investigate the facts about her familys past in order to produce her book.

COLLETTE GAITER, a new media artist, will travel to Cuba for 16 days to interview artists for a new media collaboration that she plans on creating for the 2004 International Symposium on Electronic Art. She will also spend time studying and observing the culture and history of Cuba, as well as collecting documentation (printed matter, images, video and sound recordings) of urban street life. These materials will be incorporated into a multimedia work-in-progress titled Unofficial Communication, which is a website that documents an experiment in visualizing virtual space using metaphoric and literal information.

LEAH GILLIAM received support for Agenda for a Landscape Vol. 6, an experimental video that investigates intersections of history, identify and technology in NASAs 1997 Pathfinder mission to Mars.