Past
Grantees

Funding was awarded to AARON MATTHEWS for A Panther in Africa, an in-depth portrait of Pete ONeal, founder of the Kansas City chapter of the Black Panthers and an American exile living in Tanzania. It is the story of how a 1960s radical who advocated violence becomes a global activist who advocates community service.

Shawn McConneloug received funding to learn more about national and international touring for her performance company Shawn McConneloug and her Orchestra. Consultants will teach McConneloug about developing a touring plan and creating a database of presenters. This is McConneloug's first touring initiative.

MEDIA ALLIANCE, New York City, supports, promotes and advocates for independent film, video, audio, radio and digital arts in New York State. In 1998, Media Alliance created an Independent Radio/Sound Art Fellowship Regrant Program, designed to provide emerging artists in the fields of radio and sound with production funds necessary to create new works. An open call encourages artists to apply as individuals. A selection panel chooses the projects to be supported. Three grants of $5,000 each are available. The Jerome Foundation awarded $23,000 for this program.

The MEDIA ARTISTS RESOURCE CENTER, St. Paul, Minnesota, promotes the production of media works by independent artists from all communities and provides access to low cost media equipment and facilities to these artists in a supportive and educational environment. It offers media arts classes, hosts media arts production events and sponsors access grant programs to encourage diversity in media arts production. A grant of $10,000 was authorized to support programs and services for emerging media artists.

A grant of $23,000 was authorized for MEET THE COMPOSER, New York City, in support of emerging composers who receive support from the Meet The Composer Fund. Of that total, $15,000 is allocated for New York City composers and $8,000 for Minnesota composers. Meet The Composer fosters the creation, performance and recording of music by American composers and develops new audiences for their works. The organization brings composers into personal contact with their audiences. In addition to a wide range of programs that provide financial support to composers, Meet The Composer also offers professional advice, career counseling and encouragement in the early stages of composers careers.

A grant of $10,000 was awarded to the NEW YORK FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS, New York City, as fiscal agent for YIN MEI DANCE, in support of the creation of /Asunder, a collaboration among Yin Mei, composer Robert Een, visual artist Cai Juo Qiang and poet Mark Strand. It will be premiered at Danspace Project and will tour. Thematically, /Asunder explores notions of lovethe effects of its presence and absence, the consequences of its pursuit and loss, and the striving toward an emotional and spiritual understanding. The genesis lies within choreographer and dancer Yin Meis contemplative practice and her personal examination. Her aesthetic employs Chinese energy direction, reminiscent of Tai Chi, and spatial principles as a means of creating dance within the rubric of Western avant-garde dance theater.

SCOTT MILLER, Minneapolis, MN, received support for Shape of A Shadow, a collection of ten, 2-minute, 16mm shorts presented individually as 2-minute segments and collectively as a 20-minute film. Its an analogous look at the personal travails of Miller, from technophobia to an eventual understanding and union of modern tools and fundamental techniques.

The MINNEAPOLIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a grant of $80,000 in support of the 2001-02 MCAD/Jerome Fellowship Program. The Fellowship Program enables Twin Cities visual artists of emerging talent to commit a year of focused time to creative work. Five artists receive stipends of $9,000 each, critical assessment through visits from nationally recognized critics and curators, equipment and shop access, and a culminating exhibition and catalog.

The Jerome Foundation renewed its membership in and provided general support for the programs of the COUNCIL ON FOUNDATIONS, Washington, D.C.; the MINNESOTA COUNCIL ON FOUNDATIONS, Minneapolis, Minnesota; and GRANTMAKERS IN THE ARTS, Seattle, Washington. A total of $32,170 was authorized for three service organizations important to the fields of philanthropy and the arts.

S.A.S.E.: THE WRITE PLACE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, acting as fiscal agent for SINGERS OF DAYBREAK, received a grant of $10,000 was authorized to be used for a two-day Dialogue event containing workshops and performances. Singers of Daybreak aims to be a service organization for spoken word artists. Informational materials and a website will be developed. Workshops on content, style, performance and career development will assist developing spoken word artists.

MIXED BLOOD THEATRE COMPANY, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $35,000 to support commissions and mainstage productions of new works by emerging New York City and/or Minnesota playwrights. Mixed Blood is a professional multiracial theater dedicated to encouraging cultural pluralism, individual equality and artistic excellence. It produces plays using color blind casting, takes artistic risks in the selection and production of plays, endeavors to reach nontraditional audiences, provides professional experiences for artists of color and produces educational programs with racial and cultural themes. Among those projects being underwritten by Jerome Foundation is the development of a new work by playwright Zaraawar Mistry.

A grant of $14,000 was authorized to S.A.S.E.:  THE WRITE PLACE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, as fiscal agent for the literary journal MIZNA, in support of the production of three issues in 2001, and within those, the publication of works by emerging Minnesota and New York City writers.  Mizna is an artistic and cultural publication highlighting the Arab-American experience through art and literature, and exploring that experience in a critical manner.  The first issue was produced in 1998.  The Jerome Foundation’s first grant to the journal was authorized in late 1999, at the time of the publication of the third issue.  The journal maintains an open submission process and is looking actively for emerging writers.

Ceramic artist KEISUKE MIZUNO, St. Cloud, received funding to travel to the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Helena, Montana, where he will participate in a workshop that includes demonstrations by ceramic artists, lectures, panel discussions, and over 20 exhibitions. Mizunos particular interest is in an interactive discussion of philosophical approaches to ceramic materials and processes.

Author and actor ISABELL MONK received a grant to Greece. Monk is one of 12 participants selected to attend the University of Californias Sacramento Theater Company course Playing to the Gods. She will travel to the Theater at Epidauros, the Forest of Episkopi, the Island of Hydra, and Athens. She seeks rejuvenation through this theater experience.

The NEW YORK FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS, New York City, acting as fiscal agent for artist DEAN MOSS, received a two-year concluding grant of $16,000 in support of artists fees and production expenses for the performance work supplement. Conceived and constructed by Moss, supplement is a multidisciplinary piece that reflects questions about sensation, perception, identity, and illusion. supplement will present opposing mediations on the passage from life into death. It will premiere in the fall of 2002.

MOVIN' SPIRITS DANCE THEATER, Brooklyn, New York, received a grant of $15,000 in support of the development of two works by Marlies Yearby in the 2001-02 season. She creates dances using movement memories, everyday gestures, and dream fragments. Jerome funding will be applied to the development and workshop production of The Womens Project and developmental rehearsal and production of Brown Butterfly. The Womens Project is a personal exploration of women. It draws on their varied stories, lives, and experiences shared through workshops, interviews, and physical expression. Brown Butterfly examines cultural shifts based on the physicality, language, and larger-than-life personality of Muhammad Ali.

Jerome Foundation Directors awarded a two-year grant of $40,000 to THEATER MU, Minneapolis, Minnesota, in support of the creation and development of new work by emerging artists. Theater Mu is a professional Asian American theater company committed to giving voice to Asian Americans. Jerome funding will be applied to mainstage plays by emerging creators; the Mu Daiko Drum Group; and the Associated Artists Group Program, which provides artist development opportunities through workshops, training sessions, outreach activities and the New Eyes Festival.

Jerome Directors authorized a grant to Pangea World Theater Artistic Director Dipankar Mukherjee and Executive/Literary Director Meena Natarajan, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mukherjee and Natarajan will attend leadership and management development workshops at the University of St. Thomas, participate in Leaders Circles at the Management Assistance Program for Nonprofits, and work with a consultant to learn strategies for strengthening Pangea's Board of Directors.

Jerome Directors authorized a grant to Pangea World Theater Artistic Director DIPANKAR MUKHERJEE and Executive/Literary Director MEENA NATARAJAN, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mukherjee and Natarajan will attend leadership and management development workshops at the University of St. Thomas, participate in Leaders Circles at the Management Assistance Program for Nonprofits, and work with a consultant to learn strategies for strengthening Pangeas Board of Directors.

A grant of $12,000 was awarded to the FOUNDATION FOR INDEPENDENT ARTISTS, New York City, acting as fiscal agent for choreographer BEN MUNISTERI, in support of the creation and production of new work. O for a Muse of Fire is a new dance about the way Munisteri choreographs and about his dancers. He will invite the audience into the creative process and offer explosive dancing in an intimate setting.