Past
Grantees

A grant was awarded to ZARAAWAR MISTRY, independent theater artist to spend two weeks in Los Angeles, California, to research the life and career of Indian-born Hollywood star Sabu and to apply his research and experience to the creation of an original theatrical work based on Sabus life. Mistry will meet with Sabus wife and daughter.

MIXED BLOOD THEATER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, acting as fiscal agent for theater artist Zaraawar Mistry, received funding of $10,000 for the production of Haroun and the Sea of Stories. Mistry is creating the stage adaptation of this novel, and will also direct and produce it at Mixed Blood in October of 2000. Haroun and the Sea of Stories is described as an exuberant and joyous homage to the power of stories, drawing upon sources as disparate as Hindu mythology, the Arabian Nights, Grimm Fairy Tales and contemporary popular culture. His adaptation stresses the sea of stories as a larger metaphor for the diversity of peoples and their stories in this country. It is a collaboration of many distinct voices, and will be performed by a multi-ethnic cast.

MOMENTA ART, Brooklyn, New York, is a nonprofit alternative space that promotes the work of emerging artists. The standard exhibition format is two, one-person shows in separate project rooms. Momenta mounts seven to nine shows each year, exhibiting 14-18 emerging and under-represented visual artists to an approximate audience of 3,000. The Jerome Foundation made a two-year grant of $24,000 to support the participation of emerging artists in the exhibition program. Co-directors Eric Heist and Laura Parnes work with Board members to select artists for exhibitions, based on an open call system that welcomes slide submissions throughout the year.

MOVEMENT RESEARCH, New York City, received a two-year commitment of $24,000 in support of the publication of four issues of Performance Journal. Movement Research was founded in 1978 to explore issues relating to postmodern dance and performance, and the challenges of expanding those categories to affect the cultural, political and economic diversity of the community. Performance Journal is published at least twice a year in a 24 to 32-page tabloid format. It includes the written voices of over 45 dance and performance artists and writers, and the visual contributions of ten to 15 artists annually. The Journal serves as a voice to express the sometimes clear, sometimes contradictory, ideas and issues behind postmodern work.

MOVIN' SPIRITS DANCE THEATER, Brooklyn, New York, received a grant of $15,000 in support of the development and production of new work in 2000. Movin' Spirits expands the boundaries of dance through sustained educational programming and major performance projects undertaken in collaboration with writers, composers, photographers and video artists. The strength of its interdisciplinary work lies in its combined use of the diverse traditions, styles and cultures of the artists engaged. The organization was established in 1989 by choreographer Marlies Yearby. Jerome support covers the development of America the Beautiful, Yearby's collaboration with poet Carl Hancock Rux, and continued work on Feathers at the Flame. Yearby is also developing a new music driven dance work titled Brown Butterfly, exploring the cultural shift sparked by Muhammad Ali, and composed by Craig Harris with visual design by artificial intelligence technician Jonas Goldstein.

ERIC MUELLER, Minneapolis, MN. Mueller received support for Pete & Adrian, a dual-screen digital narrative (in the tradition of the recently released Mike Figgis film Timecode) that looks at the humorously romantic relationship of two men: Pete, a "meter-maid" with low self-esteem and Adrian, an "A-list" aerobics instructor. When the two meet at Adrian's birthday party, it's a simple chemistry of opposites attracting.

DIPANKAR MUKHERJEE, Artistic Director of Pangea World Theater, was awarded funding to spend five weeks in India to study the ancient Indian theater-dance form of Kathakali from one of the masters in the field, and to study Kalaripayattu an ancient martial art, from elder practitioners in Southern India.

Choreographer BEN MUNISTERI requested a grant under the sponsorship of the FOUNDATION FOR INDEPENDENT ARTISTS, New York City. The Jerome Foundation Directors authorized $12,000 to support Lucky Boy, a new work involving six dancers to be performed in 2001 at the Pyramid Club and in a concert space, with an exploration of ways in which the work bridges the two. Munisteri traverses the worlds of club dancing and more formal concert dances.

TAMARA NADEL is a dancer and choreographer who received funding to travel for four weeks in Chennai and Cochin, India. Nadel will observe Bharatanatyam performances in Chennai and will study the Jewish community in Cochin in order to incorporate her own Jewish background into her Bharatanatyam-based choreography for Ragamala Music and Dance Theater.

KELLY NATHE, Minneapolis, MN. Nathe received support for I Took a Bosnian Lover, a web-based multi-media docu-drama about an American artist traveling solo throughout the post-war Balkans. It's the story of an individual who goes to one of the most politically turbulent places on this planet. She discovers around every corner, over every mountain, and in every ethnic enclave, other individuals who dare to believe that living in a multi-ethnic society is the only path to peace, harmony and spiritual prosperity.

INTERMEDIA ARTS, Minneapolis, Minnesota, acting as fiscal agent for the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture, received funding for its 2000 conference. The mid-October NAMAC conference will bring a national constituency of leaders in the media arts to the Twin Cities to interact with Minnesota media arts administrators and artists in an intensive four-day inquiry into the current state of the field and an exploration of its future directions. This presents an important opportunity for regional media arts organizations and artists to participate in workshops and panel discussions on key issues facing the field, to engage in networking and mentoring opportunities, and to highlight their own work. The conference theme is Changing Media/Mediating Change. The three primary program tracks will explore the role of the media in building healthy communities, directions in digital conversion and the formation of effective partnerships to accomplish goals. A grant of $10,000 was made in addition to a commitment of up to $3,000 to subsidize registrations for Minnesota and New York City media artists and arts administrators.

Founded in 1982, the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ARTISTS' ORGANIZATIONS serves, promotes and protects artists' organizations, which, in turn, support and present new, experimental and emerging work in the visual, performing, media, literary and interdisciplinary arts. There are over 600 members. A Jerome grant of $10,000 will support, in part, the 2000 Annual Conference, to be held June 22-25 in New York City. Three core issues to be examined are Defying Artistic Isolation, Leadership Development and Operational Systems. Jerome subsidy will cover the expenses of artists from Minnesota and New York City artists attending the Conference.

A two-year commitment of $64,000 was made to NAUTILUS MUSIC-THEATER, St. Paul, Minnesota, in support of Rough Cuts and the Composer-Librettist Studio. Nautilus explores the dynamic of individual and communal integrity through the creation, development and production of new operas and other forms of music-theater. It operates five programs: Production, National Residency, Professional Training, Rough Cuts and Community Commissions. It is committed to process and to developing collaboratively new work. Rough Cuts is a monthly series of works-in-progress, dialogues between artists and audiences and explorations of the creative process. First developed in 1984, the Composer-Librettist Studio is a two-week intensive focusing on the process of collaboration through a series of exploratory assignments that deal with the challenges of writing for the music-theater form. The Studio is not intended as a developmental session for existing pieces, but concentrates more on the collaborative process, nurturing relationships and suggesting ways that artists can work together.

The Directors authorized a grant of $10,000 to the HOUSE OF DANCE/THE NETA COMPANY, New York City, in support of the creation and development of River of Orchids. The Company was founded in 1986 by choreographer Neta Pulvermacher. It brings contemporary performance arts to the public, promotes artistic collaborations among artists working in different media and supports innovative artists' activities in all media. River of Orchidswill be an evening-length work set to original music by the English alternative rock band XTC. The set for the work will depict a magical swamp, where other-worldly beings, portrayed by dancers, come to life as their stories unfold. The provocative image of the orchid as an eternal object of mystification and allure speaks to the heart of the human condition. In Pulvermacher's fantastical swamp, orchids wink and fairies go wild. This project follows the progression of Pulvermacher's interest in developing choreography to original music in all forms and genres.

NEW DRAMATISTS, New York City, was founded in 1949 to provide an artistic home for playwrights. It conducts theater research, develops new works, functions as a writers colony and nurtures new talent through a competitive membership selection process. New Dramatists provides writers with the tools they need to grow artistically and strengthen their commitment to theater. These tools include time, theater space, a pool of actors and directors, writing equipment, meeting space and a gifted peer community. Jerome Foundation funding of $40,000 will be allocated as follows: $15,000 to support the Composer-Librettist Studio and $25,000 in support of programs and services for emerging playwrights. The goal of the Studio is a greater understanding of the collaborative process of music theater creation, and a seeding of potential new partnerships that may enrich the art form.

NEW DRAMATISTS, New York City, was founded in 1949 to provide an artistic home for playwrights. It conducts theater research, develops new works, functions as a writers colony and nurtures new talent through a competitive membership selection process. New Dramatists provides writers with the tools they need to grow artistically and strengthen their commitment to theater. These tools include time, theater space, a pool of actors and directors, writing equipment, meeting space and a gifted peer community. Jerome Foundation funding of $40,000 will be allocated as follows: $15,000 to support the Composer-Librettist Studio and $25,000 in support of programs and services for emerging playwrights. The goal of the Studio is a greater understanding of the collaborative process of music theater creation, and a seeding of potential new partnerships that may enrich the art form.

NEW GEORGES, New York City, received a grant of $15,000 toward the development of new work to be produced in the 2000-2001 season. New Georges was founded in 1991 by female actors confronting the scarcity of substantive roles for women in theater. This interest quickly expanded to the development of a repertoire of plays authored by women. New Georges operates The Room, a multi-use work space that houses readings, small-scale workshop presentations, rehearsals and community gatherings. Artists use The Room to experiment with works at any stage of development. New Georges offers a mainstage series, to be held at the Ohio Theater in Soho in 2000; productions of short plays and experimental performance pieces; a play reading series titled The Conversation; a workshop for women directors experimenting with classic plays; an annual performance marathon and workshop presentations of new works created or developed in The Room. Toward those activities serving emerging playwrights, a grant commitment was made.

THE NEW MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, New York City, received a two-year grant of $44,000 in support of its Public Access Program. The New Museum, founded in 1977, is a contemporary art museum with an international reputation. Dynamic solo exhibitions and landmark group shows define key moments in the development of contemporary art, reflect the global nature of art today and span a vast array of cultural activities and media. The Museum is guided by the conviction that contemporary art is a vital social force that extends beyond the art world into the broader culture. In March 1998, The New Museum launched its Public Access initiative (now called Media Lounge) in order to connect the work of emerging artists with a broad general public. Media Lounge is the first museum space in New York dedicated to new media. Designed by LOT/EK, a young cutting-edge architectural firm, Media Lounge presents digitally manipulated video works, experimental video and sound installations, computer generated projections, web-based and CD-ROM art, and wide range of new media events. Media Lounge seeks to establish new media as a vital artistic force for the 21st Century, explore how these works are presented and interpreted, provide visibility for the new media community within a well known visual arts organization, and encourage emerging artists working in this area. After years of funding for the On View program, the Jerome Foundation shifted its funding to Media Lounge because these exhibitions, often featuring the works of emerging artists, are designed to explore new paradigms of visitor interaction by reducing some of the barriers between contemporary art and museum visitors. This program encourages under-recognized and emerging artists to alter radically the traditional exhibition framework.

NEW RIVERS PRESS, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received an $18,000 grant to publish four books by winners of the Minnesota Voices competition. The mission of the Press is to publish contemporary literary work of excellence by emerging writers in single author books and in anthologies. The Minnesota Voices Project is open to authors who reside in Minnesota at the time of submission. Four books are published each year, two in poetry and two in prose, selected from a competitive group of applicants by a judging panel. New Rivers works closely with the authors during any necessary rewrites, markets the books and supports the authors in advancing sales.

The Jerome Foundation made a grant of $20,000 to the NEW YORK CITY OPERA, in support of the Composers Showcase. The New York City Opera offers an unprecedented opportunity for composers emerging in the world of American Opera by providing orchestral readings of new works. Composers are able to hear their works performed by City Operas full orchestra and mainstage singers. Funding from the Jerome Foundation was awarded for the 2000 Composers Showcase, under the artistic direction of Paul Kellogg. The Showcase will be scheduled in conjunction with Opera Americas annual conference in order to promote the project and the 12 participating composers, of whom eight are emerging and five reside in New York City. It is toward their participation that Jerome funding was authorized.