Past
Grantees

The Jerome Foundation Directors authorized a grant of $20,000 to support the 1999-2000 Mentor Project of CHERRY LANE ALTERNATIVE THEATRE, New York City. Cherry Lane is committed to the development of emerging artists and to presenting them with opportunities to work with experienced and outstanding theater artists. It provides readings, workshops, master classes and productions, in order to create a working community of artists and a home base for the development of new works. The Mentor Project provides opportunities for five emerging playwrights to develop new scripts, working one-on-one with master playwrights. Mentors for the current season include Craig Lucas, Alfred Uhry, A.R. Gurney, Wendy Wasserstein and Michael Weller, with Edward Albee as the overall Mentor for the project. Emerging writers, each receiving a stipend, are selected from a field of nominations made by an advisory committee.

Composer MARY ELLEN CHILDS, applying through the sponsorship of the SOUTHERN THEATER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a grant of $12,000 in support of artists' fees and other costs associated with a major entrepreneurial initiative designed to advance her work, forge a productive working relationship with a commercial cymbal company and underwrite a European tour for her company CRASH. Childs moves from the conception of musical scores through staging, working much like a stage director or choreographer for musical pieces that incorporate movement, theater and visual media. CRASH is the ensemble through which Childs develops and produces her visual percussion music.

LAURIE COLLYER received a grant for Nuyorican Dream, a feature-length, video documentary about the attempt of a young Latino man named Robert Torres to leave his comfortable life as a school teacher in California. He returns to the Brooklyn home of his childhood in order to help his troubled family.

The COUNCIL ON FOUNDATIONS, Washington, D.C., received $7,350. The Council on Foundations, an association of foundations and corporations, serves the public good by promoting and enhancing responsible and effective philanthropy.

CREARTE's mission is to promote and support the artists, the arts and the cultural activities of the Mexican, Chicano and Latino communities in Minnesota. The organization, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, sponsors an annual Dia De Los Muertos celebration, mounts exhibitions, offers workshops and seminars, presents literary and performing arts programming, and undertakes a variety of multidisciplinary efforts. Jerome funding of $20,000 for one year, half of which is dedicated to artists' fees, will enable CreArte to continue its programming.

CREATIVE TIME, New York City, received $12,000 in support of the creation and placement of new works by emerging artists in public venues. Established in 1973, Creative Time presents the work of established and emerging artists in all media to the public in unusual and unexpected places. It fosters partnerships among artists, property owners and community organizations. It encourages artists to experiment with new forms, take risks and explore untested areas. Through various mechanisms of selecting artists, from open application processes to curatorial initiatives, Creative Time supports a number of new works by emerging artists each season. It is for these artists that Jerome funding was authorized.

TANIA CYPRIANO received a grant for a feature-length documentary titled Grandmother and Her Video Camera, which utilizes the home video of Cypriano's grandmother to chronicle the lives of three generations of her Brazilian immigrant family over a ten-year period.

Choreographer ALYCE FINWALL received financial support to develop and produce a new dance work. A company member of Ballet of the Dolls Dance Company since 1995, Finwall choreographs under the company name DANCE COUNCIL, Minneapolis, Minnesota. The mission of Dance Council is to speak through a vocabulary of dance that is dedicated to reinvention and experimentation and to collaborate with talents of all areas to create a language that is illuminated with vision, insight and imagination. Finwall's choreography has been described as emotional and lyrically intense, utilizing both modern and traditional styles. She often draws inspiration from two-dimensional images, and is currently exploring a ballet based on the human, tragic story of Mark Rothko. This work will be paired with three other ballets, utilizing video animation, and original sound design, in a concert for which funding of $10,000 was authorized.

A one-time grant of $10,000 was made to DANSPACE PROJECT at St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery, New York City, to begin The Office for independent choreographers. Danspace, founded in 1974, provides an affordable performance venue for independent experimental choreographers, who are encouraged to take risks and realize their artistic visions in a professional setting where their works are viewed by an educated and receptive public. The Office will provide a professional, well equipped office space for independent choreographers and their administrators. It will support their business with presenting organizations, producers, funders and peers.

Writer and teacher KATE DAYTON received a grant to travel to Belgium to study agricultural, religious and photographic traditions as well as the landscape, to inform her novel-in-progress Available Light.

The NEW YORK FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS, as fiscal agent for artist KYLE DECAMP, received subsidy of $10,000 in support of the Out of Breathproject. This is the second grant the Foundation has authorized for the development of new work by Kyle deCamp, whose pieces are concerned with different modes of creation and performance in the world of art and popular culture. They focus on absent subjects, in specific historical moments. Out of Breathis a multimedia performance invoking the life and work of American actress/anti-star Jean Seberg (1938 - 1979).

Painter JIM DENOMIE received funding to spend five weeks in residence at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont. He will work on a series of paintings titled The History of the United States.

MATT EHLING, St. Paul, MN, received a $8,000 grant in support of Access, a 60-minute documentary journey through the American spectrum of political and social opinion as reflected through the medium of public access television.

EL MUSEO DEL BARRIO, New York City, received a grant of $18,000 in support of the participation of emerging artists in the Contempornea exhibition series and the group exhibition S-Files 2000. The fourth year of the Contempornea series will feature two emerging artists who will be given a high-visibility gallery in which to create major installations. S-Files is an innovative new series that features the works of emerging Latino artists of different cultural backgrounds, and who are working in a variety of media, selected from the museum's extensive Artist Files.

A mid-career grant of $15,000 was awarded to Elizabeth Streb/Ringside, New York City, in support of a collaboration with individuals from the Georgia Institute of Technologys Interactive Media Center. Streb will introduce the new technology into the box truss performance structure and stage show that she created in 1997. Streb will create two works. IMPACTS will electronically capture a moment in time when a dancer impacts a structure. The concept of the work entitled TRANSMISSION is to examine the quantum physics of particles through a barrier. Streb is well known for risk taking in the realm of movement and dance. Jerome Foundation awards mid-career grants to established artists whose projects provide an opportunity for significant career development and places the artist in a position of artistic risk and challenge.

ALICE ELLIOTT received funding for I'm a Collector!, a feature-length documentary about Larry Selman, the mentally challenged neighbor of Elliott, who raises thousands of dollars each year for charity from neighborhood residents.

A two-year grant of $40,000 was awarded to ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATRE (EST), New York City, in continued support for the development of new work by emerging theater artists. EST was founded in 1971 primarily to nurture individual theater artists and to develop new American plays; its membership is now comprised of nearly 500 theater artists. Current funding supports ETSs multifaceted playwright development program, which includes Youngblood, a series of works by artists in their early to late 20s; Internfest, a presentation of new work developed by an intern company; Octoberfest, a month-long festival of member initiated projects; First Look, a series of staged readings; the Spring Marathon of One-Act Plays; and a cabaret series titled Hell's Kitchen Sink.

A grant was awarded to Galumph Performance Troupe artists ERIK ESSE, CHRIS GRIFFITH, SHARI ARONSON and ANNE SAWYER to travel to the National Puppetry Festival in Seattle, Washington. They will present Tales from Tumtumera, see other pieces, develop professional contacts, and gain valuable feedback on their work.

The ETHOS PERCUSSION GROUP, queens, New York, received $22,500 in support of its Emerging Composer Commissioning Program. Founded in 1990, Ethos is dedicated to the advancement of the percussive arts in performance and education. It embraces musical styles from around the globe. Programming highlights are the players' vibrant musicianship as well as an extensive and unique collection of instruments. Jerome funds will support three commissions by emerging composers. Extensive developmental work with the composer is undertaken for each project.

RODNEY EVANS received support for Brother to Brother, an experimental narrative that follows the emotional and psychological journey of an eighteen year old gay, African-American artist as he discovers the hidden legacies of the Gay and Lesbian community within the Harlem Renaissance.