Past
Grantees

Composer CHRIS GRANIAS will spend four days in Washington, DC at the Library of Congress conducting research relevant to his compositional work and related fields of interest. Granias writes in the choral and jazz idioms.

GRAYWOLF PRESS, St. Paul, Minnesota received a two-year grant of $40,000 to support the publication of emerging artists titles in 1998 and 1999. For more than 21 years, Graywolf Press has been publishing creative literature by contemporary writers. It is committed to promoting promising literary authors who may be overlooked in other publishing environments. It publishes works in poetry, fiction, memoir, criticism and creative nonfiction. Now under the direction of Fiona McCrae, Graywolf published 16 titles in the 1996-97 program year; and hopes to expand that number over the next two years.

ANN GRUNKE, a writer and teacher from St. Cloud, received a grant to study the St. Croix Valleys relevance to the completion of her novel, Laws of Nature. Her manuscript focuses on the commercial fishing business, a canning factory, railroad and barge transport and other aspects of old river life.

Sephardic ballad singer DAVID HARRIS will spend time in Virginia studying Bosnian ballad repertoire with Sephardic expert Flory Jagoda, who is also Bosnian. The study will focus on tunes, dialect, history and ornamentation which Harris will use in performance.

ELLEN HAWLEY, editor of A View From The Loft, received subsidy to attend the Stanford Professional Publishing course. This is an intensive program in book and magazine publishing for professionals. The course will assist not only Hawley but writers in the community who read the View and contribute to it.

Writer DAVID HAYNES will travel through Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California following the same route as a character in his novel-in-progress. He will visit historical sites and research centers along the way.

MIKE HAZARD, St. Paul, MN, $12,000. Hazard will receive funds to produce a 30-minute video titled Solar Power & Moonshine, composed as an imaginary year in the life of a videopoet named Mediamike. This first-person, narrative video is a montage of light and dark-hearted essays, random notes, chance images, documentary portraits of individuals, and lyrical videopoems.

CORN PALACE PRODUCTIONS, Minneapolis, Minnesota, develops and presents works which are multidisciplinary and performance oriented, with a strong core or through-line of music. Corn Palace has a history of commissioning, developing and presenting new works. In its seven years of operation, it has presented over 24 world premieres; and has commissioned 12 new works from a wide range of composers. Funding of $11,000 from the Jerome Foundation supports programming featuring the works of emerging composers. Of particular note this past season and coming season are Noncom Late Nights, mini festivals of bands performing in the genre of noncommercial new music. This form combines the energy of rock with the clarity and creativity of classical new music. Bands led by women composers will be featured. Also scheduled is a concert of new works by composer Brenda Hutchinson and performance artist Claire Porter.

A grant of $12,000 was authorized for IN THE HEART OF THE BEAST PUPPET AND MASK THEATRE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, in support of the 1998 Eye, Ear, Hand, Mouth: A Body of Short Puppet Works Festival. In early 1998, the Theatre will mount a festival of short works which introduce a wide array of creative artists to In the Heart of the Beast and support the individual work of company members. The works will be selected competitively as the result of an open call for proposals. This collection of original short works will include a wide variety of puppet styles from toy theater to shadow puppets. To support the participation of emerging creative artists in this festival, the Jerome Foundation authorized subsidy both for the direct expenses of the festival and for artists fees.

Irish traditional musicians CHARLIE & ANN HEYMANN, from Winthrop, will travel to Belfast and Dublin, Ireland. They will visit Queens University Library in Belfast and the University College and Archive of Traditional Music in Dublin to research the foundation for the performance of Gaelic narrative with Gaelic harp accompaniment.

Drummer WALLACE HILL was awarded a grant to study the West African Bata drumming form of the Aruba people. He will study with West African drummers located in Seattle, Washington and New York City.

The Jerome Foundation Directors authorized a two-year grant of $40,000 to the GREAT AMERICAN HISTORY THEATRE, St. Paul, Minnesota, in support of payments (commissions and royalties) to emerging playwrights and composers, and literary and research assistance. The Theatres mission is to commission and present plays about Minnesota stories told by regional writers. Seventeen artists have been commissioned to create new work for the Theatre in the past two years. Jerome funding allows the organization to continue that strong record of engagement. The Theatre will commission and produce five world premieres in the 1997-98 season, and four to five in the following season, the majority of which will be created by emerging playwrights.

Artist KEITH HOLMES was awarded funding to visit Croatia for six weeks to document the reconstruction effort of post-war Croatia. He will also attempt to research the life of an unknown photographer whose negatives he found abandoned in a dump during a previous visit. Holmes displayed his first collection of photographs in 1994 in Zagreb, and will exhibit again following this trip.

GAO HONG, pipa player, will travel to Beijing, Peoples Republic of China, for six weeks to study newly constructed pieces and neglected works in the Hudan pipa style. She will study with Chinese pipa master Lin Shicheng

DEJUNIUS HUGHES, Minneapolis, MN, $14,545. Funds were awarded to hughes to produce Phillips Gateway Documentary, a 30-minute video work on the Phillips Gateway Project, the work of Rafala Green and the youth of the Phillips neighborhood. The Rafala Green public art project, at the intersection of Chicago and Franklin, affirms the neighborhood's determination to make Phillips a safe place for kids and community. hughes will show the breadth of participation in the project, its early history and its larger social context.

The Directors of Jerome Foundation authorized a $7,500 grant to the NEW YORK FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS, New York City, acting as fiscal agent for choreographer Koosil-Ja Hwang and her company, DANCE KUMIKOKIMOTO. Hwangs work embodies her relentlessly driving, creative energy. She layers visual movement and vocal elements in swirling patterns that may at first seem impenetrable, but convey a deep and lasting imagery. This grant commitment will subsidize the creation and production of new work in the 1997-98 season.

The Jerome Foundation approved three membership grants to the COUNCIL ON FOUNDATIONS, the MINNESOTA COUNCIL ON FOUNDATIONS and INDEPENDENT SECTOR. In addition, the Foundation set aside funds to continue work on the Jerome Hill Archive, which is likely to be transferred to a public library/archive within the next year in order to make those materials more accessible to researchers.

INTERMEDIA ARTS MINNESOTA, Minneapolis, received $18,000 in support of artists works within the HomeWork Project. A key component in Intermedias development of a new home was to use as much of the construction budget as possible to pay artists to make essential elements of the building, thereby increasing artist ownership of the building and achieving a design which was strengthened by the active engagement of creative ideas. A call for proposals from artists was put forth by a design team, which received nearly 100 proposals from 29 artists and teams of artists. Eleven projects were identified. The first grouping of those projects was implemented during the last year and a half with funding from Jerome Foundation and other sources. This recent grant was authorized for Phase II of HomeWork, which will involve new works by artists Brian Jon Foster, Joy Mincy Powell, Gwendolyn Schwinke, Jason Brown, Andrew Sinning, Judith Yourman, Elaine Sheer, Chris Krumm, Norbert Marklin and Esther Malabel.

Choreographer MORRIS JOHNSON will examine the dances and culture of Salvador da Bahia and Manaus da Amazonas, Brazil. Over a four-week period, he will study with Ballet Folclorico da Bahia, attend festivals and performances in Salvador and experience Amazon Indian culture in the Manaus/Amazonas region.

KENDRA JOHNSON, a singer from St. Cloud, received a grant to spend one week in New York City observing and performing at the competition Showtime at the Apollo. She will also attend a variety of cabaret performances.