Past
Grantees

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.

THE JUNGLE THEATER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $17,000 in support of the Emerging Playwrights Readings Program and Late Nite series. The Jungle Theaters mission is the creation of theater which examines and mirrors the human condition, celebrating its magic and mystery. The reading series is designed to identify emerging writers and read their scripts in six evenings. From these, one will be selected for a fully staged reading under the direction of Artistic Director Bain Boehlke. The Jungle will implement a broader script solicitation process to bring new writers to the theater. A portion of the grant is designated for the Late Nite, a series of 11:30 p.m. performances which offer opportunities for emerging and established artists to create and test new works. The objectives are to provide developmental support and performance opportunity for original work, develop new audiences for innovative and alternative performing artists, and present a variety of artists representing the diversity of this communitys cultural, ethnic and philosophical traditions.

HARVESTWORKS, a New York City organization which provides, at low cost to artists, access to equipment, technologies and materials for electronic music and audio production, acted as fiscal agent for a requested crafted by composers/librettists LISA KARRER and DAVID SIMONS. A grant commitment of $10,000 was made toward the development and workshop production of a new work by Karrer and Simmons, The Birth of George. This highly experimental chamber opera is scored for conventional and microtonal instruments, electronics, vocal soloists and chorus. The work is scheduled for a two-week run in October of 1997 at La MaMa in New York City. Bizarre characters and fantastic theatrics will be invented using unusual combinations of sounds and mixed musical genres.

Directors authorized a grant of $8,000 to the NRITYA JYOTI DANCE THEATRE, Crystal, Minnesota, in support of the creation and presentation of a new work by choreographer Rita Mustaphi. Nritya Jyotis mission is to present, promote and strengthen the understanding and advancement of Kathak, the classical dance of North India, through creation, preservation and sponsorship of artistic and cultural endeavors. It maintains a company of dancers and presents traditional and innovative Kathak dance and multidisciplinary performances. Mustaphis new work, Chitra: A Woman, will be performed in November of 1997 at the Southern Theater in Minneapolis.

Composer ANNE KILSTOFTE will spend six days in Salt Lake City, Utah, to attend rehearsals and the subsequent performance of her composition titled We are the Children of the Forest. The performance is part of the National Convention of the US Forestry Service, the focus of which is to promote the creation of childrens gardens.

ANN KLEFSTAD, an artist from Duluth, will spend three weeks in wetland areas in Northern Minnesota, the Mentor Ranch in the Northern Tall Grass Prairie Restoration Program, Thief Lake Wildlife Refuge and the Floating Muskeg Bog area along the Southwest Shore Lake of the Woods. This trip is designed to enrich her work , which is focused on swamps and wetlands.

ANN KOHLS, Education and Studio Program Director at the Northern Clay Center, was awarded a grant to travel to Helena, Sheboygan, Chicago, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. She will visit ceramic arts organizations, meet with their staffs and investigate education, artist studio and residence programs. This study will enrich her vision for and direction of the Education and Studio Program at the Clay Center.

LARISSA PAIGE KOKERNOT, actor and director, received funding to spend a month in Saratoga Springs, New York, during which time she will be immersed in the theatrical philosophy and practices of Ann Bogart and Tadashi Suzuki, founders of the Saratoga International Theater Institute. She will apply this experience to her work on stage and in the classroom.

JOHN KOLOMVAKIS AND JAMES DOWELL were awarded support for The Worlds of Charles Henri Ford, which will present the life and work of this poet, novelist, photographer, filmmaker and collagist. The work will present Ford as a catalyst and keen observer of the art and literary worlds of New York and Paris for a period of more than 68 years, as well as an important force in creating an honest gay identity.

THE KITCHEN, New York City, acting as fiscal agent for choreographer JENNIFER MONSON, received a grant of $8,000 to support the development and production of a new work entitled Sender. Monson will create, in collaboration with composer Zeena Parkins, a 60-minute work for six dancers and four musicians, scheduled to premiere in February of 1997. The piece, constructed in three sections, explores ideas of confinement and resistance, force and enforcement; and reflects upon the rise of imprisonment as a means of social control in contemporary culture. Experimenting with the line between speed and danger, Monsons full bodied dancing encompasses trust and delicacy.