Past
Grantees

JEFFREY NOYES SCHER was awarded support for Stand Clear of the Closing Doors, a film about the darker parts of a particularly dark period of the filmmaker's life, cross-cut with the elements of an imagined sort of apocalyptic collective consciousness. It will be filmed as an animation using a variety of techniques including roto-scoping, painting on glass, clay and wire animation, as well as stop motion with objects. The painting will be aggressive in style; and the film personally cathartic and visually arresting.

DAVID SCHMALENBERGER, a professor of music and drummer from Duluth, will spend two and a half weeks in Kenya and Tanzania, East Africa. He will study the traditional music, rhythms and culture of East Africa which he will incorporate into his solo playing and ensemble work.

A grant of $10,000 was authorized for THE FIELD, New York City, as fiscal agent for LYNN SHAPIRO DANCE, in support of the dance companys 1997-98 season. Shapiro works from an improvisational base, looking for singular movements that spring from the subconscious, attempting to push them as far as possible in search of multiplicity of meaning. Shapiro plans to develop two new pieces, the first inspired by species of exotic and beautiful fish living at extreme depths. The second piece will be fueled by the excitement derived from expressing forbidden thoughts.

Artist STAN SHETKA, of Webster, was awarded a grant to travel to the Seychelles Islands, the Czech Republic and Africa. He will promote two of his ongoing projects: Paper Futures and the World Art Project. The idea behind the World Art Project is to collect a material substance from every individual in the world for inclusion in a 160 acre project site located in Rice County. Paper Futures is a project which began as a kinetic work of art that ate waste paper and turned it into solid bricks. Shetka has patented the process, and is setting up Paper Futures projects throughout the country.

HIGHER GROUND PROJECTS, New York City, received a two-year grant of $24,000 for the development, rehearsal and production of a new work by Sarah Skaggs Dance. Skaggs is interested in bringing seemingly different vocabularies and voices together, and in creating dance events that stretch the boundaries of popular, concert, traditional and modern dance. She uses popular formats to frame challenging movement work. Her aim is to integrate modern dance into the culture at large. Skaggs is currently working on a large-scale dance event titled Paradise.

A one-year commitment of $16,000 was authorized for SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK, New York City, in support of the Emerging Artists Fellowship Program. The Park encourages creative interaction among artists, their public works of art and the surrounding community via several initiatives. The Outdoor Studio program allows artists to create large-scale projects on site; and it awards grants to artists to complete works for installation elsewhere. The second initiative is an exhibition series of contemporary outdoor sculpture which showcases emerging talent next to established artists. The third is the Emerging Artists Fellowship program, which provides extended residencies in the Outdoor Studio and grants to create works on site. It is this last toward which Jerome Foundation subsidy was authorized. The Park is a 4.5 acre waterfront site on the East River in Long Island City. After a year of clearing what was an illegal garbage dump, the Park opened its first exhibition in 1986, and has, since then, shown the work of over 340 artists.

SPACESPACE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $15,000 over two years to continue the Co-Project in 1998 and 1999. The Co-Project provides opportunities for artists to place work in front of audiences in an affordable manner. An annual call for applications allows for a competitive review process in which SpaceSpace Co-Directors Georgia Stephens and Shawn McConneloug select recipients. SpaceSpace subsidizes 48 hours of rehearsal time, 20 hours of tech time, six performance dates, lighting and sound equipment, some publicity support and an artist stipend. The series is designed to give the artists control over all creative aspects of their production in this venue.

Artist AARON SPANGLER, of Park Rapids, will travel throughout Central Canada investigating rural experiences. His work focuses on the friction between rural living erroneously portrayed as homogenous and narrow-minded and his reality of the unique and creative nature of rural communities.

SANDY SPIELER, Artistic Director of In the Heart of the Beast Puppet Theater, and BETH PETERSON, the companys Associate Artistic Director, will travel to Germany and Ireland to research early European spiritual leaders, Pagan and Christian mythics and witch burning sites. They will center their investigation on St. Bridget and Hildegard of Bingen. This research will culminate in the creation of an experimental theater piece titled Illuminating Fire.

RESOURCES AND COUNSELING FOR THE ARTS, St. Paul, Minnesota, offers workshops, support groups, individual consultations, loan funds, a legal referral system, job listings and services, speakers, telephone information and referral, informational booklets, a quarterly newsletter and a resource library. Since its founding in 1978 as a service program of United Arts, individual artists have constituted at least half of RCAs clientele. Jerome subsidy of $34,000 over two years underwrites more hours of artist service and consultation.

LAURA STACK, an artist from St. Peter, was awarded funding to travel to New York City. She has appointments with gallery owners and alternative space directors, and will pursue exhibitions of her work. She will also spend time seeing art in museums, galleries and alternative spaces.

BARTON SUTTER, a writer and teacher from Duluth, received funding to spend three weeks in Sweden to develop relationships with Swedish writers and publishers. He will present public readings of his work and explore his familys history, gathering material for poems and essays.

A grant of $12,000 was authorized for DANCE THEATER WORKSHOP, New York City, toward the development and presentation of new work in the 1997-98season of WIL SWANSON AND DANCERS. Raised in Minnesota, Swanson for several years danced with noted American choreographer Trisha Brown. Returning to choreography, he sought support for the assembly of new, recent and older work in a program scheduled to be presented at Dance Theater Workshop in November of 1997, and subsequently in Minnesota and at Swarthmore College. A large portion of the subsidy is dedicated to the creation of a new half-evening length work using two groups of dancers. The Jerome Foundation had previously underwritten Swansons choreographic work in 1986, and was pleased to return with a second grant.

A two-year grant of $20,000 was authorized to support the participation of emerging writers in Selected Shorts, a program of SYMPHONY SPACE, New York City. The mission of Selected Shorts is to foster the appreciation of short fiction and the spoken word through a variety of media. Each season, ten evenings of Selected Shorts, as well as occasional special events are presented. The format consists of actors reading short stories to live audiences. The programs are broadcast by more than 120 National Public Radio member stations throughout the country, with an estimated audience of 250,000 listeners for each program. This substantial opportunity for emerging authors was very attractive to the Jerome Foundation as a way to advance the work and careers of emerging writers.

Writer THOM TAMMARO, of Moorhead, was awarded a grant to travel to his ancestral village of Sepino, Italy where he will explore the life and landscape of four grandparents in order to continue documenting in poetry and nonfiction their immigrant journey.

JAMES TANNER, a ceramic artist and professor from Janesville, was awarded a grant to travel to Rome and Greece. He will study various ceramic artifacts and architectural ruins, paying attention to the disintegration, age, natural finish and forms that the sites provide.

THE TEXTILE CENTER OF MINNESOTA, St. Paul, Minnesota, received a two-year commitment of $20,000 in support of programs and services for emerging textile artists. The Center was created through the work and vision of artists and patrons who wished to establish a place for shared information, education and economic opportunities for fiber artists in the Midwest. Founded in 1992, the Center provides a variety of educational and informational programs including lecture series, exhibitions, workshops, information services and distribution, fashion shows, fairs and benefits. The Center hopes to initiate a fellowship program during the period of the grant, through which five fellowships will be offered to qualified emerging artists.

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY, New York, received $10,000 to provide commissions to ten emerging playwrights in the current production season. Theater for the New City, founded in 1970, presents 30 to 40 new American plays each year. It is a center for new and innovative theater arts that is accessible to the community and its experimental artists. Theater for the New City creates spaces where new visions can breathe and be nourished by a working process. Jerome subsidy is directed toward the Emerging Playwrights Program which identifies emerging playwrights and provides subsidies of $1,000 each for the development and presentation of new work.

THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY, New York City, received a commitment of $13,000 which will support ten commissions to emerging playwrights and related production expenses. Founded in 1970, Theater for the New City is a center for new and innovative theater arts. It discovers new plays, nurtures and develops playwrights, and acts as a bridge between those playwrights and audiences. Artistic Director Crystal Fieldss approach is to produce new works and see what they teach the playwright, rather than investing in a more extended developmental process of readings and works-in-progress activities. This playwrights theater allows the writer to make his or her own decisions on casting, direction and design. The purpose is to nurture and realize a playwrights vision through the actual testing ground of production. Plays of any style, genre and political thrust are included. They are selected for their depth, vision and relevance to social and political life.

THEATRE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP, New York City, received a grant of $15,500 in support of the 1997 Affiliated Writers Program. TCG is the national service organization for the nonprofit professional theater. It has grown from a handful of resident theaters in 1961 to a nationwide network of 316 institutions and 17,000 individual members. Subsidy was awarded toward the publication of American Theatre magazine, a general circulation monthly magazine devoted to theater. The Affiliated Writers Program seeks to encourage and support a new, responsive generation of cultural reporters and critics by establishing ongoing relationships with regionally-based writers. Jerome Foundation funding supports writers in Minnesota and New York City. Since its launch in 1989, 25 writers participated in the program, contributing 76 articles ranging from book reviews and opinion essays to in-depth analyses of artistic and cultural issues, and interviews with important theatrical figures.