Past
Grantees

Kathleen Laughlin, Minneapolis, MN, $5,000 (Completion). Women on Fire. For the completion of a feature-length personal film-essay on menopause, which integrates interviews, home movies, animation and narrative vignettes. Laughlin received $10,000 in 1992 from FITC to begin this project.

Gemma Lockhart/Lydia Whirlwind Soldier, Rapid City, SD, $5,000 (Completion). Unci Maka Sina Kiye. For the completion of a 58-minute video documentary which records the experience of the Sioux people from Lake Traverse Reservation as they bring home the remains of 31 ancestors from the archives of the Smithsonian.

The Loft, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $30,400 to continue the Mentor Series program in 1996 and to underwrite the expenses of program evaluation. The Loft is a nationally recognized, community-based literary center which has an all-encompassing commitment to literary artists. The Mentor Series provides emerging regional writers with advanced criticism and professional development opportunities by bringing nationally known writers to the Twin Cities for residencies. The selection of participants is quite competitive. Visiting mentors tailor their workshops and consultations to the needs of eight writers each year. The monies awarded for program evaluation allow The Loft and the Jerome Foundation to step back and ask what emerging Minnesota writers need most to develop their work and careers.

The Loft, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received two grants. The first was a two-year award of $26,000 to continue Jerome subsidy of the Creative Nonfiction program, now in its tenth year. Six nonfiction writers, selected competitively, have an opportunity to work closely with an established artist-in-residence to further develop their work. The second grant, a two-year award of $114,000, continues a pilot undertaken by The Loft and the Jerome Foundation in 1994. This program, titled the Minnesota Writers Career Initiative, is designed to served advanced Minnesota writers who have achieved significant recognition on a local or regional level, and who have the potential to expand significantly their recognition outside the five-state region. The purpose is to utilize and leverage artistic potential to bring the writers to a new level in career development.

The Loft, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received two grants. The first was a two-year award of $26,000 to continue Jerome subsidy of the Creative Nonfiction program, now in its tenth year. Six nonfiction writers, selected competitively, have an opportunity to work closely with an established artist-in-residence to further develop their work. The second grant, a two-year award of $114,000, continues a pilot undertaken by The Loft and the Jerome Foundation in 1994. This program, titled the Minnesota Writers Career Initiative, is designed to served advanced Minnesota writers who have achieved significant recognition on a local or regional level, and who have the potential to expand significantly their recognition outside the five-state region. The purpose is to utilize and leverage artistic potential to bring the writers to a new level in career development.

A grant of $2,000 was awarded to the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York City, to assist with the expenses of convening a small conference of individuals, in Chicago in September of 1995, to examine the current crisis in funding for individual artists, and to develop strategies and plans for the future. Although this event was initiated by the Artists' Projects Regional Initiatives National Partnership Program, the actual gathering will have an expanded agenda addressing all instances in which funding for individual artists has been called into question, and how that trend might be reversed.

The noted experimental theater ensemble Mabou Mines operates a program titled Suite, which represents the collective philosophy that if young artists are to grow and develop their uniqueness, they require the support and patience of more established fellow artists. Mabou Mines has developed a number of initiatives over the years to help young artists make their transitions into professional lives. Suite emphasizes intensive development and experimentation, with Suite artists working in tandem with Mabou Mines company members to develop new projects. Jerome subsidy of $15,000 was authorized.

LESLIE SHANK/HEATHER MacLAUGHLIN, musicians, will spend two weeks in Keszthely, Hungary, to study the violin-piano duo repertoire with master teacher Joseph Seiger, at his invitation, at Festetics Castle.

JOHN MAMER, a drama teacher, received a grant to spend three months exploring the life, times and writings of Shakespeare, in England, transporting his personal artistic experiences back to the classroom.

The Margolis Brown Adaptor Company, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a grant of $8,000 in support of its 1995-96 season. This is a multi-media movement theater company which is the producing body for the work of artistic directors Tony Brown and Kari Margolis, who joined forces 18 years ago to create works that are provocative and socially relevant, and which push the boundaries of the movement theater art form.

Filmmaker and arts administrator BIENVENIDA MATIAS received support to spend two weeks in Puerto Rico to explore how island and United States-based Puerto Ricans define a Puerto Rican national cultural identity. Part of this discussion centers on how artists and critics define and discuss the difference between high/fine and low/popular arts and culture. The question of a Puerto Rican cultural identity runs deeper than aesthetic debates, for it is informed by race, class, language, politics, religion and geography. Her journey is divided into two parts, the first to coincide with a festival of contemporary Latino performance art titled Rompeforma and the second during the Festival of Santiago, the patron saint of the village of Loiza, which is well known as an Afro-Caribbean community.

Patrick Maun, St. Paul, MN, $4,000 (Production). an saolr - The Life Cycle (part II). A 7-minute videotape, breith (Birth) - part II in a trilogy, consisting of a blend of real and computer-generated images cut in a slow and rhythmic fashion and using images of fire and the Phoenix. Maun's sample works were extremely intense, pulsating visually and audially, experimental tapes that combine simple live images with video manipulation.

Debra L. McClutchy, Madison, WI, $2,500 (Encouragement). Let the Girl Play. A 30-minute experimental video documentary on the Madison, WI, local rock-n-roll scene, which will investigate the increasing popularity and power of women musicians and bands.

Monteith McCollum, Pierson, IA, $2,500 (Completion). From Earth Between Stalks. For the completion of a 60-minute personal documentary film which explores the stories of eccentric personalities and the rural lingo of retired mid-western farmers and hired men and women.

Shawn McConneloug/Greg Cummins, Minneapolis, MN, $2,000 (Completion). Souvenir. Finishing funds for a 5-minute film which uses movement to explore the cameras privileged viewpoint - the second of nine episodes in a series called Lies.

Playwright DAN McMULLIN will spend four months in Samoa and New Zealand researching and writing a play based on Margaret Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa and communicating with Samoan and Polynesian theaters.

The Midwest Media Artists Access Center, St. Paul, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $20,000 in general operating support. The Center evolved from the closing of Film in the Cities. For a small membership fee, the Center provides low-cost rental access to motion picture film production equipment and editing facilities, darkroom facilities and equipment for photographic processing and printing, sound recording with editing equipment and facilities, a MIDI studio, video cameras and editing facilities, still cameras and light kits, tripods and other pieces of equipment. While the Jerome Foundation does not ordinarily provide operating support to media access centers, it is committed to doing so for the initial years of the Midwest Media Artists Access Center in order to provide it a base of support so that it can develop, serve artists and identify other funding sources.

Meet the Composer, New York City, receive a two-year grant of $39,000 to support the participation of emerging composers in the organization's New York City program and its Midwest affiliated program at Arts Midwest. Meet the Composer was founded in 1974 to foster the creation, performance and recording of music by American composers, and to develop new audiences for their works. It brings the women and men who write music into personal contact with their audiences. Monies enable composers to perform, conduct, coach rehearsals, conduct interviews and lectures, execute demonstrations and workshops and participate in discussions with audiences.

Milkweed Editions, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received two years of subsidy, $36,000, to support the publication of works by emerging writers. Milkweed's mission is to make an humane impact on society in the belief that literature is a transformative art uniquely able to convey the essential experiences of the human heart and spirit. Founded in the late 1970s as a journal devoted to writing and visual art, Milkweed has evolved into a leading national nonprofit literary publisher.

Poet and teacher JOHN MINCZESKI received support to spend nine days at the annual Warren Wilson College Writing Conference at Mount Holyoke College. Minczeski will have his new poetry manuscript read and critiqued at the 1996 Conference, which will be attended by writers who have earned their M.F.A. degrees from the writing programs at Warren Wilson College or its predecessor, Goddard College. This conference is conducted by writers for writers. Minczeski expects careful attention to his manuscript and detailed critiques which will enable him to hone and craft it further before sending it to publishers. He also stands to gain from attending readings and exploring networking opportunities with writers from around the country.