Past
Grantees

Novelist VALERIE MINER received support to spend one month in Edinburgh, Scotland, doing the final archival, library and interview research for her novel Capturing Fog. This is a new, experimental project exploring the territory between and beyond the forms of the short story and the novel. It is a book about a large, poor, urban Scots Family scattered around the world in the period between the two World Wars. She will expand the bibliography while in Edinburgh, consult with historians and address particular issues relating to character and voice.

The Jerome Foundation continued its substantial subsidy of a Jerome Fellowship Program for visual artists at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. As one of its community service initiatives, the College sponsors a Jerome Artist Fellowship program which, since 1981, has provided grants to 70 Twin Cities artists. Five are selected each year to receive fellowships of $6,000 each. They receive an exhibition and catalog at the end of their fellowship year; and they also benefit by one-on-one and group session with national arts critics/curators who offer professional criticism and encouragement. The Foundation's two-year commitment is $115,000.

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts received a two-year grant of $32,000 to support the Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program. The MAEP is an unusual collaboration between the Institute and the visual artists community of Minnesota. It is governed democratically by an elected artist panel; and has promoted the creation and presentation of original works by contemporary Minnesota artists.

The Minnesota Alliance for Arts in Education, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $3,250 in general support of its 1995-96 programs and services. The Alliance promotes the idea that visual, performing and literary arts are essential to human development and fulfillment, and must therefore be an integral part of the education of all students. The organization builds a broad, diverse and informed statewide citizen base of support for K-12 arts education.

pARTs Photographic Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $13,000 over one and a quarter years to support the participation of emerging photographers in the exhibition program. This is the second grant made to this organization, a relatively young and rapidly developing entity dedicated to the exhibition and promotion of photography. It strives to address and expand the audience for fine art photography, and to nurture a creative and supportive environment for the production and promotion of fine art photography by regional artists.

The Minnesota Council on Foundations, Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a regional association of grantmakers promoting informed and responsible philanthropy. The Council offers a wide-reaching education program and represents the philanthropic field and its concerns in the public arena. The Jerome Foundation made a $3,500 grant in general and membership support.

A grant of $7,000 was authorized for the Minnesota Dance Theatre & School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, to support a new choreographic work by Lise Houlton. MDT is working toward the establishment of a resident company of professional dancers and apprentices. Houlton's proposed work will give physical reality to the human experience of the blues. Houlton sees her new work as a reinforcement of the MDT tradition of showcasing local talent, blending student performance with the work of young professionals and embracing an eclectic and dynamic style of dance.

Movement Research, New York City, received $12,000 to continue publishing Performance Journal. Movement Research was founded in 1975 to explore the issues surrounding postmodern dance and performance, and the challenges of expanding those categories to address the cultural, political and economic diversity of the performance community. The publication Performance Journal, initiated in 1990, contains a lively and engaging debate about the place of dance and performance in contemporary culture, from the perspectives of artists.

P.S. 122, in New York City, received $7,000 in designated support for the development of a work titled Feather at the Flames, created by Marlies Yearby for her Movin Spirits Dance Theater. Yearbys company is a vehicle for her choreographic and dance-based performance works. Feather at the Flames is based upon her realization and interpretation of the blood ties African-Americans have to Native Americans. The work will embrace the spirit of survival through a devalued place in American society.

Theater Mu, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $7,000 to support the development and production of theatrical works in 1995. Drawing on both Eastern and Western performing traditions, its work shares personal experiences, distinct cultures and Asian-American visions. Now in its third season, Theater Mu wants to continue its function as a birthplace for new ideas while more actively defining standards of quality and craft for its artists. One way to do this is to establish a longer and more consistent development process for new works and new artists.

The Music-Theater Group, New York City, received $10,000 for a new music-theater work created by songwriter and conductor J. D. Steele. Steele will have an opportunity to stretch his skills and broaden his influence as a creative director.

RITA MUSTAPHI, a choreographer, dancer and teacher, received a grant to travel for eight weeks in India to study the frontiers of Kathak innovations; collaborate with a choreographer; perform; create music with composers; and visit and research sculptures, classrooms and artists.

Musician and puppeteer AARON NAUTH received a grant to travel to Belize, Central America, to study extensively Afro-Creole drumming and drum making with Emmeth Young in the small village of Gales Point Manatee.

The Jerome Directors authorized $15,000 to the New Music-Theater Ensemble, Minneapolis, Minnesota, in support of the 1995 Composer-Librettist Studio in the Twin Cities. The Ensemble is a developmental entity as well a producer. Its mission is to explore the dynamics of individual and communal integrity through the creation, development and production of new operas and other forms of music-theater. The Composer-Librettist Studio is an intensive two-week program designed to provide opportunities for writers, composers and performers to explore the basic elements of music-theater in a collaborative atmosphere free from the performance pressures usually associated with the commercial music-theater and opera fields.

A grant of $7,500 was made to New Dramatists, New York City, to support its Composer/Librettist Studio, which offers playwrights an introduction to musical theater and an educational and experimental venue to collaborate with composers. The Studio is a collaborative effort with the New Music-Theatre Ensemble.

The New Museum, New York City, received a two-year grant of $30,000 authorized for the participation of emerging American artists in the 1995-96 and the 1996-97 exhibition seasons. Committed to an investigation of what art is and how it relates to society, The New Museum provides a forum for diverse viewpoints addressing a broad, inquisitive public. Jerome funding is directed to the On View series, small group exhibitions and solo installations, featuring the work of emerging artists.

A two-year grant totaling $32,000 was authorized for New Rivers Press to continue the Foundation's support for the Minnesota Voices Project and a new marketing and sales initiative. The Jerome Foundation has supported the Minnesota Voices Project since 1980. This is a competition for emerging writers from Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Six books are produced each year. To date, 71 books have been issued by New Rivers as part of the Minnesota Voices Project.

Dance Theater Workshop, New York City, an internationally recognized producer of new work, received support for its 1995 Out-of-Towners series, designed to introduce talented visionary choreographers from outside of New York City to the dance capital of the world. Now in its seventeenth year, the Out-of-Towners series has sponsored more than 80 artists from the United States and abroad. The 1995-96 series will open with a three-week program presenting Minnesota-based choreographers Joe Chvala and the Flying Foot Forum, Chris Aiken and Body Logic, and Shawn McConneloug and her Orchestra. Jerome Foundation authorized a grant of $25,000 for this program.

An award of $65,000 over two years was made to Dance Theater Workshop, New York City, in support of First Light commissions in dance and theater, accompanied by adequate video documentation of the new works produced. In this era of declining support for individual artists and their creation of new works, the First Light commissioning program takes on added significance. It offers awards ranging from $500 to $2,500 to innovative artists in dance and theater, helping them offset the cost of creating new work for their DTW concerts. The Jerome Foundation has supported First Light commissions at Dance Theater Workshop since 1980.

The New York Mills Arts Retreat, New York Mills, Minnesota, received a grant of $12,000 to continue its emerging artist residency program. Located 180 miles northwest of Minneapolis-St. Paul, the Arts Retreat is a place for artists to concentrate on their work while sharing their creative energies with the New York Mills community. Studio space and living quarters are provided, as well as a Cultural Center where artists may give workshops, teach classes and exhibit and perform their work. The Center makes every attempt to enhance rural life by presenting the people of the region with art and cultural experiences which are not only of the highest quality but which speak specifically to the rich, complex, modern rural experience.