Past
Grantees

Repertorio Espaol, New York City, received $8,000 to support the continued development of its New Playwrights Program. Repertorio Espaol produces Spanish language drama, presented in rotating repertory in approximately 14 productions each year of Spanish classics, contemporary Hispanic-American works and Latin American master works and musicals. The New Playwrights Program will allow the organization to add to its repertoire by locating and developing new playwriting talent.

Writer, critic and curator MASON RIDDLE received subsidy to spend 27 days in Paris and Nancy, France, and Genoa and Venice, Italy, to research historic and contemporary glass art. This trip will allow her to study, firsthand, the aesthetic connections between European glass traditions and contemporary American, European, Australian and Japanese artists working with glass. She will build a more significant historical context in order to write about glass artists and art, and to curate exhibitions of local, regional and national contemporary glass artists from a more critical position than what is currently being accomplished.

Adriana Rosas, Milwaukee, WI, $3,000 (Encouragement). A Vow of Silence. An experimental video documentary exploring the world of traditional machismo behavior in the Latin family, specifically her Colombian mother's and grandmothers relationships to their abusive husbands.

A grant of $10,500 was authorized for the Hungry Mind Review, a publication of the Hungry Mind Bookstore, St. Paul, Minnesota. The Review offers support and professional development opportunities to emerging writers by giving them review and essay assignments, and by providing an intensive editing experience in which they actively participate. Jerome subsidy was authorized specifically for the work of emerging writers in the publication.

S.A.S.E: The Write Place, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $20,000 for programming and operating expenses. S.A.S.E. provides affordable, quality programming for writers of all backgrounds to develop their craft, and present or publish their works.

The St. Louis County Heritage and Arts Center, Duluth, Minnesota, received $15,000 to continue the Lake Superior Writers' Series, an effort which Jerome has supported since 1981. The Writers Series, founded in 1978, generates support for and community among contemporary writers, both regionally based and national. The Series provides local writers with the opportunities to hear published authors; attend lectures, workshops and support groups; and participate in a writers competition which offers small awards and readings.

AL SANTANA received support for Journey 1000, an experimental film/video work which is loosely based on experiences Santana had in 1973 while traveling in The Peoples Republic of China. Santana will focus on the cultural gap in understanding in East/West relations, and the manifestations of that gap. Journey 1000 will juxtapose images made in China in 1973 with footage shot in the United States today, and will present a cross-section of African-Americans and Chinese in a variety of urban and rural settings.

The James Sewell Ballet, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $9,000 to support a 1996 Choreographers Workshop, through which it will share dancers and a studio. By making his company available to emerging choreographers, Sewell will not only contribute to the strengthening of their work, and the larger dance community, but also give productive exposure to the company dancers, resulting in creative challenges for them.

Choreographer, writer and performer, LINDA SHAPIRO will spend two weeks in Chicago, Illinois, to work with Liz Lerman and the Dance Exchange on a series of workshops and performances with a multi-cultural group of Polish, Greek and Latino-Americans.

Peter Sillen received funding to produce Bernstein, a portrait of Steven (Jesse) Bernstein, a deceased and celebrated Seattle poet. Bernstein's angry, surprising fresh and lyrical writings are about sensitive souls, drifters and drug addicts, people alienated by a society that refuses to understand them. He peeled back the ugliness of life on the fringe to expose human feelings. His unique rhythms, filled with humor and pain, were especially exciting when he read and sang in a gravely voice in theaters, bars and cafes. This living documentary is intended to not just eulogize but try to invoke the vibrant spirit of Bernstein as it lives in his work and in the memories of those he inspired, subtly questioning a society where so many people seem to fall through what little safety net exists.

Funding of $16,000 over two years was awarded to the Igor Foundation, New York City, acting as fiscal agent for Sarah Skaggs Dance. The monies will support the creation and presentation of new work. Skaggs brings seemingly different vocabularies and voices together, to create dance events that stretch boundaries among popular, concert, traditional and modern dance forms.

Mary Slaughter, Iowa City, IA, $9,500 (Production). White Calf. A 25-minute personal video documentary that addresses questions of spiritual desire in 20th-Century American culture. Slaughter was one of the five applicants unanimously appreciated by the panel.

The No Name Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $12,000 for its 1995 and 1996 program. This Gallery is dedicated to supporting new and emerging artists, and to enhancing the public's understanding and appreciation of their artistic expressions. No Name uses a variety of selection processes to identify artists for its exhibition, film/video and performance programming.

MICHAEL SOMMERS, a multidisciplinary theater artist, received a grant to spend five weeks in Mexico to study the work of Mexican puppeteer, teacher and revolutionary Roberto Lago. He also intends to create a theater show which he, his wife and three children will perform in exchange for information he gets from theater artists in Mexico.

Song Celebration, St. Paul, Minnesota, received a grant of $7,000 which it will use to support the commissioning and development of a new opera by composer Craig Carnahan. He will create a one-act work based on a libretto by noted poet and filmmaker James Broughton.

George Souladze, Minneapolis, MN, $7,000 (Production). Ground Rules. An 18-minute narrative film, which will incorporate documentary footage of big-city life, about a day in the life of two small-time crooks who rob a rock stars apartment and sell the stolen art to a pawn shop dealer who has a special client/collector.

The Jerome Foundation authorized a substantial two-year grant of $60,000 for the Southern Theater Foundation, Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Southern Theater presents alternative performances by artists working at the grassroots of the Twin Cities varied cultural, political and economic communities. The Southern is interested in all performance media. In the past four seasons, it has supported new work by over 350 creative artists, presenting over 125 separate performance events. It looks for work that is highly experimental, and for new ways to articulate aesthetic ideas. The Southern will use these funds to subsidize emerging artists productions and to develop criticism in its publication.

SpaceSpace, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a grant of $7,500 to support the Co-Project. This series enables SpaceSpace to co-produce three local dance creators, selected by choreographers Georgia Stephens and Shawn McConneloug. Production costs as well as choreographers' fees were supported.

On a very limited basis, the Jerome Foundation provides support to established, mid-career artists who are facing critical junctures in their work. Two grants of this type were authorized at the June Board meeting. The first , in the amount of $20,000 over two years, was designated for Spiderwoman Theater, New York City. The three women founders weave interlocking stories, where fantasy and power are brought together. At this particular point in its development, Spiderwoman Theater is facing artistic and administrative challenges and opportunities which convinced the Jerome Foundation Board to authorize support.

Resources and Counseling for the Arts, St. Paul, Minnesota, received $17,000 in support of individual artists' services. Programming at Resources and Counseling includes workshops, counseling, consulting, legal referral, arts administration job listings and job services, speaking engagements, telephone information and referral, informational booklets, a quarterly newsletter and resource library. It publishes A Handbook for Minnesota Artists, A Basic Guide to Grants for Minnesota Artists and a Gallery Guide.