Past
Grantees

MINNESOTA CENTER FOR BOOK ARTS, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $48,000 in support of the Book Arts Fellowship/Mentorship Program. The Center celebrates the book as a vibrant contemporary art form that takes many shapes. Its mission is to lead the advancement of the book as an evolving art form. The Book Arts Fellowship Program helps artists push the boundaries of contemporary book arts by supporting the creation of new work. The program is open to artists of all disciplines interested in exploring the book form. An independent panel reviews open call submissions. An exhibition caps the fellowship year. The Book Arts Mentorship Program is an artist development program that introduces the book arts to emerging artists whose primary medium is in another discipline. Recipients embark on a year-long study of new artistic disciplines and one-on-one work with master artist mentors to develop their individual projects. The mentorship program also culminates in an exhibition in the Center’s gallery.

THE METROPOLITAN REGIONAL ARTS COUNCIL, St. Paul, Minnesota, received $7,500 to support the production of the Minnesota State of the Arts report. The Council increases access to the arts in the seven-county metropolitan area communities by providing information, organizational support, and grants. The Council is acting as fiscal sponsor for a statewide effort to produce a Minnesota State of the Arts report in 2015, utilizing data collected through the Cultural Data Project in Minnesota, and adding to that an economic impact study conducted with Americans for the Arts and other data sources, and interpretive services to produce a comprehensive document.

the minnesota council on foundations, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $5,850 in general support of the Council’s 2014 activities as well as the Jerome Foundation’s membership in the Council. The Council expands and strengthens a vibrant community of diverse grantmakers who individually and collectively advance the common good. Its members represent three-quarters of all grantmaking in the state, awarding more than $1 billion each year. The Council is an advocate for giving, a resource for grantmaking, and a catalyst for philanthropy.

The COWLES CENTER FOR DANCE AND THE PERFORMING ARTS, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $40,000 in support of the participation of emerging Minnesota choreographers in the 2015 Momentum: New Dance Works Festival. The Center is a catalyst for the creation, performance, education, and celebration of dance and the performing arts. Momentum: New Dance Works, launched in 2001, commissions and presents new works by promising and innovative Minnesota dance-makers. It illuminates the skill and passion of the next generation’s most promising choreographers. Momentum has enabled the creation and presentation of new works by artistically and culturally diverse emerging artists who have continued to make significant contributions to the local and national arts scene.

MELISSA MONTERO and HUGO PEREZ, for the feature-length documentary Isabel Rosado: Nacionalista. At the age of 106, Isabel Rosado is an unapologetic radical nationalist who has sought independence for Puerto Rico from the U.S. since the 1930s. Twenty years before the militant radicalism of the Black Panthers, the American Indian Movement, and the Young Lords in the United States, Isabel took up arms against the United States in 1954 in a pitched gun battle with the FBI in Old San Juan. Over the decades that followed, Isabel has not been deterred by arrests, imprisonment, and police brutality. She has remained active in succeeding generations of political activism. Today popular sentiment in Puerto Rico seems to have turned against self-sovereignty, but Isabel remains committed to the ideal that has driven her for eight decades - freedom for her country. ISABEL is an hour-long portrait of a woman whose life encompasses the history of Puerto Rico over the last century, and whose struggles reflect the politics that have divided Puerto Ricans during that time and continue to divide them today.

MOVEMENT RESEARCH, New York City, received a two-year grant of $50,000 in support of the participation of emerging New York City choreographers in the creation and development of new works through the Artist-in-Residence Program. As a laboratory for the investigation of dance and movement-based forms, Movement Research values individual artists, their creative process, and their vital role within society. It offers programs that nurture and instigate discourse and experimentation. The Artist-in-Residence Program provides year-long commissions, rehearsal space, performance, and related opportunities designed to support the individualized creative process of movement-based artists, who are selected by a rotating peer artist panel.

MOVEMENT RESEARCH, New York City, received $20,000 in support of one-month residencies for two New York City-based choreographers at the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France, as part of the Jerome@Camargo funding program. Movement Research is a laboratory for the investigation of dance and movement-based forms. Valuing individual artists, their creative process, and their vital roles within society, Movement Research is dedicated to the creation and implementation of free and low-cost programs that nurture and instigate discourse and experimentation. This program is designed to support professional creative development of the participating choreographers, who will benefit from individual research time, explorations of the artistic community in the Marseille area, dialogue with peer artists, and immersion in a different cultural and creative context.

MOHAMMED ALI NAQVI received support for Insha'Allah Democracy, a feature-length documentary about exiled former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who despite having a flawed legacy as a dictator and being sought for arrest on murder charges, decides to return to Pakistan and run for President. With unprecedented access, Insha'Allah Democracy is an Arab Spring story told through the perspective of Musharraf, who has lived in exile in a two-bedroom apartment in Dubai surrounded by low ranking ‘yes-men’ since his resignation in 2008. At his peak, he led a 700,000 strong nuclear-backed army, was one of the chief architects of the global ‘War on Terror’, and arguably one of the most powerful men in the world. Publicly, he defends his tenure in the media; but privately, he is haunted by his persona as an American puppet, a double-dealing fraud, and a ‘has-been’ dictator. Musharraf monitored pleas from his supporters to run for president. In 2010, he formally launched his political party, the All Pakistan Muslim League, and declared his intention to participate in Pakistan’s 2013 elections. In March of 2013, despite soaring unpopularity, Musharraf returned to Pakistan just in time for elections. This current Pakistan, however, was very different from the one he knew; democratic institutions had strengthened, and the public mood was intolerant towards dictators. Musharraf’s return ripped open old wounds—he was banned from taking part in elections and was arrested. Behind bars, he watched as the former Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, whom he ousted in a military coup in 1999 and placed under arrest, won the election. It is now Musharraf who is in jail and standing trial for treason, for which he will be sentenced to death if convicted.

NAUTILUS MUSIC-THEATER, St. Paul, Minnesota, received $20,000 in support of the participation of emerging writers and composers in the Composer-Librettist Studio and the Rough Cuts Commissioning Program. Nautilus is dedicated to the development of new operas and other forms of music-theater, along with innovative productions of existing work. The Composer-Librettist Studio provides an opportunity for writers and composers to work with professional performers, exploring the possibilities and basic elements of music-theater. The Studio focuses on the process of collaboration. Jerome support will also enable Nautilus to commission teams of writers and composers to create new work for Rough Cuts, an informal series of works-in-progress, dialogues between artists and audiences, and explorations of the creative process.

MIKE P. NELSON, Robbinsdale, received support for The Domestics, a twelve episode web-based narrative series. On the verge of his wife losing her will to live, a Midwestern husband fights to maintain a domestic home life for her after the collapse of society. It is a story of love, violence, resilience, and Americana that captures the relationship of a husband and wife amidst desolation. Living in a world now ravaged by gangs, cannibals, psychotic survivalists, and cults, the couple is reminded of why they fell in love in the first place. When the husband is severely injured, his suburban housewife must abide by the rules of the newly abrasive world in which they live and do whatever it takes to protect her family and way of life. Episodes one and two of the series are already complete. The remaining ten episodes are yet to be accomplished, with each episode clocking in around 8-12 minutes in length. Nelson’s plan is to build an audience and following for the series on the popular website, Twitchfilm.com and eventually post the series on the internet.

NEW DRAMATISTS, New York City, received a two-year grant of $84,000 in support of the participation of emerging playwrights in the Playwright’s Lab. Founded in 1949, New Dramatists is one of the country’s leading playwright centers and a nationally recognized play laboratory. Over 600 New Dramatists have passed through its doors. The Playwright’s Lab includes writer-driven readings and workshops; providing free workspace, as well as directors, stage managers, and professional actors. Lab programs include Full Stage USA, the Creativity Fund, Playtime, the Composer/Libretto Studio, and Playground. Each New Dramatists playwright is in residence for seven years.

NEW RADIO AND PERFORMING ARTS, Staten Island, New York, received a two-year grant of $36,000 in support of commissions to emerging artists to create networked art for the website Turbulence. New Radio and Performing Arts fosters the development of new and experimental work for radio and sound arts. Turbulence commissions works by individuals and collectives who creatively explore the Internet as both the side of production and transmission. The completed works reflect exploration and experimentation in digital network environments, ranging from hypertext to information visualization, blogs to social networks, and interactive music and dance compositions to 3-D architecture, virtual worlds, and apps.

NEW YORK LIVE ARTS, New York City, received $12,000 to support a commission given to choreographer Rashaun Mitchell for his new work before my eyes. New York Live Arts is an internationally recognized destination for innovative movement-based artistry, offering audiences access to art and artists notable for their conceptual rigor, formal experimentation, and active engagement with the social, political, and cultural currents of our time. New York Live Arts commissions, produces, and presents performances in its theater and two studios. Rashaun Mitchell is a choreographer, performer, and teacher. He danced with Merce Cunningham from 2004 to 2012. A Studio Series participant the previous year at New York Live Arts, Mitchell will bring his new work to the mainstage this season, receiving a commission, rehearsal time, technical residency, and performance fee.

NEW YORK THEATRE WORKSHOP, New York City, received a two-year grant of $40,000 in support of the participation of emerging playwrights in the Artist Workshop Program. The Theatre’s mission is to provoke, produce, and cultivate the work of artists whose visions inspire and challenge all of us. This is manifested through producing an annual season of works in its theatre in Manhattan's East Village and by inviting theatre-makers at all stages of their careers to participate in activities that allow them to gain support for themselves and their projects. As both a laboratory for theatrical exploration and a producer of plays that expand the boundaries of theatrical form and address the critical issues of our time, the Theatre supports projects that are aesthetically, thematically, and methodologically diverse. Jerome support is directed to the participation of emerging playwrights in a multifaceted program of support that the Theatre has developed for the artists with whom it works.

NIKOLOPOULOS, ANGELO, New York City, will travel to Greece to visit his father’s village, Kria Vrissi, currently an abandoned ghost town, and Argos. He will conduct research in the Archeological Museum of Argos and meet with representatives of the Municipality. As a poet, he is interested in the intersection between place and identity. The trip will culminate in a book of poems inspired by the village and the process of investigating one’s ancestry.

NORTHERN CLAY CENTER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $27,800 in support of the 2015 Jerome Ceramic Artist Project Grants Program. The Center’s mission is the advancement of the ceramic arts. Programs include classes and workshops for children and adults; exhibitions of work by regional, national, and international artists; studio space and grants for artists; and a sales gallery representing top ceramic artists. In the Jerome Ceramic Artist Project Grants Program, three $6,000 grants are awarded to Minnesota-based emerging ceramic artists for projects of their own design. The funds may be used for activities such as experimenting with new techniques and materials, studying with a mentor, and studio time. The program culminates in an exhibition at the Center.

NORTHERN LIGHTS.MN, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $130,000 in support of Art(ists) on the Verge 7 and 8. Northern Lights.mn presents innovative art, both physical and virtual, in the public sphere, focusing on artists creatively using technology, both bold and new, to engender new relations between audience and artwork and more broadly between citizenry and their built environment. Art(ists) on the Verge is an intensive mentor-based fellowship program for five Minnesota-based emerging artists or artist groups working experimentally at the intersection of art, technology, and digital culture. The program focuses on network-based practices that are interactive and/or participatory.

OLIVARES, CHRISTINA, New York City, will travel to Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia and Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts to conduct research in The Audre Lorde Project Archives at Spelman and June Jordan’s archived materials at The Radcliffe Institute at Harvard. These immersive trips will allow her to continue a poetic dialogue with each writer on the subject of mutual preoccupations with race, gender, and love. This will lead to a two-chapter, book-length manuscript of poems. She’s particularly interested in studying personal correspondence and drafts of poems and speeches.

ANDREW NAM CHUL OSBORNE, for Daddy Don’t Go, a feature-length documentary that follows the tough but tender journey of four disadvantaged fathers – Alex, Nelson, Roy and Omar – as they struggle to navigate parenthood. Filmed over the course of 18 months, Daddy Don’t Go captures the crucial father-child relationship without censorship. The film poses urgent questions that expand the ongoing national dialogue concerning fatherhood. Can a man be a good dad in spite of not being a great provider? Why do some men leave while others stay? For disadvantaged men, parenting is a daily decision. Many men with low to no income aren’t able to manage their frustrations and walk away from the responsibility. But the fathers in Daddy Don’t Go continually choose to be present for their children and by doing so, open a broader dialogue about the importance of fatherhood itself.

PALISSIMO, New York City, received a two-year grant of $20,000 in support of the creation, development, and production of the new work Custodians of Beauty. The mission of Palissimo is to attain artistic liberty in pursuit of communion/dialogue with the audience through live performances, research, and teaching. Under the artistic direction of Pavel Zuštiak, the company develops new multidisciplinary live performance work incorporating dance, sound, light, film, video, and scenic design. Custodians of Beauty asks questions concerning the relationship between beauty and art and what happens when beauty is no longer a primary criterion for assessing art.