Past
Grantees

Douglas, Kristopher, Rochester, Minnesota, will travel to Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa to conduct research in support of an exhibition to be presented at the Rochester Art Center in 2015.  This exhibition will feature the work of South African-born artist Kendell Geers and other artists from the region.  The exhibition will add significant new scholarship in the field of contemporary art, and will present candid confrontations with ideas and contemporary topics that might otherwise be ignored or taken for granted by Western audiences.  A major component of the exhibition is the commissioning of new work by artists living and working in South Africa. Douglas will make studio visits, talking with artists, meeting with art historians and scholars to identify topics for the exhibition’s catalog. Researching spaces for contemporary art in the region is critical for his conceptual framing of the exhibition. 

OPEN EYE FIGURE THEATRE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, as fiscal sponsor for Annie Enneking, received $8,000 in support of the development and production of what i want now i will want later. Open Eye’s mission is to create original figure theatre, animate the inanimate on an intimate scale, train the next generation of figure theatre artists, and advance adventurous artist-driven programming. Enneking is a singer-songwriter, actor, dancer, fight director, and teaching artist. what i want now i will want later will be a performance installation that blends music, video, and live performance based on the mythology surrounding sirens, sea nymphs who bewitched sailors and lured them to their deaths with their songs. Enneking is creating a walking tour through a “gallery of loss”, with a theatrical song structure around the pathos of suffering, the violence of heroism, and the allure of situations where to love invites death. The stories investigate how the body and soul surrender to song, how music is a method of murder, and how art brings life and destroys it.

ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATRE (EST), New York City, received an 18-month grant of $29,000 in support of Youngblood. Believing that extraordinary support yields extraordinary work, EST is a dynamic and expanding family of artist members committed to the discovery and nurturing of new voices, and the support and growth of artists throughout their creative lives. It develops and produces original, provocative, and authentic new plays that engage and challenge audiences. EST annually presents over 150 projects including readings, workshops, studio productions, and full productions. Youngblood is EST’s collective of emerging professional playwrights under the age of 30. Initiated in 1993, Youngblood provides artistic guidance, peer support, regular feedback, and a fertile production environment that allows member playwrights to hone their skills and explore their craft. The program provides exposure to the public and the press, professional outreach to the industry, and opportunities for production and publication.

ENSEMBLE STUDIO THEATRE, New York City, received $17,000 in support of the 2013 Youngblood Program.  Ensemble Studio Theatre was founded on the belief that extraordinary support yields extraordinary work.  It is a dynamic and expanding family of member artists committed to the discovery and nurturing of new voices and the continued support and growth of artists throughout their creative lives.  It develops and produces original, provocative, and authentic new plays that engage and challenge audiences across the country.  The Youngblood Program is a collective of emerging professional playwrights under the age of 30.  As a creative home for the next generation of theater artists, Youngblood provides artistic guidance, peer support, feedback, and a fertile production environment that allows playwrights to hone their skills and explore their craft.  

Relief grants totaling $55,500 for losses and damages from Superstorm Sandy were approved for The Kitchen, Eyebeam, Smack Mellon and its Artist Studio Program, Printed Matter, and the New York Foundation for the Arts.

 KIERA FABER received $7,500 for Obscurer, an experimental film about the fragile microcosm of a children's author and her invented companions.  It tells the story of an isolated female author living an existence that intermingles dream and reality. She writes compulsively, working on a children’s book in an invented script that mimics human language but is indecipherable. Scenes from the book are enacted on marionette stages, orchestrated by two grotesque and masked female armatured puppeteers. It is unclear if the puppeteers act out the author’s wishes, playing out scenes from the book, or if through their actions they orchestrate the author’s writing itself.  The film will weave stop motion animation and live action together to question perceptions of reality, characters intentions, and what is malevolent or benevolent.

ANNA FAHR received a grant for Transit Game, a narrative short about eleven-year-old Palestinians Saad and Nada who spend their days peddling newspapers and candy to drivers who pass by on a stretch of highway along the eastern Mediterranean.  Some of those drivers engage in conversation, while others hurriedly drive on.  On one particular day, Saad and Nada encounter a Syrian man named Mohammad who runs out of gas and leaves his car stranded on the side of the road.  This film is about the brief exchange of Saad and Nada with this refugee of the Syrian war.

FRACTURED ATLAS, New York City, as fiscal sponsor for REID FARRINGTON, Brooklyn, New York, received $12,000 in support of the development, production, and installation of The Return.  Fractured Atlas empowers artists, arts organizations, and other cultural sector stakeholders by eliminating practical barriers to artistic expression, so as to foster a more agile and resilient cultural ecosystem.  Reid Farrington is a new media artist, theater director, and stage designer.  The performance installation for which support was awarded will be presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and based on Tullio Lombardo’s Adam. This sculpture has undergone a decade-long, painstaking analysis and unprecedented restoration project by the Metropolitan Museum conservators, scholars, and scientists to restore the piece following its accidental destruction in 2002 when its plywood-base buckled.    The work blends live performance with digital characters to create an interactive story of the sculpture for visitors to the Museum.  Farrington envisions that visitors will initiate virtual reenactments and time-behind encounters between Tullio Lombardo, Museum conservators, and Adam.

SAM FEDER, received a grant in support of Kate Bornstein is a Queer & Pleasant Danger, a documentary feature about the original gender outlaw, transgender pioneer, former Scientologist, world-renowned author and performer, Kate Bornstein. Kate pioneered the idea that one can choose to be neither man nor woman. According to filmmaker Sam Feder, this is a notion that continues to save thousands of gender nonconforming people’s lives worldwide. This film is a study of a human being, and an exploration of form and content that reflects the complexities of Bornstein, her life, and the LGBT community. The film leads the viewer through Kate’s public and personal life, revealing how she has become a queer hero and cultural trailblazer, through her performances, writing, and lectures.

DAVID FIGUEROA received support for Gloom, a narrative short that tackles social class structure by studying the psyche of Lazarus, a driver dealing with his obsession with his late boss’s daughter, Lucia. Along with two other servants, Lazurus is left to run the home of his late boss as Lucia grieves over the loss of her father.  Lazurus has always been a voyeuristic observer of Lucia and dared not go beyond his station in life as her servant. Now things are different. He decides to confront the solitude and frustration that prevented him from pursuing her heart.  Stagnated in the midst of languor, decadence, and nostalgia, the film is about recognizing one’s own solitude and searching for comfort in others.

The Foundry Theatre, New York City, received $24,000 in support of the creation and production of new works by three emerging theatre creators based in New York City. The Foundry Theatre aspires to assemble a community with revolutionary ideas for the theatre and the world in which it is situated. Established in 1994, The Foundry commissions, develops, premieres, and tours theatrical works that explore the (im)possibilities of theatre. It hosts dialogue series and community collaborations that bring artists together with stakeholders from other communities to unpack issues and ideas of contemporary social and political resonance. Jerome support is directed to new works in development, from commissions through productions.

THE FOUNDRY THEATRE, New York City, received $24,000 in support of the creation, development, and production of new works by emerging theatre creators based in New York City.  The Foundry aspires to assemble a community of artists with revolutionary ideas for the theatre and the world in which it is situated.  It commissions, develops, premieres, and tours theatrical works that explore the (im)possibilities of theatre.  The Foundry also hosts an ongoing dialogue series and collaborations that bring artists together with stakeholders from other communities to unpack issues and ideas of contemporary social and political resonance.  The Foundry is interested in the process that comes of making works from scratch, following a project from its first idea to its premiere, and often through touring.  

FRANCONIA SCULPTURE PARK, Shafer, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $74,000 in support of the Emerging Artist Fellowship Program. This vibrant artist residency park is located in the St. Croix River Valley region of East Central Minnesota. Franconia’s mission is to foster an inspiring environment for artists to expand their skills and promote the public education of three-dimensional art. It awards fellowships and internships to up to 40 emerging and mid-career visual artists each year, supporting the creation and exhibition of large-scale sculpture at its 25-acre site. Artists live and work on site, with access to studio space, tools, equipment, and financial support. Residencies last a minimum of three weeks. Jerome’s support is restricted to emerging artists from Minnesota and New York City.

Goto, Asuka, Brooklyn, New York, will travel to Ulaanbaatar, Dadal or Khatgal, Gobi Desert, Northern Mongolia, and Terelj National Park, Mongolia, to examine the structure and daily use of the ger (or yurt) in Mongolia's nomadic communities.  The ger is a tent-like living structure made of canvas, felt, and a wooden frame.  The ger is of particular interest to her because of its enduring design, minimal structure, and portability.  Over the last five years, Goto has developed a series of art installations that contain architectural elements that expand, contract, open, close, rotate or collapse so that given spaces can be repurposed and reinvented with ease. She’ll participate in home stays, living with families within the gers and documenting that experience.  She will live alone in a rented ger for two weeks, gaining an intimate knowledge of the one-room spaces and the customs surrounding their use as well as how they function for the people they house, and whether individual elements of the gers might be adopted for use in other situations. 

 Grantmakers in the Arts (GIA), Seattle, Washington, received a two-year grant of $25,000 in support of Benchmark Research on support for Individual Artists. GIA provides leadership and service to advance the use of philanthropic resources on behalf of arts and culture. The goals of GIA are to provide information, research, communication, and convening opportunities. Within its research program, GIA is establishing a methodology to secure national benchmark data on financial support provided to individual artists from public, private, and nonprofit grant makers. One of the end products of this work will be an interactive, online dashboard that enables funders, researchers, and others to access reports on support for individual artists in a number of ways. Jerome Foundation support will help GIA continue the development of this multi-year initiative on support for individual artists.

JENNIFER GRAUSMAN & SAM CULLMAN were awarded funding for ART AND CRAFT, a documentary that uncovers the story of a prolific art forger just as his 30-year con is publicly revealed.  Mark Landis has been called one of the most prolific art forgers in US history.  His impressive body of work covers a wide range of painting styles and periods that includes 15th century icons, the Hudson River School, Picasso, and even Walt Disney Studios. While the copies would certainly fetch impressive sums in the open market, Mark Landis was never in it for the money.  Filmed over an intense transformative period during which his ruse was discovered and his forgeries publicly displayed, ART AND CRAFT combines elements of humor, investigation, confession, and classic observation to uncover one of the most intriguing cases of deception in art history.

STEPHEN GUREWITZ received $15,000 for You Take Care, a comedic drama about Jane and Matt, a young couple pulled apart by life's responsibilities as they transition into adulthood. The fallout leads to the question: How long should we hold on to the past before it’s time to move on? Jane, a baker, and Matt, a customer service representative, are a couple in their mid-twenties living a social, outgoing lifestyle in New York City. All seems well until the city’s demands begin to dwarf their aged relationship. As the two grow apart they distance themselves from the relationship in their own way – both putting up their own façade to give the idea they’ve moved on. Matt buries himself in his creative writing and a series of fruitless relationships.  Jane, on the other hand, makes the more drastic change, by moving across the world, to Hong Kong. She claims the move is signaled by a once in a lifetime opportunity to develop her cooking techniques studying with a master. In reality, she’s a host at an American restaurant in the Central District.  Soon, Matt is visiting Jane in Hong Kong. It’s a trip of murky intentions; are they trying to build a new foundation to their relationship or prove to each other that they’ve both moved on? In a bittersweet ending, Jane and Matt go their separate ways. They move on to new experiences, but are able to credit their relationship together as what helped form the person that each has become. You Take Care is a film about relationships, growing into adulthood, the regret that stems from missed opportunities, and the difficulties of figuring it out.

Hamboussi, Anthony, Brooklyn, New York, will travel to Egypt to visit Coptic Christian sites, gathering knowledge and establishing networks through intensive research and conversations with many Monks, Scholars, and common Egyptian citizens regarding Christianity in the land of the Pharaohs.  Hamboussi is a Coptic Christian Egyptian whose family has been living in exile for many years.  The trip will feed his ongoing aesthetic interests but also give him a deeper understanding of his identity as an artist.  In addition to exploring questions that will help with the content of his work, he will focus on making connections with other artists who might be collaborators. 

HARLEM STAGE, New York City, received a two-year grant of $50,000 in support of the commissioning of new works by emerging artists within the Fund for New Work. Harlem Stage is devoted to the creation and development of new works by performing artists of color. It celebrates and perpetuates the unique and diverse artistic legacy of Harlem and the incredible impression it has made on American culture. Harlem Stage provides opportunity, commissioning and support for artists of color; makes performances accessible to all audiences; and introduces children to the rich diversity, excitement, and inspiration of the performing arts. The Fund for New Work focuses on assisting emerging artists in the conception, development, and presentation of new works. Support encompasses commissions, rehearsal space during the development of new work, and creative staff support.