Past
Grantees

DARIAN PARKER, choreographer and performer, New York City, will travel to Bamako, Mali, to conduct intensive study of Malian dance--the technical aspects, its accompanying music and the folklore--with master artists to enhance his abilities as a performer and choreographer. Parker’s study will center on dance training with members of Bamako’s artistic community, music training, and conversations and interviews with artists, community elders, and other gatekeepers of the cultural, folkloric, and historical significance of Malian dances and the accompanying music. One particular area of study will involve the form known in the United States as Lamba. This Malian dance was traditionally performed by the Djeli, a poet, praise singer, and wandering musician considered a repository of oral tradition. Parker wants to understand how different ethnic groups in Mali interpret the form.

"MÁRA PELECIS, filmmaker, Minneapolis, Minnesota, will travel to Jaunlaicene, Mālupe, Alūksne region, and Rīga, Latvia, to learn “Maléniski”, a very rare language (or dialect of Latvian), so that she can understand published texts written by her storyteller grandfather. His texts will be the basis of a future film project.  She will attend weekly group lessons in Jaunlaicene, a small town in Eastern Latvia, as well as supplement her learning with language tutoring sessions.  She will also live with relatives who speak Maléniski, and travel around the counties where it is spoken, in order to use her newly acquired language skills with a broader group."

NERINA PENZHORN, filmmaker, Brooklyn, New York, will travel to South Africa to conduct research for a documentary film about South African tabloid newspapers in terms of how they function as a voice for marginalized South Africans and how their reporting on the supernatural challenges the rationalist ideals of South African journalism and post-apartheid democracy.

PERFORMANCE SPACE 122 (P. S. 122), New York City, received $25,000 in support of three commissions, residency fees, and administrative costs for the commissioning program.  P. S. 122 is dedicated to supporting and presenting artists whose work challenges the traditional boundaries of dance, theatre, music, and performance.  Committed to exploring innovative form as well as material, P. S. 122 is steadfast in its search for pioneering artists from a diversity of cultures and points of view.  The result is robust, innovative, and diverse commissioned work produced during fall and spring presenting seasons and COIL, a winter festival of contemporary performance.  P. S. 122 starts the commissioning process with the artist, not the project.  A long-term commitment gives artists the freedom and security they need to take the aesthetic risks that will hone their artistic voice and practice and lead to art works that garner the attention of fellow presenters and funders, thus furthering careers.  P. S. 122 is working to increase the level of the commissioning fees, add creative residencies, provide additional production support, and secure adequate funding for rehearsal and presentation weeks.  Jerome support underwrites three commissions and creative residencies leading to production.

"COLE PERRY, writer, Bovey, Minnesota, will travel to the border between Mexico and the United States, visiting four paired cities: Laredo, Texas/Nuevo Laredo, Mexico; El Paso, Texas/ Cuidad Juares, Mexico; Tucson, Arizona/Nogales, Mexico/ San Diego, California/Tijuana, Mexico, to investigate the collateral effects of drug-related violence and global apartheid on the migratory communities from Laredo, Texas to San Diego, California. Perry plans to create a detailed record of the voices, landscapes, and cities of this nebulous and violent frontier as the basis for a novel."

MICHAEL J. PETERSON received support for Insectula!, a feature-length sci-fi horror comedy about a giant alien mosquito-type insect that is drawn to earth in search of blood by high levels of carbon dioxide pollution in the planets atmosphere. The films protagonist, Dell, is a government EPA agent who loses loved ones to the creature and is on a personal vendetta. Dell attempts environmentally friendly methods to dispatch the creature, but his methods and control are eventually replaced by a military solution. The military option also fails to kill the creature, and Dell realizes he must sacrifice himself in the end. The films antagonist is a mad scientist working with Dell, who is captivated by the creature and attempts to help it cleanse the earth. The scientist postulates that since mosquitos are attracted to carbon dioxide, earths increased global levels of it have drawn the large alien creature. He also believes modern mosquitos are actually descendants of an earlier invasion. He is raising a mosquito hatchling to prove his theory as he works to subvert Dell. He views the giant creature as pure and humans as polluters who are the true pests. The beautiful lab assistant of both scientists is caught in the middle of this mess and plays a crucial role in helping the audience discover the true nature of the lead characters as well as provide tense moments of peril and suspense.

Jerome Foundation renewed its affiliate membership in and general support of PHILANTHROPY NEW YORK, New York City, through a commitment of $1,200. Its 290 member organizations provide support to thousands of nonprofit organizations around the world. Its mission is to enhance and increase the ability of organizational and individual philanthropists, whose missions focus on New York, the United States, and around the globe, to serve the public good. It supports meaningful collaboration and knowledge sharing, promotes effective and strategic philanthropy, informs and advances public policies that support effective philanthropy, fosters effective communications about the value of philanthropy and the philanthropic sector, and develops a diverse and capable group of future philanthropic leaders.

Pillsbury House + Theatre also received a grant of $6,000 in support of the development and commissioning of new work by emerging playwrights from Minnesota and New York City. These activities take place within the context of an annual season that includes mainstage productions, new play development, a reading series, and commissions.

PILLSBURY HOUSE + THEATRE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $36,500 to support the 2013 Naked Stages Program.  The mission of Pillsbury House + Theatre is to create challenging theatre to inspire choice, change, and connection.  Activities include a mainstage season, a commissioning program, the Late Nite Series, and Naked Stages.  Naked Stages engages emerging artists in a structured seven-month program that features monthly artistic meetings and monthly production meetings.  The teaching of career building skills enables three artists to develop the skills they need to direct comprehensive production experiences of their own works.  

PILLSBURY HOUSE + THEATRE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $36,500 in support of the 2012 Non-English Speaking Spoken Here: The Late Nite Series. The Theatres mission is to create challenging theater to inspire choice, change, and connection. Late Nite enables emerging artists working across disciplines to develop new work and to share it with an audience. Late Nite weaves together text, music, spoken word, sounds, and images in a celebration of new voices and new art. Artists explore the crosscurrents of social change, community, and identity.

PLAYWRIGHTS HORIZONS, New York City, received a two-year grant of $46,000 in support of American Voice artistic development activities for emerging writers residing in New York City and/or Minnesota and for one production each season written by an emerging playwright.  The mission of Playwrights Horizons is to support and develop the work of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to produce their new plays and musicals.  It has an unwavering dedication to the American Voice and ongoing passion for new work, an experienced literary staff that reads and responds to new play submissions, a nurturing and tailored play development process, and inviting theater spaces coupled with institutional muscle that attract broad critical exposure to new work.  Playwrights Horizons works with writers to develop their works through programs collectively known as the American Voice.  These programs support writers through all stages of developing new work from the writing process through script feedback and evaluation, collaborative development, and full production.  

THE PLAYWRIGHTS’ CENTER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $90,000 in support of an expanded Many Voices Fellowship Program.  The Center champions playwrights and new plays to build upon a living theater that demands new and innovative works.  The Many Voices Program is designed to increase cultural diversity in the contemporary theater, both locally and nationally, to competitively selected playwrights who are given stipends, educational support, peer connection, and opportunities to develop new works with theater professionals.  The Center redesigned the Many Voices Program to address the themes of mentorship, visibility, and impact.  The fellowship component of the program is receiving additional support to raise the stipend level and increase the development funding available for new works.  The fellowship is open to national applicants who are willing to relocate to Minnesota for the duration of the fellowship year.  A mentorship track will serve primarily Twin Cities-based applicants but will be open to any emerging playwright who wishes to relocate to take advantage of the opportunity.  The objective of the mentorship track is to create a safe and supportive community in which Many Voices playwrights can begin to formulate a career trajectory, learn and practice their craft, take artistic risks, and develop new relationships with peers and mentors.

THE POETRY PROJECT, New York City, received $19,320 in support of a Fellowship Program for emerging writers.  Through live programming, workshops, publications, website, and special events, The Poetry Project promotes, fosters, and inspires the reading and writing of contemporary poetry by presenting contemporary poetry to diverse audiences; increases public recognition, awareness, and appreciation of poetry and other arts; provides a community setting in which poets can exchange ideas and information; and encourages the participation and development of new poets with a broad range of styles.  Over the course of nine months, the Fellowship Program pairs established poets with emerging poets to develop their craft and complete self-defined projects.  The nature of the engagement is related to shaping the fellow’s project but it may also be one of sharing resources and knowledge.  The fellows are provided honoraria, access to Poetry Project events, and readings within the Monday Night Reading Series as a culminating event.  

The POETS HOUSE, New York City, received $28,000 in support of Emerging Poets II.  Poets House is a national poetry library and literary center that invites poets and the public to step into the living tradition of poetry.  Poetry resources and literary events document the wealth and diversity of poetry and stimulate public dialogue on issues of poetry and culture.  The Emerging Poets Fellowship Program assists emerging poets by providing excellent poetry writing instruction and mentoring in the special environment of Poet House’s poetry library, with its unique archives.  The program aims to deepen artistic practice by offering a robust professional network of poets and literary professionals, including special visits from editors and publishers, who assist writers with their artistic development and career.  The program includes weekly writing workshops, mentoring sessions, meetings with guest speakers, free access to Poets House events and archive, and culminates in a final group reading.

PRINTED MATTER, New York City, received $24,000 in support of an Emerging Artists’ Publication Series.  Printed Matter is dedicated to the promotion and distribution of artists’ books as low-cost democratic artworks.  Its mission is to foster the appreciation, dissemination, and understanding of artists’ publications, which are defined as books or other editioned publications conceived by artists as artworks.  Its activities include wholesale and retail distribution, a public reading room, consulting services for libraries and arts institutions, exhibitions, and educational programs for the public and artists.  The Emerging Artists’ Publication Series supports four emerging artists who demonstrate excellence and potential in the field.  An exhibition accompanies the production and distribution of their books, which are produced in editions of 1,000, printed off-set, sold inexpensively, and distributed worldwide through Printed Matter’s network. 

BUSHRA REHMAN, writer, New York City, will travel to Istanbul, Turkey, to conduct creative research at historic sties, write fairy tales inspired by Turkish history, and include these stories in her modern version of the Arabian Nights in which a Muslim woman saves her skin by telling fairy tales during her FBI interrogation. Rehman is exploring, in a fantastical way, the state of United States relations with the Muslim world and the experience of what it means to be Muslim in the year 2012, as an American citizen.

JEFF REICHERT received a grant in support of a feature-length documentary, Remote Area Medical. A debate over healthcare has been raging nationwide, but whats been lost in the discussion of mandates, payers, pre-existing conditions, and deficits are the American citizens who live every day without proper access to healthcare, afraid of injury and suffering through minor illnesses in the hopes that they will just get better on their own. Remote Area Medical will document the annual three-day pop-up medical clinic put on by the non-profit Remote Area Medical (RAM) in the NASCAR speedway of Bristol, Tennessee. Even though the small town is only a few hundred miles from the nations capitol, access to proper medical care for many in the region might as well be worlds away. Instead of a film about policy, or which system is better, will cover more, or cost less, Remote Area Medical will be a film about people, about a one-of-a-kind experience and an unlikely community that arises in the same place every year. Remote Area Medical will use the RAM experience as a window through which a vast, unseen swath of American society can be viewed.

The ROCHESTER ART CENTER, Rochester, Minnesota, received $15,000 in support of three exhibitions of works by Minnesota artists in the 3rd Floor Emerging Artist Series. The Center fosters an appreciation and understanding of contemporary art through the organization and presentation of exhibitions, and the creation of innovative educational programs and interpretive materials that effectively engage regional audiences. The 3rd Floor Emerging Artist Series is a series of solo exhibitions based on the principle of critical engagement with new practices in contemporary art.

ROLLO ROMIG, writer, Brooklyn, New York, will travel to Istanbul, Turkey, to study the history of progressive Muslim movements for a memoir about growing up Roman Catholic and converting to Islam, with a focus on the liberal traditions of both faiths. Drawing on library research and interviews, Romig is interested in telling the story of progressive currents in Islam and exploring the complementary connections between Islam and Western values.

ROULETTE INTERMEDIUM, Brooklyn, New York, received $60,000 to support two programs for emerging composers based in New York City. Roulette provides opportunities for innovative composers, musicians, sound artists, and interdisciplinary collaborators to present their work in accessible, appropriate, and professional productions. The Jerome Commissioning Program awards four commissions to emerging composers, culminating in performances of the new works. A new residency program supports composers and sound artists as they develop works while in residence in Roulettes theater and then present completed works to the public for a three-night run as part of Roulettes Innovative and Adventurous Music Series.