Past
Grantees

MIXED BLOOD THEATRE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $16,500 in support of the commissioning, development and production of new works by emerging playwrights for its mainstage. Founded in 1976, Mixed Blood Theatre Company is a professional, multiracial theatre promoting cultural pluralism and individual equality through artistic excellence. It uses theater as a vehicle for artistry, entertainment, education and social change. Jerome support is directed to the New Plays Initiative in the current and 2008-09 seasons. Mixed Blood will use this support to commission and develop three new works.

MOMENTA ART, Brooklyn, New York, received a two-year grant of $30,000 in support of the participation of emerging artists in the 2007-08 and 2008-09 Exhibition Programs, presenting six exhibitions each year. Momenta promotes the work of underrepresented and emerging artists, alternating between group shows and solo exhibitions. Exhibitions represent a wide range of artistic approaches and media. The curation of exhibitions is based on review of slide submissions and studio visits by the Director and Assistant Director. Artists selected must have a consistent body of thought-provoking work. The exhibitions bring together conceptual and aesthetic concerns presented by an ethnically diverse group of artists and a wide range of artistic approaches and media.

SUSANNAH PATRICE MORSE was awarded a grant for Haunted by the Light, a 16mm experimental short that is a study of children's fantasy author Susan Cooper in the real and imagined worlds that inspired her. The film illustrates the creative process of Cooper, author of the Newbery award-winning children's fantasy series The Dark is Rising. Her stories are the hauntings of a child grown old and her secrets carried from Britain to America after years of longing for home. The film follows the path of Cooper's mind as she writes-her memories, words and the quiet scratch of her pen on paper in the attic where she works. Haunted by the Light will be a set of images, sounds and text that will interact with time and magic.

ELINYISIA MOSHA received support for a feature-length documentary, Anatomy of Poverty, inspired by a recent trip she took to her family home, which is situated near the mining regions of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. While there, she stumbled upon a unique microcosm of people through which the story of the human costs, societal impact and corruptive elements of globalization could be told. Through Mosha's unique access, Anatomy of Poverty will follow several compelling characters as it paints a complex portrait of corruptive forces in the mineral extraction industry. The film's ultimate goal is to reveal how industrialized nations attain great wealth while simultaneously perpetuating conflict and extreme poverty in developing countries.

MOVEMENT RESEARCH, New York City, received a two-year grant of $24,000 in support of the publication of the Performance Journal, with a portion of the grant designated for writers' fees. The mission of Movement Research is to serve as a laboratory for the investigation of dance and movement-based forms. It has ushered in a new era of artist-driven programming and increased involvement of the artistic community. The Performance Journal is a printed forum created by and for artists, fostering the evolution of written and graphic languages that contemplate current issues in dance and performance. Each issue is conceived by an Artist Editorial Team around a specific topic or structure and includes contributions from artists, writers, scholars and others. Jerome support will cover four issues, two in 2008 and two in 2009.

In addition, the Foundation approved a grant of $8,000 in support of the 2008 National Asian American Theater Conference: Shaping Our Voice and Vision. Asian American theater company representatives and artists from around the country will participate in shaping the voice and vision of Asian American culture as expressed through theatrical performance. Participants will work together to imagine the future of Asian American theater based upon discussion, sharing of insights and ideas, and formulating strategies to support sustainable growth and expansion. Jerome support will subsidize three staged readings of new works by emerging playwrights from New York City and Minnesota, and provide some support for general conference operations.

MU PERFORMING ARTS, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $25,000 in support of Phase Four of the Jerome New Performance Program. Mu Performing Arts creates theater and taiko from the heart of the Asian American experience. Now entering its 15th year, Mu blends Asian and Western theatrical forms in telling Asian American stories. A 2006 Jerome Foundation grant launched the New Performance Program. Theater Mu worked with seven emerging playwrights/performance artists to develop new works emphasizing risk-taking, experimentation and exposure to new forms. Phase Four funding will subsidize the mainstage production of two of the original seven projects.

The MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, New York City, received $12,605 to complete preservation work on a selection of cinematic works directed by Jerome Hill. Since 2003, the Jerome Foundation has supported a multi-year preservation project on Jerome Hill's films, which are housed at the Museum of Modern Art's Celeste Bartos Film Preservation Center. Preservation work has been completed on Jerome Hill's autobiographical work Film Portrait, as well as Grandma Moses, Magic Umbrella, Death in the Forenoon, The Artist's Friend, Canaries, Merry Christmas and Albert Schweitzer. The last film to be preserved is Cassis, or How to be Happy Though Healthy.

NEW GEORGES, New York City, received a two-year grant of $30,000 in support of the development and production of new work by emerging theater artists residing in New York City and/or Minnesota. New Georges is an innovative producer of ambitious new plays, and a supportive, productive home for promising and accomplished women theater artists. The primary resource with which New Georges serves artists is The Room, a workspace for rehearsal and development.

MINNESOTA STATE UNIVERSITY MOORHEAD, Moorhead, Minnesota, received $12,000 to support the publication and distribution of three Many Voices Project books by NEW RIVERS PRESS MSUM. The Press seeks to publish the best literature it can find and to serve as a teaching press. An open call each year solicits submissions to the Many Voices Project competition for book-length unpublished manuscripts by new or emerging writers. After a thorough screening and review by guest judges and staff editors, three books by emerging writers, two of whom must live in New York City and/or Minnesota, are selected. The Many Voices Project publishes first and second books by emerging writers.

DANCE THEATER WORKSHOP, New York City, received $36,000 in support of emerging choreographers and performance artists in the First Light Commissioning Program. Dance Theater Workshop identifies, presents and supports independent contemporary artists and companies in order to advance dance and live performance in New York and worldwide. Through residencies, commissions and community interaction, Dance Theater Workshop has been a leader in dance and performance for 41 years and has presented over 2,500 artists and companies. Jerome dollars are dedicated to commissions supporting the creation and development of new works.

NEW YORK THEATRE WORKSHOP, New York City, received a two-year grant of $38,000 in support of its Artist Development Activities. New York Theatre Workshop is a contemporary theater company committed to the development of innovative theatre by supporting theatre artists at all stages of their careers. It is dedicated to exploring and presenting theatrical experiences that reflect, respond to, and invigorate the world in which we live and work. The Artist Development Activities at New York Theatre Workshop include a wide range of creative learning opportunities such as fellowships, artist residencies, readings, small-scale studio productions and a cultural exchange program. The Workshop maintains a core commitment to the Usual Suspects, a community of more than 400 theatre artists who are at the heart of its developmental activities.

JILA NIKPAY, Minneapolis, Minnesota, will travel to New York City to meet with scholar Hamid Dabashi, a renowned Iranian cultural critic, author and professor in Islamic Studies at Columbia University. Her purpose is to deepen her aesthetic language and offer stimulating insight into her work, which is theatrical in nature and explores the themes of dislocation and loss. Nikpay is working on a new film that charts a new direction in her work. In preparation for that, she's been actively researching the work of Iranian scholars and believes that Dabashi's work on Iranian writers and filmmakers will inspire her work.

The NORTHERN CLAY CENTER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $25,970 in support of the Jerome Ceramic Artist Project Grants Program. The Center advances the ceramic arts through classes, workshops, exhibitions, studio space, grants for artists, and a sales gallery. The Ceramic Artist Project Grants Program provides three project grants to emerging Minnesota artists each year. Project designs are determined by the applicants and may include experimentation with new techniques, work with a mentor or respected figure in the field, purchase of equipment to facilitate an artistic investigation, support for work time, collaborations and studio rental. The year culminates with a group exhibition of new work at the Center. This Program operates on an open submission process with an independent selection panel choosing recipients.

In a major new program commitment, the Jerome Foundation made a grant of $65,000 to FORECAST PUBLIC ARTWORKS, St. Paul, Minnesota, as fiscal sponsor for a commissioning and mentoring program in art, media, technology and social practice to be administered by NORTHERN LIGHTS, under the direction of Steve Dietz. The purpose is to support emerging artists and experimental practices that significantly utilize the capabilities of new and old technologies to push the boundaries of art making, particularly as they intersect with public participation. The program will operate in two tracks. The commissioning program track is for emerging artists who know what they want to do and are looking for the financial resources to create and present the work. Emerging professional artists who live in Minnesota and are proposing to make new works as individuals or as equal collaborators are eligible to apply for three commissions of $6,000 each. The program will also provide exhibition support and hosting, along with archiving and promotion of the projects. Fellowship recipients will be selected via an open call and competitive panel review. The second track, a mentorship program, will assist artists who need technical assistance, developmental support and a higher level of engagement with more experienced artists or curators in order to develop capacity, sharpen skills and create new works. Three awards of $4,000 each will be given to emerging artists in addition to technical support, mentoring, participation in a technology boot-camp, promotion and media relations, hosting and exhibition of the work, and documentation of the completed work.

KEVIN OBSATZ, Minneapolis, Minnesota, will travel to Boulder, Colorado, to attend two workshops at the Handmade Film Institute, learning to shoot and develop super-8 and 16mm film by hand. The goals of the Handmade Film Camp and the Wilderness Filmmaking Expedition are to put filmmakers at various levels of experience in direct contact with the tools necessary to make films by hand and teach them how to experiment with the process to expand their aesthetic and technical sensibilities. Obastz expects these programs to be valuable to his development as an artist.

OBSIDIAN ARTS, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $14,000 in support of the participation of emerging artists in its Exhibition Program. Obsidian Arts supports the development of artists, and dedicates its energies and resources to expanding the knowledge of the rich heritage of black visual arts within the black community and the broader Twin Cities area. At the core of its mission and vision are a contribution to the cultural wealth of the community, the examination of new ideas about African-American visual expression, and opportunities for artists to learn and grow. The grant will support exhibitions within the Obsidian Arts Gallery and a public art exhibition titled Exploding Language: Mining the Black Arts Movement to Create New Visual Text.

ANN OREN, Brooklyn, New York, will travel to Norway to do cultural and aesthetic research toward the creation of videos for a project titled IN SECURITY, in collaboration with Norwegian writer Anna Gutto and the Unbound Theater. Gutto approached Oren to collaborate on this work because she found the conceptual and aesthetic sensibility of Oren's video work enchantingly suitable for her writing. Many aspects of the work have cultural and visual references, which require Oren to spend time in Norway experimenting with actors in front of her camera, researching the Norwegian mindset of living and the natural phenomena that contribute to it.

EUN-HA PAEK, Brooklyn, New York, will travel to Turkey to explore performance-based motion and the outcome of less controlled movement as seen in unusual geographical formations to inform her animation work. As a first generation Asian living in a Western culture, Paek is curious about how different cultural influences come together. She will research traditional dance forms and collect imagery.

PANGEA WORLD THEATER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $14,700 to support emerging artists developing new works. Pangea illuminates the human condition, celebrates cultural differences, and promotes human rights by creating and presenting international, multidisciplinary theater. It explores and creates literature that crosses boundaries and traditions, and engages in an intercultural and interdisciplinary process that addresses themes such as human rights, immigration, political repression, race relations, freedom and cross-cultural expression. Three emerging artists participating in Pangea's Alternate Visions series will develop new works. Jerome dollars will also seed the development of new works by two core ensemble members, who will strengthen their creative abilities through study and exploration. Pangea will provide customized services based on the individual needs of the five artists.