Past
Grantees

PATRICK'S CABARET, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $11,500 in support of the Guest Curator Mentorship Program and fees for emerging performers testing works-in-progress in a cabaret setting. Patrick's Cabaret supports artists in their growth and development by encouraging them to try new things, take risks and present their developmental work. The Guest Curator Mentorship Program allows guest curators to select artists and program weekends of performance, in an eclectic mix of styles, disciplines and performance levels.

PATRICK'S CABARET, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $19,600 to support fees for emerging artists who will present works in progress during Cabaret performances in 2009. The mission of the Cabaret is to support artists in their growth and development by providing an informal, supportive environment in which performers can present their work. The Cabaret encourages artists to try new things and take risks. It serves a diverse range of artists. Each artist is given 15 minutes in a Cabaret program. Patrick's produces performance Cabarets throughout the year, some organized by guest curators and others by Artistic Director Patrick Scully. Jerome Foundation's grant support will enable the Cabaret to guarantee minimum fees for artists.

PENUMBRA THEATRE COMPANY, St. Paul, Minnesota, received a grant of $25,000 in support of the Readings Plus and the New Playground/Gym strands within the Okra New Play Program, a five-year project that provides a rigorous, yet nurturing, culturally-specific environment for the development of new works by artists from initial idea to production. Penumbra's mission is to create professional productions that are artistically excellent, thought provoking, relevant and illuminate the human condition through the prism of the African American experience. Readings Plus will bring New York City emerging playwrights to the Twin Cities for six days of development, culminating in public readings of their works. The New Playground/Gym will initially focus on Minnesota artists and serve as a testing ground and collaborative space for developing new works. Okra will operate under the direction of Associate Artistic Director Dominic Taylor.

PERFORMANCE SPACE 122, New York City, received $41,650 to support the commissioning of new works by emerging artists in the 2008-09 season. P.S. 122 supports and presents 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 diverse cultures and points of view. It reaches 25,000 audience members each year. Jerome Foundation funding will provide commissions awarded by Artistic Director Vallejo Gantner to emerging creative artists working in the fields of dance, theatre, music and performance art. Commissioned artists will present their new works as part of P.S. 122's Presenting Series, which offers one to three week runs in the Mainstage and First Floor Theaters.

The Jerome Foundation also committed $1,000 to the NEW YORK REGIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GRANTMAKERS in order to keep active its Associate membership and provide operating support. Collectively, the 300+ members of the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers represent the world's largest concentration of philanthropic capital. The Association's mission is to promote and support effective philanthropy and concerted action for the public good. Membership includes independent foundations, family foundations, corporate foundation, corporate contributions programs, community foundations, public foundations, federated funds, operating foundation, religious entities with grantmaking programs and individual donors.

PILLSBURY HOUSE THEATRE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $34,500 in support of the 2008 Non-English Speaking Spoken Here: The Late Nite Series. Pillsbury House Theatre creates challenging theater to inspire choice, change and connection. The Theatre is committed to creating high quality art that engages diverse groups of people in productive interaction around tough issues. One of its several programs is the Late Nite Series, created by Laurie Carlos as a transformation of culture where text, music, spoken word, sounds and images weave together in a fearless celebration of new voices and new art. Emerging artists from the disciplines of dance, music, poetry and theatre explore the intersections of social change, community and identity and push the boundaries of their art form. Late Nite supports emerging artists by creating opportunities to develop and perform works-in-progress in front of audiences. There are three Late Nite series each year.

A supplementary grant of $10,000 was awarded to THE PLAYWRIGHTS' CENTER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, to raise the annual fellowship level in the Jerome Fellowship Program at the Center. The Playwrights' Center fuels the theater by providing services that support playwright and playwriting. Five emerging playwrights each year are chosen from open call submissions by an independent panel to be in residence in Minnesota for a year and receive support and services at the Center.

THE PLAYWRIGHTS' CENTER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $47,000 to support and expand the Many Voices Program. The Playwrights' Center's mission is to fuel the theater by providing services that support playwrights and playwriting. Its goals are to nurture artistic excellence and new visions of theater, foster playwright initiative and leadership, practice cultural pluralism, discover emerging artists, advocate for playwrights and their work, connect to playwrights with audiences and develop a community for new work. The Many Voices Program, in operation since 1994, supports and develops playwrights of color. It provides financial support to the playwrights selected, nurtures writing talent, provides theatrical opportunities, sponsors collaborations and builds community. The nine-month residencies are awarded to artists of color who are interested in developing their playwriting skills and creating theater in a supportive artists' community.

QUEENS THEATRE IN THE PARK, Flushing, New York, received a two-year grant of $20,000 in support of the Immigrant Voices Project. The mission of Queens Theatre in the Park is to provide quality and diverse performing arts activities that are economically and geographically accessible to the residents of Queens and the surrounding New York City metropolitan region. The Immigrant Voices Project was created in 2002 to present readings, workshops, showcase productions and fully staged productions of new works by emerging and under-recognized playwrights. The works and artists reflect and celebrate the rich cultural and ethnic diversity of Queens.

ROULETTE INTERMEDIUM, New York City, received $24,000 to support programs and services for emerging composers. Roulette's purpose is to increase the awareness and understanding of experiments in music and intermedia by providing opportunities for innovative composers, musicians, sound artists and interdisciplinary collaborators to present their work in accessible, appropriate and professional settings. Founded in 1978, Roulette is an incubator for young talent and a laboratory where new ideas and new technologies are examined, appraised and developed. It presents the work of over 150 artists each year. Funding supports the contemporary music series, rehearsal and recording facilities, distribution and information services and television and Internet programs that bring the work of contemporary composers to audiences worldwide.

SPRINGBOARD FOR THE ARTS, St. Paul, Minnesota, as fiscal sponsor for SAVAGE AURAL HOTBED, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $7,840 in support of the creation and production of new work. Savage Aural Hotbed is a musical ensemble that composes and performs with found objects and conventional percussion instruments, bass guitar, electronically modified horns and vocals and power tools. The ensemble creates visual and aural spectacles with high-energy rhythms, flailing drummer arms, unusual looking instruments and flying sparks. Drawing from many different styles of music, the four ensemble members collaborate in the compositional process. Jerome support will be directed toward the creation and recording of singular sounds or rhythmic phrases, later assembled in various compositions performed in a concert setting and recorded on a CD.

AARON SCHOCK was awarded a grant in support of CIRCO, a visually immersive feature-length documentary examining the life, tradition and hardships of Mexico's rural traveling circuses. The film follows the Ponce family, a ten-member circus troupe, as it struggles to survive in contemporary Mexico. Living and performing on the road since the 19th century, the Ponce family is just one of thousands of traveling Mexican circuses in existence today, continuing its rich artistic tradition against the backdrop of a collapsing rural economy and declining audiences. For the Ponces, these challenges are felt intimately and have led to a crisis within the family. While one of the oldest circus families in Mexico, the Ponces are now too poor to hire outside help, which forces all the child performers in the family to strike, move, and pitch the circus themselves. The Ringmaster was born into the circus and is devoted to preserving the family tradition. His wife, who ran away with the circus at 15, becomes increasingly bitter as she watches her children give up their childhood for a life that renders few rewards. She wants out. Her decision to leave, as seen at the end of the film, resonates with consequences not only for her children and family, but also for the fate of this century-old family tradition.

The JAMES SEWELL BALLET, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $11,760 in support of the Ballet Works Project. Founded in 1990, the Ballet's mission is to create and perform works that connect artists with audiences and to advance contemporary ballet. One of its goals is to create and present new choreography. Since 1999, Jerome Foundation has provided support to the Ballet so that emerging choreographers within and outside of the company would have opportunities to develop new works utilizing the resources of the Ballet. This new grant will continue to support the development of new works by emerging choreographers with the aim of producing those works.

NORAH SHAPIRO received support for Miss Tibet: Beauty in Exile, a documentary that explores the improbable connection between a Tibetan beauty pageant and the contemporary Tibetan struggle for survival. Nestled in the majestic mountains of the outer Himalayas is Dharamsala, India, seat of the exiled Tibetan Government and home to its leader, the Dalai Lama. As an older generation of Tibetans struggles to preserve their traditional culture while living in exile, their children, who have grown up entirely outside their homeland, are exposed to the trappings of an increasingly homogeneous global youth culture. The challenges of a people facing diaspora, tensions between a desire to preserve traditions versus the need to be part of the modern world, and a universal concern amongst Tibetans about their homeland, intersect in the Miss Tibet Beauty Pageant, now approaching its eighth year. Miss Tibet: Beauty in Exile transports viewers to the exotic and paradoxical realm in which a beauty pageant aims to simultaneously serve as a celebration of Tibetan girls as well as a platform for promoting its exiled people's struggle against Chinese rule. It delves into this contradictory manifestation of decades of continued exile in the midst of ever increasing global influences that are, for better or worse, unavoidable.

UNIQUE PROJECTS, New York City, as fiscal sponsor for JILL SIGMAN/THINKDANCE, received $7,500 in support of the creation and production of ZsaZsaLand. Jill sigman/ thinkdance is an experimental company presenting work at the intersection of dance, theater and visual installation, often employing non-traditional environments, formats and ways of engaging the viewer. Sigman asks questions through the medium of the body. ZsaZsaLand will be a full evening multimedia dance theater work involving five dancers, a DJ, a composer/live vocalist, projected video and a set including a large quantity of hyperbolic brightly colored fake flowers. In this new work, Sigman intends to explore the collision of abundance, decadence, violence and fatalism in contemporary American culture.

SMACK MELLON, Brooklyn, New York, received a two-year grant of $30,000 in support of the participation of emerging artists in the 2008 and 2009 Exhibition Programs. Smack Mellon's core programs include an Exhibition Program, which produces ambitious contemporary visual arts exhibitions; an Artist Studio Program, which provides artists with free studio space, technical support and a fellowship; and an arts education program. Jerome support is directed toward the participation of emerging artists in an Exhibition Program that annually presents three group shows and two solo exhibitions. Smack Mellon's exhibitions advance public interest in the visual arts while providing opportunities for emerging and under-recognized visual artists.

JACKIE SMITH received a grant for Secrets in the House of Myrrh, a narrative short about a 22-year-old nun named Zipporah who has been part of a religious community called Sisters of Piety (located on the outskirts of the conservative military town of Colorado Springs, Colorado) since she aged out of the foster care system at age 17. As part of the religious order, Zipporah not only experiences what she views as a beautiful relationship with God, she also has a stable family that promises permanence and love for the first time in her life. But she harbors a growing secret confliction about her commitment to a life of religious limitations. She starts to hunger for the outside world and is put to the test when a young soldier and friend, Luca, seeks refuge at the convent after going A.W.O.L. from the army. Zipporah finds her vows at odds with her intense personal desires and is forced to decide whether to remain in the convent or return to the outside world.

Support was awarded to RACHEL SMITH for the feature-length documentary The Problem of Haiti, which examines the effects of foreign involvement in Haiti, focusing on the United Nations stabilization mission, known as MINUSTAH. The film tells its story through the lens of Cite Soleil, a small slum community that bears the tangible, visual ramifications of destructive foreign policy. Conditions in the slum and other parts of Haiti have been called worse than Darfur, with Cite Soleil singled out as the most dangerous place in the world according to the United Nations. The Problem of Haiti is a multidimensional film that melds verit footage of everyday Haitian life with interviews of UN officials, analysts, political actors, Haitian elite, journalists, gang members, and Cite Soleil grassroots organizations and community members-all in an effort to encourage foreign policymakers to take a more constructive role in Haiti's evolution.

Directors authorized a grant of $24,000 to THE SOAP FACTORY, Minneapolis, Minnesota, in support of the participation of emerging artists in the 2008 Exhibition Program. The Soap Factory is dedicated to the production, presentation and promotion of emerging contemporary practice across the visual arts. Committed to experimentation and risk-taking, it offers audiences an immediate experience of the arts and encourages a wider understanding of and appreciation for artists and their works. It presents large-scale group exhibitions, project and video room exhibitions, and events. Artists and independent curators may submit work samples and exhibition proposals in an open review structure.

SOCRATES SCULPTURE PARK, Long Island City, New York, received a two-year grant of $46,000 to support the Emerging Artist Fellowship Program. Socrates is an internationally recognized outdoor museum and artist residency program that serves as a vital New York City park offering a wide array of free public services. It believes that reclamation, revitalization and creative expression are essential to the survival, humanity and improvement of the urban environment. It provides artists with opportunities to create and exhibit large-scale sculpture and multimedia installations in an environment that encourages interaction among artists, art works and the public. The Emerging Artist Fellowship Program gives emerging artists a chance to experiment, realize innovative and ambitious projects and exhibit in an open, professional forum.