Past
Grantees

Composer AMIR ELSAFFAR, New York City, will travel to Baku, Azerbaijan, to study the Mugam repertoire, the classical music of Azerbaijan, and to learn the ways in which Mugam melodies and structures have been used in the creation of new works, particularly in the jazz idiom. Mugam is the Azeri manifestation of a larger musical phenomenon known as Maqam. ElSaffar will study vocal techniques with two experts and explore approaches to applying Maqam techniques to jazz through study with noted Jazz musicians.

ETHEL'S FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS, New York City, received $12,000 in support of commissions for emerging composers, instrument construction, and rehearsal of the new works.. The ensemble explores new possibilities in string quartet performance, forging a repertoire unencumbered by convention, genre or style. Its performance schedule and regular touring ensure plentiful opportunities for presentation of new works. Jerome funding will support commissions to three emerging composers, one of whom will be creating four bowed instruments for the members of Ethel to use in performance. Ethel musicians will work with composers during rehearsal to provide feedback in the development of the works. When selecting composers to commission, Ethel examines each composer's body of work and its relevance to Ethel's performance aesthetic, the degree of artistic innovation, and how the work may diversify Ethel's repertoire.

ETHOS PERCUSSION GROUP, New York City, received $22,500 in support of the Emerging Composers Commissioning Fund. Since 1989, Ethos Percussion Group has presented percussion music utilizing an ensemble of accomplished classical and world music artists, each with a distinctive background and musical perspective. Its programming integrates global instruments and playing styles into the conventions of Western chamber music to create visually and aurally compelling experiences. To date, support from Jerome Foundation has underwritten 23 commissions of new music for the ensemble. Continued support will allow Ethos to commission new works for percussion quartet from three emerging composers and to present those works in public performances in 2008 and 2009. The objectives of the Fund are to serve emerging composers by subsidizing the creation of new work and to develop creative partnerships from a wide range of genres in order to expand the literature for percussion and the audience for contemporary concert music.

FilmNorth (formerly Independent Filmmaker Project Minnesota), St. Paul, Minnesota, received $20,000 in support of programming and services for film and video artists and photographers. IFP Minnesota is a center for media arts, whose mission is to support and promote the work of artists who create screenplays, film, video and photography. Its goal is to cultivate a healthy and viable community for these artists. Jerome Foundation subsidy will assist with classes and seminars for independent media artists, low cost access to equipment, technical assistance, mentoring and other forms of assistance to emerging artists.

FIVEMILES, Brooklyn, New York, received $8,000 in support of exhibitions featuring works by emerging artists. Both an exhibition and performance space, FiveMiles shows work in all media, commissions experimental work, identifies underrepresented artists of color and brings art effectively into its community. Exhibitions featuring new installations, site-specific work and new videos received Jerome support.

JRG FOCKELE received a grant for #1 Train, a short narrative that follows two brothers, seven year-old Marc and four year-old Daniel, as they cope with the disintegration of their family. Their mother is addicted to alcohol and their father is absent from the family. In a drunken rage, the boys' mother abandons them one evening, prompting Marc and Daniel to set out to find her.

FRANCONIA SCULPTURE PARK, Shafer, Minnesota, received $35,000 in support of the Emerging Artists Program. Franconia, operating on a multi-acre site, provides opportunities to artists and audiences through a diverse program of creation, education and experimentation. It gives emerging artists the experience of working and exhibiting in a rural setting and realizing large-scale outdoor sculptural works that are ordinarily beyond reach. Franconia offers six residency fellowships to emerging artists to live on site, create and install new work. Resident artists become part of a community and learn from each other. Artists are selected via an open call and panel review, with the majority being residents of Minnesota and New York City. Artists are strongly encouraged to experiment in the creation of new work.

FRANCONIA SCULPTURE PARK, Franconia, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $70,000 for the Emerging Artists Program. Franconia is dedicated to providing opportunities to artists and audiences through a diverse program of creation, education and experimentation. It gives emerging artists the experience of working and exhibiting in a rural sculpture park, northeast of the Twin Cities. Each year, it hosts up to 40 artists and interns who create and exhibit new work. The fellowship dollars, given directly to the artists, assist with the purchase of materials, provide an honorarium and support work on-site. Artists are selected via an independent panel review of applications submitted in response to an open call.

FRANKLIN ART WORKS, Minneapolis, Minnesota received a grant of $21,000 in support of the participation of emerging artists in the 2007-08 Exhibition Program. This visual and performing arts center is devoted to presenting cutting edge contemporary art by emerging artists from Minnesota and New York City. Through a mix of exhibitions, performing arts, film and arts education, it celebrates contemporary art in all its complexity and diversity. In three galleries, 14 artists will be given one-person shows. Works in sculpture, video, painting, photography, wall drawings, collage, installation, sound, drawing and printmaking are exhibited.

A grant was awarded to SARAH FRIEDLAND for Thing With No Name, a feature-length documentary that tracks the rebirth of a rural South African community plagued by AIDS. The film also focuses on an HIV-positive individual's recovery through treatment. The title of the film addresses the fierce taboo and stigma attached to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa. This fear of rejection is so paralyzing that the name of the virus is rarely spoken aloud, especially among those who are directly impacted by HIV/AIDS.

Jerome Foundation provided two-years of general support to GRANTMAKERS IN THE ARTS, Seattle, Washington, for a total commitment of $22,000. Grantmakers in the Arts is an affinity group of the Council on Foundations. Its membership includes public and private sector grantmakers as well as individual donors. Its mission is to work within philanthropy to improve society's health by strengthening the role of arts and culture. It promotes discourse and ideas about arts philanthropy within a diverse community of grantmakers. It accomplishes this through publications, conferences and research.

JENNIFER GRAUSMAN received funding for Pressure Cooker, a feature-length documentary that chronicles the senior year of several inner city public high school students as they are transformed by a teacher and her kitchen. Their unorthodox teacher is Wilma Stephenson, a 37-year veteran of Frankford High School. With high expectations, a borderline-ecclesiastical devotion to her students and a boot-camp styled approach, she pushes her students to grow, mature and aspire-both inside and outside the kitchen. Her distinctive personal approach pays off-last year her seniors won over $500,000 in scholarships. And this year she is hoping they earn even more. Pressure Cooker is a coming-of-age story about the slow, sometimes painful, process of learning and becoming. The film speaks to the essence of education.

GRAYWOLF PRESS, St. Paul, Minnesota, received $15,000 in support of the publication of books by emerging authors. Graywolf Press is dedicated to the creation and promotion of thoughtful and imaginative contemporary literature essential to a vital and diverse culture. It publishes authors whose work conveys a distinct vision by way of a singular voice and a vigorous engagement with the possibilities of language. It publishes poetry, fiction and literary nonfiction; local as well as national and international writers; and established authors alongside new emerging talents. The Press sells over 80,000 books annually and reaches an estimated audience of 120,000 people. Throughout its history, Graywolf has taken risks on new writers whose readership is unproven. These include first and second book authors for whom Jerome subsidy was awarded. The Press secures opportunities for emerging writers to further their careers and their writing.

HARVESTWORKS, New York City, received $17,000 in support of the creation of new work by emerging artists in the Creative Residencies Program. The programs and services provided by Harvestworks have evolved as aesthetics, practices and technological advances have altered the way artists work. Harvestworks provides equipment, expertise and financial support that artists use to create work in new media. It serves a cross-generational mix of established and emerging artists. Jerome's funding is directed toward the participation of emerging artists in the Creative Residencies Program, which commissions artists and supports them through the production process with a wide array of digital media equipment and the assistance of expert engineers.

JENNIFER HAYASHIDA and BENJAMIN GERDES, New York City, will travel to various locations in Sweden to conduct field and secondary research into the life and significance of The Match King, Swedish industrialist Ivar Kreuger (1880-1932), founder of the match stick empire Swedish Match. This will inform their project Room of the Sun (working title), taken from the name used for the room housing the planetarium Kreuger built in his Park Avenue apartment in New York. The multiple channels and visual/sound overlays of the projected installation are intended to represent the complex linkages between Krueger's economic and political ideologies, and the relationship between Kreuger and light.

IN THE HEART OF THE BEAST PUPPET AND MASK THEATRE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $34,000 in support of the MayDay Mentor Program for emerging artists. Founded in 1973, In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre explores and celebrates human experience and the wonders of the world's natural and cultural riches through performance, ceremony and teaching. For 33 years, it has produced an annual MayDay Parade and Festival. The MayDay Mentor Program immerses emerging protg artists in the process of planning and creating ceremonial productions. Protgs receive information about the context, history and process of MayDay; study examples of other creative community-building projects; and receive specialized training in puppetry techniques for large, public outdoor events. They develop leadership skills through coaching as they engage volunteers in MayDay workshop activities. Master mentor and Artistic Director Sandy Spieler oversees the program, pairs mentors and protgs, leads group training sessions and serves as a resource.

HERE ARTS CENTER, New York City, received a two-year grant of $40,000 in support of the participation of emerging artists in the HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP), which has two primary components: development and production. HERE produces and presents new hybrid performance work, a seamless integration of theatre, dance, music, puppetry and performance art, aimed at reflecting the complex contemporary age of imagery and information. HARP nurtures the artist who takes risks with traditional forms, and who finds inspiration in the active exchange of artistic ideas. Over the one to three-year period of a HARP residency, each artist or collaborative team develops a specific project. HARP encourages entrepreneurial skills that help sustain artistic careers. It operates on the belief that artists must control the work that they create and be able to participate knowledgably in all phases of their projects from inception to full production.

Photographer KRISTINE HEYKANTS, Minnesota, will travel to Italy to compile visual research and glean new subject matter for photographic imagery. She is especially interested in old and deteriorating locations. This trip is designed to inform her ideas about parallels and contradictions between older European culture and contemporary American culture.

The HIGHPOINT CENTER FOR PRINTMAKING, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $32,000 in support of fellowship residencies for emerging printmakers. Highpoint Center is dedicated to advancing the art of printmaking by providing educational programs, access and collaborative publishing opportunities to engage its diverse community of users and to increase public understanding of and appreciation for the printmaking arts. Jerome dollars will be dedicated to the residencies of three emerging Minnesota printmakers, annually selected by a jury from a competitive field of applications. The artists receive access to a fully equipped printshop with technical support, a place where they can create work in all print media including relief woodcut, lithography, intaglio/etching, monoprinting and screenprinting. There is a culminating exhibition as well as group meetings and critiques with three guest artists during the nine-month residencies.

Composer and pipa master GAO HONG, Minnesota, will travel to Beijing and Henan Province, China, to study and document Buddhist temple music at the Zhihua Temple in Beijing and at the Shaolin Temple in Henan Province. Gao Hong wishes to contribute to the preservation of Buddhist Temple music and promote its performance. She will record the music as sung and played by monks, and then transcribe the music and arrange it for pipa, choir and other instruments to promote wider performance and recording.