Past
Grantees

THEATRE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP (TCG), New York City, received a two-year grant of $38,000 in support of Rounds 16 and 17 of the National Theatre Criticism/Affiliated Writers Program for American Theatre magazine. TCG strengthens, nurtures and promotes the professional nonprofit American theater. It serves over 430 member theaters and over 17,000 individual members. The Affiliated Writers Program is designed to develop a high level of arts writing/cultural journalism for American Theatre magazine. Through an open application and competitive review process, TCG identifies three cultural writers from New York City and Minnesota each year and offers them stipends, travel assistance, and other services to write for American Theatre. The program not only enables the magazine to greatly expand its coverage of the national theater scene, it simultaneously encourages a new generation of cultural reporters and critics. The program aims to develop a pool of theater writers who have the depth of experience and breadth of perspective to stimulate critical thought and lively debate on the contemporary American theater; and to relate that theater to its historical, social, and cultural surroundings.

The Jerome Foundation Board authorized support for a television series presenting the work of independent film and video artists. A grant of $25,000 was made to THIRTEEN/WNET NEW YORK in support of Reel New York. Now approaching its ninth season, Reel New York is on the cutting edge of the creative media arts scene, providing a forum for narrative shorts, documentaries, experimental films, animation, and projects that defy categorization. These works by New York based independent media artists reflect an array of perspectives that cross racial, religious, social and cultural boundaries to illuminate the lives of New Yorkers. Featured artists receive critical media exposure and access to audiences. Artists introduce their works on camera, which adds a personal dimension to each presentation. The series has presented over 140 independent productions. A companion web site highlights the broadcasted works and houses interviews, a festival calendar, and a list of resources.

ANNA THOMPSON, an arts presenter at the College of Saint Benedict in St. Joseph, Minnesota, will attend the CINARS (Commerce Internationale des arts de la Scene) Forum in Montreal, Canada, to see dance performances by international companies. Over 1,000 artists, agents, presenters and observers from 60 countries attend CINARS. Thompson will have the opportunity to select from over 150 international performances. The College of Saint Benedict plays a significant role in the artistic life of its regional community and has a long history of presenting dance.

MORGAN THORSON, Minneapolis choreographer, will travel to Las Vegas for three days and then to the Djerassi Artist Residency Program in Woodside, California, for five weeks. She will research the areas of obsession and impersonation for the development of new choreographic material. Thorson is investigating obsession in the areas of impersonation, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and ritualistic behavior. Physical exploration will occupy most of her time at Djerassi, with short periodic side trips for research and interviews.

AMY TOSCANI, a sculptor in Minneapolis, will spend two months in Utica, New York, in a residency at Sculpture Space. Sculpture Space presents an environment that fosters risk-taking, exploration and innovation. Toscani will work alongside other sculptors and technicians, learn from her interaction with them, and develop new approaches to her work. The residency will give her precious time to develop and push her ideas into physical reality. She'll participate in the creative community onsite, and take field trips to visit major museums and sculpture parks in the area.

THE SOUTHERN THEATER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, acting as fiscal agent for SPACE-T.U.-EMBRACE, received a two-year grant of $22,000 in support of 2004 and 2005 concerts. Founded in 2003 by Co-Artistic Directors Uri Sands and Toni Pierce Sands, Space-T.U.-Embrace brings people together through dance, creating concerts in which music, thought and movement are drawn from a variety of genres and cultures. In 2004, the company will present revised and repertory work by choreographer Uri Sands at The Southern Theater. In 2005, the company will mount an entirely new season and launch a community outreach program.

VOCALESSENCE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $22,000 in support of the 2004 Essentially Choral program. The program is conducted in collaboration with the American Composers Forum. VocalEssence presents six to eight subscription concerts each season of multifaceted repertoire, newly commissioned and seldom heard classical and contemporary works. It offers education programs, tours nationally and internationally, records, broadcasts provides training, and commissions new works. Jerome Foundation support is directed toward an educational and professional development opportunity for emerging composers. Essentially Choral enables five competitively selected emerging composers, the majority of whom are residents of New York City and/or Minnesota, to hear their choral works rehearsed and then performed in a reading session. The reading engages the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers and up to 15 professional orchestral musicians under the direction of conductor and Artistic Director Philip Brunelle. The program includes individual mentoring/coaching sessions with Brunelle and composer Sven-David Sandstrm.

VSA ARTS OF MINNESOTA, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $35,000 in support of the Artist Recognition Grant Program and services to artists. VSA arts of Minnesota promotes quality, accessible arts experiences for people with all types of disabilities throughout the state. Jerome support is directed to program opportunities for artists with disabilities. Through an open application process and competitive panel review, six emerging artists are annually awarded Recognition Grants to continue their work in the visual, literary and performing arts. The Program's goals are to recognize excellence, provide financial support and tangible encouragement, and identify artists who are dedicated to making arts production a central part of their lives.

Minneapolis choreographer, dancer and dance instructor ROXANE WALLACE will spend one month in Toronto attending a summer intensive at Ballet Creole. She will investigate the philosophy and methodology used in the choreographic fusion of Ballet Creole through study with Artistic Director, choreographer and scholar Patrick Parson.

THE SOUTHERN THEATER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $4,200 in support of the development and production of a new work by choreographer/performance artist DIANE WALLER. This commitment was previously authorized through the Dancer Pool program of the Minnesota Dance Alliance. When the Alliance ceased operation, funds were returned to the Jerome Foundation. Waller submitted an updated proposal in order to secure release of that commitment. She will create a performance/installation consistent with her history of making interdisciplinary works based on philosophical underpinnings. Her intent is to inhabit the performance arena with images that are poetic, lush and provocative in their juxtapositions, and reveal deeper perceptions of humanity. The work will engage three dancers, and will be produced in the winter of 2005.

P.S. 122, New York City, acting as fiscal agent for independent artist CLAUDE WAMPLER, received a concluding grant of $12,000 to support the creation and development of two works. Wampler, a visual and performance artist, develops work using video, painting, photography, lighting, sculpture, costume and text. Her objective is to create multidisciplinary projects capable of crossing over from museums and galleries to theater spaces, and back again. Jerome support is directed to USA vs. France, which encompasses a tennis match between Wampler and French choreographer Jerome Bel; and to Disruption of Other Projects Advertised as My Own, which continues her practice of questioning the perception of art consumption and authorship via a series of works that invite her audience to attend other artists' openings, shows and performances.

SHEN WEI DANCE ARTS, New York City, received $9,000 in support of the development and production of a new work titled The Second Enter in the Palace. Shen Wei Dance Arts is dedicated to the creation of new multidisciplinary dance works that are a hybrid between Western and Eastern cultures. At once representational and abstract, Shen Wei's choreography is the moving medium among complementary visual elements in the works he creates. In this new work, his aim is to create a contemporary version of the Peking opera, of the same title, which tells the linear story of the transfer of power from a King to his son. Shen Wei's focus will be to reveal its essence through contemporary movement and the Chinese Opera form.

Funding was awarded to SCOTT WESTPHAL-SOLARY for All Gods Children, a feature length documentary that takes a personal look at the damages three former Christian missionary families have endured due to unthinkable abuse their children suffered at the hands of staff at a missionary boarding school (the Mamou Alliance Academy in West Africa).

Photographer KIMBERLEE WHALEY, Minneapolis, will spend seven days in New Bedford, Massachusetts, to further define and develop a photographic project titled Fragments, about her hometown. A year ago, she began this photographic investigation by making images representing her parent's house and their personal belongings while addressing issues of space, form and light. The work focused on an interior home life of absence. She will further articulate and expand Fragments through this trip. The series is expected to include landscapes, with a focus on personal artifacts found at certain places and how they tell personal and collective stories. The long-range goal is to create her first significant body of work, pursue exhibition opportunities for it, and advance her professional career.

WHITE COLUMNS, New York City, received a two-year grant of $40,000 in support of emerging artists' fees and exhibition expenses. It identifies significant young visual artists and encourages their development through group and solo exhibitions, a curated slide and video file, and public programs. White Columns creates a forum for presenting the best new work by emerging artists. Of particular note is the White Room Program, an ongoing series of introductory solo shows by artists without commercial representation, often a steppingstone to wider recognition. Jerome support will be directed toward the participation of emerging artists in the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons. In 2003-04, White Columns will present six thematic group shows featuring more than 40 artists as well as 12 White Room solo exhibitions.

The NEW YORK FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS, acting as fiscal agent for YASUKO YOKOSHI, received a two-year grant of $20,000 in support of the development and production of new work. Multidisciplinary artist Yasuko Yokoshi imaginatively entwines cultures and personal insights to create radical performance work with grace, passion and biting wit. Jerome subsidy will underwrite the development of a new work titled what we when we, inspired by a Raymond Carver short story. Yokoshi is interested in the subtle interaction of men and women, the ambivalent environment that Carver creates, and the verbal and physical dialogue of which the story is predominantly constructed. She'll transform Carver's quintessentially American world into Japanese traditional Kabuki dance. Over the past ten years, Yokoshi has been exploring her personal tradition in narrative and character development as a primary strategy of her performance work.

Funding was awarded for Fire Flies and Junebugs by MELISSA YOUNG. This short narrative film is about a ten-year old character named Summer who thinks that her brother is missing, only to find out later that he has been in an accident. She has to learn to deal with his death in her own, unique way. This is also a story about how adults sometimes do not deal directly with children about serious subjects such as death, leaving children to draw their own conclusions.

The ZENON DANCE COMPANY AND SCHOOL, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $50,000 in support of emerging Minnesota and New York City choreographers' residencies and the creation of new works for the Zenon Company. The mission of Zenon is to sustain an artistically excellent, professional dance company that presents the commissioned work of emerging and locally, nationally and internationally recognized modern and jazz choreographers to the broadest and most diverse audiences and communities possible. It accomplishes this mission through performance, education and outreach. Zenon has a long history of receiving Jerome Foundation support for the commissioning and performance of new dance work by emerging choreographers. Among those to be commissioned over the course of the next two seasons are Keely Garfield, Jeanine Durning, and Wynn Fricke.

3 LEGGED RACE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, accelerates the invention of new theater and performance by launching original collaborative teams whose performances speak to broad audiences. It invests in a wide rage of experiments merging dance, circus, puppet, object and visual theater. A Jerome grant of $18,000 will support Blizzard 2003 and the related development activities. Blizzard incubates new performance experiments refined throughresidencies, and then presents those experiments in a dynamic package to audiences.

A grant of $15,000 was awarded to A GATHERING OF THE TRIBES, New York City, in support of the 2004 Emerging Writers in Residence Series. A Gathering of the Tribes is a multicultural, cross-generational group of artists, performers, writers, and musicians whose purpose is to provide a showcase for voices and visions traditionally overlooked by mainstream media. This is achieved through publications, events, readings, exhibits and workshops. The Writers in Residence Series is a subsection of the Tribes' Sunday Night Reading Series. The format for the series is eight two-person readings. Eight writers, fairly well known on the local scene, are selected by Artistic Director Steve Cannon. These writers then select early career emerging writers to read with them. Readings are followed by question and answer sessions and opportunities for discussion.