Past
Grantees

Poet JOHN MINCZESKI will travel to Rome, Spoleto, and Florence, Italy, for 25 days to refresh his memory of the people and land he visited in the late 1960s and to generate new poems. He will connect with people from his past and create a sequence of poems inspired by events from the trip, including ekphrastic poetry based on Renaissance art in Florence.

The MINNEAPOLIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a grant of $78,000 to support the 2002-03 MCAD/Jerome Emerging Artist Fellowship Program. Founded in 1886, the College is an independent accredited institution whose mission is to educate individuals as visionary artists and designers who will take leadership roles in creatively enhancing the world. The purposes of the Fellowship Program are to identify emerging visual artists in the early stages of their careers, and to provide financial stipends, professional criticism from three visiting critics/curators, and recognition through a culminating exhibition and catalogue. Since 1981, 105 Twin Cities artists have received MCAD/Jerome Fellowship grants. An independent expert jury reviews proposals on an annual basis and selects five Fellows.

A grant of $20,000 was awarded to the MINNEAPOLIS GUITAR QUARTET ASSOCIATION, Minneapolis, Minnesota, in support of commissions for emerging composers. The ensembles mission is to promote the guitar quartet as a viable chamber music medium through performances, master classes, commissioning of new works by living composers, arrangements of preexisting works, and documentation of new works and arrangements through recordings and printed publications. It will commission three emerging composers to write guitar quartets to be premiered during the 2003-04 season. An open call for proposals, review and selection of composers, rehearsal, and concert performance are all components of the commissioning program.

The MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ARTS, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $30,000 in support of the participation of emerging artists in the Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program, which is devoted to the exhibition of works by artists who live in Minnesota. Its objectives are to foster the exchange of ideas among artists; to stimulate interaction among artists, the museum and the public; and to facilitate the creation and presentation of work in a context not inhibited by aesthetic fashion or commercial demand. The program is directed by a panel of seven artists with a program coordinator jointly selected by the panel and the Institute. Program activities include gallery exhibitions, artist-led tours, lectures, panel discussions, film and video screenings, and performances. Since 1975, the program has presented 144 exhibitions of contemporary art by Minnesota artists.

MINNESOTA ALLIANCE FOR ARTS IN EDUCATION, Saint Paul, Minnesota, received a grant of $4,000 to support programs and services in 2002. The mission of the Alliance is to advance arts education for all Minnesota students. It operates programs that help school districts and community groups evaluate and strengthen their arts education programs and publishes an arts education and advocacy newspaper.

A two-year grant of $34,000 was given to the MINNESOTA CENTER FOR BOOK ARTS, Minneapolis, Minnesota, in support of the Jerome Book Arts Fellowship Program. The Center nourishes and interprets quality, integrity, and creativity in book arts; serves artists practicing contemporary book arts and book design; and involves and educates diverse communities and regional and national audiences in the book in all its contextsaesthetic, historic, cultural, social, and commercial. The fellowship program offers grants up to $5,000 to four to six emerging book artists every two years. The selected artists create new books to be presented in an exhibition with a catalog.

PARTS PHOTOGRAPHIC ARTS, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a $25,000 grant in support of the participation of emerging artists in four shows in the 2002 exhibition seasonSilent Witness: Genocide in the Landscape, Beyond the Perimeter: Outstate Minnesota Photographers, 9/11/02 Re-sponse/Re-action/Re-vision, and 8 x 2: Area Curators Discovery Project. The Center is committed to building a community that supports excellence in photography and engages and nurtures a broad audience for photography. It promotes the best and most compelling work by a diverse group of local and national artists, while stimulating inquiry on social, aesthetic, and technological issues.

Jerome Foundation Directors approved two membership and general support grants to philanthropic associations. A grant commitment of $11,436 was made to the COUNCIL ON FOUNDATIONS, Washington, D.C., a national organization that promotes and enhances responsible and effective philanthropy. A grant of $12,050 was approved for the MINNESOTA COUNCIL ON FOUNDATIONS, Minneapolis, Minnesota, an organization dedicated to strengthening and increasing the participation of Minnesota foundations in organized philanthropy.

A two-year grant of $45,000 was awarded to the MINNESOTA DANCE THEATRE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, in support of commissioning and producing new works by emerging Minnesota and New York City choreographers. Minnesota Dance Theatres mission is to create masterful and provocative dance performances that entertain and inspire audiences. It brings classical ballet and contemporary techniques into an encompassing dance aesthetic. Funding will be used for the creation of new works by Dwight Rhoden, Uri Sands, and two additional choreographers.

A grant of $13,000 was awarded to SASE: THE WRITE PLACE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, acting as fiscal agent for the MINNESOTA SPOKEN WORD ASSOCIATION, in support of the 2002 Singers of Daybreak spoken word conference and services to artists. The conference will take place in conjunction with the National Poetry Slam to be held in Minneapolis this August. It will include workshops, performances, and panel discussions with featured and guest artists. The Minnesota Spoken Word Association provides an informational newsletter as a resource for artists and plans to considerably expand its Web site.

A grant of $14,000 was authorized to S.A.S.E.:  THE WRITE PLACE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, as fiscal agent for the literary journal MIZNA, in support of the production of three issues in 2001, and within those, the publication of works by emerging Minnesota and New York City writers.  Mizna is an artistic and cultural publication highlighting the Arab-American experience through art and literature, and exploring that experience in a critical manner.  The first issue was produced in 1998.  The Jerome Foundation’s first grant to the journal was authorized in late 1999, at the time of the publication of the third issue.  The journal maintains an open submission process and is looking actively for emerging writers.

MOMENTA ART, Brooklyn, New York, was awarded a two-year grant of $27,000 in support of the Emerging Artist Exhibition Program. Momenta increases awareness of emerging and under-represented artists and fosters dialogue among artists and their audiences. Momenta focuses on two-person exhibitions in which each artist is given a project room to present his or her work. Momenta favors work that represents a consciousness of social, political, and aesthetic issues. In the 2001-02 program year, Momenta will mount six, two-person gallery shows and a guest curated group show.

Jerome Directors authorized a two-year grant of $24,000 to PERFORMANCE SPACE 122, New York City, acting as fiscal agent for choreographer JENNIFER MONSON, in support of two new segments of Bird Brain: the Osprey Tour and the Ducks and Geese Tour. Bird Brain is a multiyear navigational dance project that investigates migratory patterns and habits of birds and animals. By literally following the migratory routes of the animals, this dance project weaves together a community across continents and cultures. The dance company, traveling by car and plane, will do their own migration, with performances, panel discussions, and events along the way.

DEBRA ELIAS MORSE, ANDREA FRENZEL, and DELORES ZUIGA BLORE will spend three weeks in Jerez, Spain, where they will attend the seventh annual Jerez Flamenco Festival. They perform together as the ensemble Majas, as well as individually in theater, community, and educational settings. They will attend intensive workshops and performances during the Festival, immerse themselves in Flamenco culture, and develop new choreographic work based upon these experiences.

Paj Ntaub Voice Editor Mai Nen Moua, Saint Paul, Minnesota, was awarded funding to enroll in a four-part financial management course and to travel to New York City to study Asian American Writers' Workshop's programs, staffing structure, and organizational experiences to inform the development of the Hmong American Institute for Literature (HAIL). HAIL will incorporate Paj Ntaub Voice, the development of Hmong writers, oral histories, traditional Hmong oral arts, and educational programs for youth in schools.

Funding was authorized for Paj Ntaub Voice Editor MAI NENG MOUA, Saint Paul, Minnesota, to enroll in a four-part financial management course and to travel to New York City to study Asian American Writers Workshops programs, staffing structure, and organizational experiences to inform the development of the Hmong American Institute for Literature (HAIL). HAIL will incorporate Paj Ntaub Voice, the development of Hmong writers, oral histories, traditional Hmong oral arts, and educational programs for youth in schools.

Jerome Directors authorized a two-year grant of $24,000 to MOVEMENT RESEARCH, New York City, in support of writers fees and publication costs for Performance Journal. Movement Research explores issues that relate to postmodern dance and performance and the challenges of expanding those categories to affect the cultural, political, and economic diversity of the community. Its dance programs are oriented towards artistic process and community dialogue. As a forum for dialogue about dance, performance, and the creative process, Performance Journal illuminates the context in which artists make work. It is published at least twice each year and includes the written voices of over 45 dance and performance artists and writers.

RENA MUNDO was awarded a grant in support of The Farm: Experimenting With Utopia, a documentary about the rise and fall of the most famous commune in the history of the United States, the people who devoted their lives to it and the entire communitys painful re-entry into mainstream America after it collapsed.

The FOUNDATION FOR INDEPENDENT ARTISTS, New York City, acting as fiscal agent for independent choreographer BEN MUNISTERI, received $12,000 in support of the creation of new work. Jerome funds will be used to create an evening-length piece based on a short section of a previous experimental piece. Munisteri is working with eight dancers and cello solos by four different composers as well as the sounds of underwater sonar and Siamese cats. Munisteri has been described as a choreographer who traverses the polar worlds of club and concert dance.

Funding was awarded to MAYU NAKAMURA for Fever, a bilingual narrative drama about a Japanese teenager who becomes pregnant by a married American man and stands trial for drowning her baby.