Past
Grantees

ETHEL’S FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS, New York City, received $20,000 in support of its HomeBaked Commissioning Program, which will provide commissions to four emerging New York City-based composers. ETHEL will work with the composers to refine the works, rehearse the music, and present world premieres of the new compositions in New York City. ETHEL seeks compositions of the highest artistic and creative quality, works that challenge the quartet as musical artists and expand their reach in an ever-evolving compositional scene and a diverse contemporary audience. ETHEL's mission is to promote new music and expand and diversify audiences for it through adventurous performances, new technologies, and innovative community engagement programs.

EVANS, AYANA, New York, New York, will travel to Toronto and Montreal, Canada, and Kingston, Jamaica, to gain a greater understanding of the African diaspora in Jamaica and Canada and find parallels between her heritage and the history of others with similar past experiences of colonization and slavery. Evans plans to use the interviews, images, and other information she gathers to stretch past the scope of herself and use historically anchored themes analyzing the role of gender, class and race in the proposed locations.

EWASKIO, ANNIE, Brooklyn, New York, will participate in the Arctic Circle Residency, a guided expedition sailing the international territory of Svalbard. Artists and scientists are invited to collaborate and create work on board the vessel. This trip will inform Ewaskio’s paintings, which depict mythical landscapes and characters, ghostly after-images of exploration in boreal settings.

EYEBEAM ATELIER, Brooklyn, New York, received a grant of $15,000 in support of the Artists@Eyebeam Residency Program. Eyebeam is a nonprofit artist colony and R&D lab that supports creative risk-taking. Eyebeam provides young and emerging artists with time, digital and other tools, work space and monetary support to create new work that pushes the frontiers of art and technology. Eyebeam has awarded some 270 residencies over the past 17 years, providing both significant financial support and the tools and means to create new art and new media. The organization's principal activities revolve around the work of its resident artists, and Eyebeam is proud to deliver their finished work through various means, such as its Annual Showcase and other programs. Eyebeam exposes diverse audiences to experimental and interdisciplinary work, providing an environment for dialogue, collaboration, learning and discovery. 

FilmNorth (formerly Independent Filmmaker Project Minnesota), Saint Paul, Minnesota, received $35,000 in support of the 2015 season of MNTV, a series of three public television shows featuring short films made within the last 18 months by Minnesota filmmakers. MNTV is a catalyst for film and video artists to produce work and develop professionally. The series nurtures creativity, allows creative risks, advances difficult issues and represents non-mainstream points of view. MNTV’s eclectic compilations regularly showcase innovative and provocative work. All three one-hour shows are broadcast on Twin Cities Public Television (TPT), as well as public television stations in Duluth, Appleton, Rochester, the Bemidji/Brainerd area, and Fargo/Moorhead. IFP Minnesota’s mission is to advance a vibrant and diverse community of independent film and media artists through networking, education, funding, and opportunities for showcasing their work.  IFP Minnesota envisions a world where expression through images is encouraged and valued.

FilmNorth (formerly Independent Filmmaker Project Minnesota), Saint Paul, Minnesota, received $22,000 in support of the participation of emerging artists in the Equipment Rental Program and Training and Professional Development Programs and the provision of ten free memberships to emerging artists. IFP Minnesota’s mission is to advance a vibrant and diverse community of independent film and media artists through networking, education, funding, and opportunities for showcasing their work. It supports the independent filmmaker by creating a healthy and viable filmmaking community in Minnesota. The Equipment Rental Program provides low-cost access to top-quality filmmaking equipment. Training and Professional Development Programs assist emerging filmmakers in developing their craft and professional skills, including master classes, technology training, business skills development, seminars, and classes.

BROOKLYN ARTS EXCHANGE (BAX), Brooklyn, New York, as fiscal sponsor for MARJANI FORTE, New York City, received $9,900 in support of the production and touring of being Here…/this time, the final act of a three-year dance work, being Here: a trilogy of works, examining the intersections of mental illness, addiction, and systemic poverty. This work highlights the collection of systems, legislation, and institutions that have historically worked for disenfranchised peoples. Forte will combine imaginative sci-fi narratives with history, scientific research, and dynamic play with multimedia. BAX encourages artists’ risk-taking and stimulates dialogue among diverse constituencies by providing year-round performance, rehearsal, and educational programs that develop artists of all ages.

FRANCONIA SCULPTURE PARK, Shafer, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $78,000 in support of the Emerging Artist Fellowship Program. Franconia operates a 43-acre sculpture park, an active artist residency program, and community arts programming. Its mission is to provide physically and intellectually wide-open spaces where all are inspired to participate in the creative process. The FSP/Jerome Fellowships provide opportunities for emerging artists and/or emerging artist teams to create large-scale three-dimensional artwork to be exhibited at Franconia, develop technical and artistic skills, acquire experience in artistic practice, and participate in public engagement programs. Emerging artists in New York City and Minnesota are eligible for this residency program.

JA’TOVIA M. GARY received support for The Evidence of Things Not Seen, a 90-minute personal documentary that chronicles her journey to self-actualization through an intimate look into her closest relationships, exploring the reverberating effects of generational trauma.  This non-traditional confessional reveals her efforts to combat the stigma and shame associated with mental anguish and abuse, particularly within the African American community, showing her determination to redefine herself under tenuous circumstances. From tense meetings with former lovers and estranged siblings to intimate and revealing therapy sessions, she shares the healthy and not so healthy ways in which she attempts to cope. Photos, home video, archival footage, animation sequences, and reenactments will create a collage of memory, nostalgia, and identity that aims to draw connections between the woman Ja’Tovia is today and the most dramatic and harrowing experiences of her ancestors. 

GORMAN-CARTER, MALIYA, Minneapolis, Minnesota, will travel to Estampés, France, to study the art of clown with master teacher Philippe Gaulier in Estampés, France. Through this workshop, Gorman-Carter hopes to learn how to let go of technique in favor of focusing on presence. She is eager to discover and strengthen what is unique to her as a performance artist and will prepare her for eventually joining or creating a performance troupe that uses movement and clown to tell stories, express magic and connect with the hearts of audiences.

RASHAAD ERNESTO GREEN received support for Big Man, a feature-length narrative about Nick, an ex-con who spent a lifetime protecting himself from those who caused him harm. Through powerlifting, he has even made his body into a weapon of sorts, a first line of defense. Although Nick appears to be a large and intimidating man, he’s actually attempting to protect the vulnerable child within who has suffered a history of abuse, pain and neglect. Underneath his hard exterior, Nick has a sensitive soul. At first glance, many people don’t identify this quality in him because they’re so quick to judge his harsh exterior. Then Nick meets Nia, a nine-year-old who appears to be a normal child, but years of neglect have hardened her to the point of seeming more like a mature adult. This unlikely pair has suffered similar circumstances, and Nia presents an opportunity for Nick to correct mistakes of the past in order to heal his own inner turmoil. As his powerlifting pursuits collide and intertwine with his personal ones, Nick fights with everything he has to save the bond that he and Nia created together.

HAHN, HEIDI, Brooklyn, New York, will travel to Rome, Italy, to heighten her sense of dislocation through the study of Italian architecture, and explore her fascination with the façade of painting. Hahn is intrigued by the way contemporary life is built around the history of Rome, with classical designs refurbished and incorporated into the exteriors of contemporary buildings, perpetuating an endless undoing of placement and time. Hahn is particularly interested in the ruins that intersect the city. She sees this trip as a transcendental mediation on light and space and will incorporate ideas of the compression of time into future paintings.

HAM, CHRISTINA, Minneapolis, Minnesota, will travel to Dublin and Galway, Ireland, to research the connections between the Irish Renaissance and the Harlem Renaissance in drama. This trip will benefit Ham’s work by informing the creation of a new play called Niagara that she plans on writing based on the information that she uncovers in Ireland. It will also help her in terms of establishing a new collaborative alliance with the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.

RUSSELL HARBAUGH received support for a 100-minute narrative called LOVE AFTER LOVE, a sad, funny, romantic account of a mother and two grown sons as they struggle in the wake of a father’s death. After 4 years of development, the project began shooting in July with actors Chris O'Dowd and Andie MacDowell in the lead roles. Glenn and Suzanne are theater professors at a Midwestern University. They enjoy a playful, tempestuous marriage surrounded by students and family. Their two sons, Nicholas and Chris, have grown up and left the nest, making homes in New York City.  Nick is a successful book editor involved in a long-standing relationship with a colleague, Rebecca, whom the whole family loves, while Chris waits tables, trying to find an outlet for his vague, center-less creativity. When Glenn becomes ill with cancer, the family waits out his last summer days together: caring for his dying body that lies in the living room. Unable and ill-equipped to attend to their mounting emotional needs after Glen's death the family implodes, finding release in alternatively abhorrent and comic ways.

HARLEM STAGE/ AARON DAVIS HALL, New York City, received a two-year grant of $50,000 in support of the Fund for New Work, a program that supports artists in the creation, development and presentation of new work through commissions. Harlem Stage is a performing arts center that celebrates and perpetuates the unique and diverse legacy of Harlem and the indelible impression it has made on American culture. It provides opportunity, commissioning and support to artists of color, and makes performances easily accessible to all audiences, including children to whom it introduces the rich diversity, excitement and inspiration of the performing arts.

HART, HEATHER, Brooklyn, New York, will travel to Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa, to explore architectural forms as they relate to liminal space and the body in “colored” communities, specifically biracial people and families. As a biracial woman, she navigates and unpacks liminal spaces as metaphors for identity and humanity. Hart is interested in how architectural forms relate to participation, particularly in the context of racially divided places. Her interdisciplinary practice fuses fabricated and historical belief systems and legends bequeathed through generations mixed with invention and intuition. She makes oracles in the form of porches, stoops, and rooftops and sees this travel as an opportunity to find forms, people, and stories for her work.

HENLY, ANNE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, will travel to Prague, The Czech Republic, to experience the largest worldwide theatre design festival, the Prague Quadrennial, and attend a traditional Czech marionette carving workshop to expand her knowledge and skills in order to explore her own scenic design and puppetry work in Minnesota. Henly strongly feels that attending the Prague Quadrennial and the Puppets in Prague marionette carving workshop will undeniably inspire her future personal and collaborative work as a theatre maker and an artist.

HENRY STREET SETTLEMENT/ABRONS ART CENTER, New York City, received $21,000 in support of the commissioning and production of new works by three choreographers, who will receive commissioning fees for the development of new works and up to 400 hours of free rehearsal workspace at the Abrons. Abrons provides a work-in-progress showing during development and fully produces the work upon completion. Commissioned choreographers also receive marketing, administrative, and technical support. This initiative is an extension of Abrons Artists’ Workspace Program. The Abrons Arts Center’s mission is to bring innovative artistic excellence to Manhattan’s Lower East Side through diverse, cutting-edge performances; exhibitions/artist residencies; classes and workshops for all ages, including pre-professional training for youth; and arts-in-education programming at public schools.

HERE ARTS CENTER, New York City, received a two-year grant of $44,000 in support of the HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP). From its home in Lower Manhattan, HERE builds a community that nurtures career artists as they create innovative hybrid live performance in theatre, dance, music, puppetry, media, and visual art. For more than 20 years, HERE has come to occupy a unique and essential place in the landscape of downtown theatre, and to be known as a destination for audiences who are passionate about groundbreaking contemporary work and the creative process behind it. HERE’s signature program, the HERE Artist Residency Program, supports the singular vision of a diverse roster of Resident Artists through commissions, long-term development, and a quality production, all of which strengthen their careers for the long-term.

MINNESOTA COUNCIL ON FOUNDATIONS, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $5,000 in support of a research project on Hill Family Philanthropy. The Minnesota Council on Foundations, with over 170 grantmaker members, seeks to expand and strengthen a vibrant community of diverse grantmakers who individually and collectively advance the common good.