Past
Grantees

COAN, JAIME SHEARN, New York City, will travel to San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, California to conduct interviews and perform archival research to situate, culturally, geographically, and historically, his father’s AIDS-related death. This research will serve as material for a full-length poetry manuscript that centers on his father but is also very concerned with the institutions and archives that have regulated and recorded public life as concerns queer sexualities and HIV/AIDS. Coan will draw from oral interviews, archived materials, and family and institutional history.

COFFEE HOUSE PRESS, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $21,000 to support the publication of three books by Saeed Jones, Quintan Ana Wikswo, and John Dermot Woods. The mission of Coffee House Press is to publish exciting, vital, and enduring authors of this time; to delight and inspire readers; to contribute to the cultural life of its community; and to enrich literary heritage. By building on the best traditions of publishing in the book arts, the Press produces books that celebrate imagination, innovation in the craft of writing, and the many authentic voices of the American experience.

CORTEZ, RIO, New York City, will travel to the parish in Louisiana where her family members were owned as slaves to inform a series of poems drawn from the experience of the region’s natural geography and family history research. Her mother’s family is among the six original Black families in Utah, coming west shortly after the abolition of slavery. These poems were written on the subject of Utah Black history, the narrative experience of growing up Black in Utah, and the idea of creating/having to create a personal history, mythology for oneself, from the threads of Antebellum American history.

COZZA, MARTIN, Minnesota, will attend the Namelos Writers’ Workshop, Montreat, North Carolina, to have renowned children’s book editor Stephen Roxburgh read, edit, and work with him on revising a full draft of his novel Vincent’s Lens. Cozza expects this mentorship to help him develop a more sophisticated grasp of how a novel works, both internally as a work of art and in relation to child readers.

CUMMINGS, SCOTT, New York City, to travel to Buffalo, New York to do research for a new feature film with members of a Juggalo community. Juggalo subculture are fans of the Insane Clown Posse, an clown-themed hip hop duo from Detroit, Michigan, known for their controversial lyrics and hardcore following. Through his research, Cummings is looking beyond the make-up and the stereotypical image of the Juggalos as white, poor, overweight, unattractive, strung out on drugs, and prone to violence young people, for something deeper. 

DANSPACE PROJECT, New York City, received a two-year grant of $69,000 in support of commissions to emerging choreographers whose works are then produced in Danspace Project seasons. Now in its fourth decade, Danspace Project presents new work in dance, supports a diverse range of choreographers in developing their work, encourages experimentation, and connects artists to audiences. Danspace Project presents 25 to 30 weeks of contemporary dance each season on shared and full weekend series. Jerome support is directed toward its Commissioning Initiative, which includes commissions for emerging New York City and/or Minnesota-based choreographers. The commissioned work is presented in various Danspace programming strands including DraftWorks, Food For Thought, and Platforms. Danspace Project also provides artists with technical, promotional, and front-of-house support in addition to the commission.

THE DEBATE SOCIETY, Brooklyn, New York, received a two-year grant of $25,000 in support of the development and production of Jacuzzi and The Light Years. The Debate Society is a company that creates new plays through the collaboration of writer/performer Hannah Bos, writer/performer Paul Thureen, and director/developer Oliver Butler. The company specializes in unexpected stories set in supremely intricate, vividly theatrical worlds. Inspired by the Chicago World's Fairs of 1893 and 1933, theater impresario Steele Mackaye and dangerous turn-of-the-century technology, The Light Years examines the unfinished histories of everything that could have been. Jacuzzi is about class, family, and loneliness, and looks at the fissures that arise in our lives when dealing with all three.

DI GRAZIA, ELIZABETH, Minnesota, will travel to Guatemala to do detailed field research on indigenous Mayans, the heritage of her two children, to contrast with her own background and inform her memoir Healing Fires. She will research the Tzutujile Maya and will meet with several families in San Juan la Laguna, exploring the medicinal and curative herb garden operated by the midwives of San Juan. She will explore the healing arts of Mayan culture and meet with her two children’s birth mothers. The trip will provide powerful emotional content and insights that will enrich the manuscript.

DIXON PLACE, New York City, received $30,000 in support of the Mondo Cane! Commissioning Program and the Artist-in-Residence Program. Dixon Place, founded in 1986, provides a space for literary and performing artists to create and develop new works in front of live audiences. Its mission is to support and nurture the development of new work and works-in-progress from diverse artists to build new audiences for the work. In Mondo Cane!, Dixon Place commissions artists to develop and premiere new works of theater, performance art, puppetry, and dance. The Artist-in-Residence Program offers emerging artists in theater, performance art, puppetry, and dance the space and resources to develop new works, often culminating in work-in-progress presentations. There are three four-month residencies each year.

DOHRMANN, SARAH, New York City, will travel to Paris, France to investigate the everyday lives of Moroccan women who have migrated to Paris to inform the final chapters of a creative nonfiction book that interweaves narrative nonfiction and metafiction, titled Point of Departure. The book reveals the complexity of family life, the nature of relationships, the navigation of love and sexual desire, the acculturation of women, and the burden of creating a coherent self in a world that often fragments women. In writing about her feminist mother’s death and her friendship with Moroccan prostitute Khadija, she’s investigating what it takes to prevail, or even to withstand, life’s circumstances. 

MARIE DVORAKOVA received support for On the Wall, an animated short about a young trombone player who spends an adventurous night in a shabby hotel room where a wall of lively growing mold stain enables him to discover the realm of eroticism. Jirka leads a humdrum life. He tours the country in a small beaten up car with his fellow band players, playing the same dance music over and over every night. But one particular night will turn out to be special. After he checks into a shabby hotel room, he becomes preoccupied with finding a corkscrew to open a bottle of wine. He pays no attention to weird mold stains on the walls, or a large crooked bookcase stuffed with hundreds of books of the same title. He just wants to find a corkscrew to open that bottle. Once he does, his life turns upside down. The bookcase collapses to the ground and the room turns 180 degrees. The colorful and multi-textured fungus stain spreads across the wall and the shape of a female body appears – beautiful, pointillist, alive. Jirka has no clue about the way that men should behave around women, especially in regard to how men and women mate. But this time he can’t resist his curiosity. He becomes involved with the Woman in the mold and embarks on a journey of awakening and self-discovery, encountering a universe of eroticism and adventure within the stale room. He is forced to commit the ultimate act of courage, when the night is over.

FAJARDO, ANIKA, Minnesota, will travel to New York City to attend the 3rd Annual Comadres & Compadres Latino Writers Conference. The featured keynote is acclaimed memoir writer Esmeralda Santiago. Fajardo is in the midst of final revisions on her memoir and is hoping to make connections and network, present her writing to agents and editors interested in Latino writing, and attend educational seminars and workshops.

FERGUSON, JIMMY, New York City, to travel to Nicaragua (Léon, Chinandega, Managua, Masaya, Matiguás, Mosquitía) to immerse himself in cultural traditions, celebrations, and landscapes as research for his feature film Miskito.  Ferguson’s work incorporate both documentary and narrative-fiction techniques, constructing fictional stories out of real-world characters, locations, events, and/or environments. This research will provide the real world details for his new film, which is set against the complex cultural and historical identities of Nicaragua.

FilmNorth (formerly Independent Filmmaker Project Minnesota), Saint Paul, Minnesota, received $34,500 in support of the 2014 MNtv season. The mission of IFP Minnesota is to advance a vibrant and diverse community of independent film and media artists through networking, education, funding, and opportunities for showcasing their work. In partnership with Twin Cities Public Television and the Walker Art Center, IFP Minnesota received support to broadcast Minnesota filmmakers' works within the series MNtv. This annual series has been showcasing the finest work by Minnesota filmmakers for over 20 years. It consists of three episodes that highlight new short films made within the previous 18 months by Minnesota filmmakers.

FORECAST PUBLIC ART, St. Paul, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $70,900 in support of planning and project grants for emerging artists within the Artist Services Program. Forecast Public Art connects the energies and talents of artists with the needs and opportunities of communities, guiding its partners in creating public art that expresses the community’s sense of place and pride. The planning grants enable artists to develop concepts, conduct research, negotiate sites, connect with community stakeholders, and create renderings and models. The project grants support the creation of publicly accessible temporary or permanent artworks in Minnesota.

The FOUNDATION CENTER, New York City, received a two-year grant of $5,000 in support of programs and services. The Center’s mission is to strengthen the social sector by advancing knowledge about philanthropy in the United States and around the world. It connects nonprofits to the resources they need to thrive and empowers donors with the knowledge tools they need to be more specific in their giving. Jerome Foundation has provided modest annual support to The Foundation Center since 1974. 

THE FOUNDRY THEATRE, New York City, received $28,000 in support of the creation, development, and production of new works by emerging theater creators. The Foundry commissions, develops, premieres, and tours theatrical works that explore the (im)possibilities of theatre. It believes that its body of work makes a passionate argument for its limitless potential. Jerome support is directed toward the commissioning, development, and production of new works by emerging theater creators. The Foundry is committed to a process that comes from making works from scratch, following a project from its initial idea to its full realization. The developmental process is individually designed for each creator and work.

FOUR WAY BOOKS, New York City, received a two-year grant of $40,000 in support of the publication of six books by emerging New York City-based poets. Four Way Books is dedicated to producing and promoting excellent literary publications and to creating opportunities for writers of merit. It publishes 14 titles each year. Jerome support is restricted to poets who seek publication for their first or second book.

FRANKLIN FURNACE, New York City, received a two-year grant of $84,000 in support of the participation of emerging New York City-based artists in the Franklin Furnace Fund. Franklin Furnace’s mission is to present, preserve, interpret, proselytize, and advocate on behalf of avant-garde art, especially forms that may be vulnerable due to institutional neglect, their ephemeral nature, or politically unpopular content. The Franklin Furnace Fund, initiated in 1985, awards grants to emerging artists selected through peer panel review to produce major performance works in New York. Recipient artists have created work on all points of the spectrum from the body of the artist to the circulatory network of the Internet.

FULL CIRCLE PRODUCTIONS, New York City, received $12,000 in support of the development and production of the work Outside of the Bachx. Full Circle Productions offers original programming of dance theater works, workshops, mentorships, and classes, covering all major forms of hip-hop expression. The new work will be choreographed by Artistic Directors Kwikstep and Rokafella. Outside of the Bachx strings together four seemingly disparate forms—hip-hop, ballet, classical music, and beatbox—challenging performers and audiences to reach outside the box. Set to Bach’s concertos played by a concert pianist and featuring a vocal percussionist and beatboxer, the work will be performed by ten dancers.