Past
Grantees

The MINNEAPOLIS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN (MCAD), Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $182,300 in support of the MCAD-Jerome Foundation Fellowships for Emerging Artists.  The Minneapolis College of Art and Design educates individuals to be professional artists and designers, pioneering thinkers, creative leaders, and engaged global citizens.  Since 1982, MCAD has partnered with the Jerome Foundation to support emerging Minnesota artists through a fellowship program.  Artists eligible for these fellowships may work in a variety of visual art media.  An open call and panel review process awards $10,000 grants to five artists each year.  During the 12-month fellowship period, artists receive studio visits from professional critics, access to technical assistance, a culminating exhibition at the MCAD gallery, a catalog with critical essays on each artist’s work, and an opportunity to take part in a public panel discussion of their work. 

The MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ARTS, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $40,000 in support of the Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program (MAEP).  The Institute’s mission is to enrich the community by collecting, preserving, and making accessible outstanding works of art from the world’s diverse cultures.  The MAEP is a curatorial program dedicated to exhibiting the work of Minnesota artists.  The strength of the program lies in the partnership between the artist community and the Institute.  The program’s core activity is an annual series of four exhibitions, selected by an elected artists’ panel, from proposals submitted in response to open calls.  Artists receive support from the Institute for a year prior to opening, from initial planning to assistance in preparing and installing the work in galleries, audience development through marketing and interpretive strategies, artist-led tours, web-based interviews, Special Guest events, and full color brochures including critical essays on the work.  Jerome support is directed toward exhibitions of works by emerging Minnesota artists.

The MINNESOTA CENTER FOR BOOK ARTS, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received a two-year grant of $43,000 in support of mentorship and fellowship programs for emerging artists. Its mission is to advance the book as a vital contemporary art form, preserve the traditional crafts of bookmaking; inspire diverse artists and learners; and engage audiences in educational, creative, and interpretive experiences. The mentorship program engages artists, working in media other than the book arts, who are interested in learning more about and utilizing book art forms. A culminating exhibition of the works produced by the artists is presented in the Centers gallery. The fellowship program provides grants to emerging book artists who receive a variety of services and support throughout the program year. A group exhibition of their new works concludes the fellowship year.

The Jerome Foundation elected to renew its membership in and general support of the MINNESOTA COUNCIL ON FOUNDATIONS, Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the form of a $7,250 commitment. The Council expands and strengthens a vibrant community of diverse grantmakers who individually and collectively advance the common good. Its activities encompass leadership development to strengthen philanthropy, learning and skill-building among members to enhance effectiveness, networking with peers to create greater synergy, advocacy representing members interests, research to achieve greater outcomes, and news and information to inform the grantmaking field.

MOON MOLSON received a grant for THE BRAVEST, THE BOLDEST, a narrative short about Keisha Bailey, an African American mother living in the Marcus Garvey Projects in the Bronx, who does all she can to avoid what she knows will be bad news. On the way back up to her apartment one day from the basement laundry, she discovers that two Army Notification Officers are going to her same floor. Instead of getting off with them, she stays on the elevator and watches to see if they go to her door. They do, and since Keishas son has been fighting in the war in the Middle East, she assumes they can only be bearing news that her son is either seriously injured or dead. Thus begins her journey of avoidance, by doing anything she can to not hear the news that she knows awaits her.

MOMENTA ART, Brooklyn, New York, received $7,500 in support of solo exhibitions of new works by three emerging video artists based in New York City.  Momenta provides exhibition opportunities to emerging and under-represented artists through group shows and solo exhibitions.  The emerging video artists will receive stipends, promotion, and installation support from Momenta Art.  

The WALKER ART CENTER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $36,500 in support of the 2013 Momentum Festival. The Walker is a catalyst for the creative expression of artists and the active engagement of audiences. It examines the questions that shape and inspire us as individuals, cultures, and communities. Momentum: New Dance Works allows the Walker to commission, develop, and present new contemporary dance works by four promising and innovative dance makers. The Momentum Festival will include four half-evening new works presented over two weeks in July 2013. Support and developmental services will be available to the choreographers during the creation period and leading up to the premier productions.

"R. VINCENT MONIZ, JR., writer, Minneapolis, Minnesota, will travel to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Belcourt, North Dakota to attend the Turtle Mountain Writing Workshop and Retreat and the Returning of the Gift Native American Writers Conference.  Moniz’s goals are to hone his writing skills in poetry, poetic monologue, and spoken word performance. These workshops and conferences offer an opportunity to strengthen his skills and expand his knowledge."

MOVEMENT RESEARCH, New York City, received $25,000 in support of six emerging New York City-based choreographers as they create and develop new works in the Artist-in-Residence program. Valuing individual artists, their creative processes, and their vital role in society, Movement Research is dedicated to the creation and implementation of free and low-cost programs that nurture and instigate discourse and experimentation. Resident artists receive commissioning funds for the development of new works; works-in-progress presentations, performance fees; and access to Movement Researchs infrastructure and network of other programs to create personalized, integrated, and multifaceted experiences.

"ALESHIA MUELLER, filmmaker, Minneapolis, Minnesota, will travel to Ecuador to improve her Spanish; deepen existing connections and make new connections with people regarding the protest art of dissedent visual artist Oswaldo Guayasamín; and learn more about the life and legacy of Guayasamín from various perspectives.  She will conduct research at the Fundación Guayasamín Museum.  Mueller will incorporate this research into the outline of a documentary film that will place Guayasamín and his work in a cultural, political, and historical context in Ecuador, Latin America, and the world."

NEW DRAMATISTS, New York City, received a two-year grant of $80,000 in support of the Playwrights Lab and Composer-Librettist Studio.  Jerome funding supports the participation of emerging playwrights and composers who are residents of New York City and Minnesota.  The mission of New Dramatists is to give playwrights time and space in the company of gifted peers to create work, realize their artistic potential, and make lasting contributions to the theater.  Each resident playwright becomes the artistic director of his or her own seven year new play laboratory.  The artistic staff works closely with resident writers to make sure they have the casting, stage management, directorial, and dramaturgical resources they need to generate, test and realize their ideas.  The Composer-Librettist Studio is an extended musical theater workshop conducted in partnership with Nautilus Music-Theater.  The Studio focuses simultaneously on music-theater development and the principles of collaboration, teaming five New Dramatists’ writers with five composers and five performers to develop new works.  

NEW RADIO AND PERFORMING ARTS, Staten Island, New York, received a two-year grant of $36,000 in support of eight commissions for emerging New York City-based artists to create networked art for the website Turbulence.  Turbulence commissions, exhibits, and archives works that explore networked technologies, and supports experimentation with distributed real-time multi-location performance events.  Since 1996, it has commissioned over 220 original networked art projects and hosted over 20 performance events. 

NEW YORK LIVE ARTS, New York City, received $36,000 in support of commissions for the creation and production of new works by emerging choreographers.  New York Live Arts is an internationally recognized destination for innovative movement-based artistry, offering audiences access to art and artists notable for their conceptual rigor, formal experimentation, and active engagement with the social, political, and cultural currents of our times.  It commissions, produces, and presents performances in its theater and studios. 

NEW YORK THEATRE WORKSHOP, New York City, received a two-year grant of $40,000 in support of Artists Workshop programs. The Theatres mission is to ensure the robust and compelling presence of the artist in society, manifested through producing an annual season of productions and by inviting theater makers at all stages of their careers, with whom the Theatre shares a common vision. Artists Workshop programs foster the creation, development, and production of new plays. The Workshop offers emerging playwrights a home to take risks, ask for feedback, advance their latest projects, and surpass challenges.

The NORTHERN CLAY CENTER, Minneapolis, Minnesota, received $26,500 in support of the 2013 Jerome Ceramic Artist Project Grants Program.  Northern Clay Center’s mission is the advancement of the ceramic arts.  Programs include classes and workshops for children and adults at all levels of proficiency; exhibitions of work by regional, national, and international artists; studio space and grants for artists; and a sales gallery representing many of the top ceramic artists from the region and elsewhere.  In the Ceramic Artist Project Grants Program, three competitively selected emerging ceramic artists are each given $6,000 to support projects that are self-designed and may include such activities as studio time to develop new work, residencies, professional development, and mentorships.  The grant year culminates with an exhibition at the Northern Clay Center.

NORTHERN LIGHTS.MN, Minneapolis, Minnesota received a two-year grant of $130,000 in support of the Art(ists) On The Verge Fellowship Program for Minnesota-based emerging artists and artist groups.  Northern Lights.mn presents innovative art in the public sphere, both physical and virtual, focusing on artists creatively using technology, both old and new, to engender new relations between audience and art work and more broadly between citizenry and their built environment.  Art(ists) On The Verge is a two-track fellowship and mentoring program for artists working experimentally at the intersection of art, technology, and digital culture with a focus on practices that are social, collaborative, and/or participatory.  Participating fellows receive commissions, technical support, mentorship, critical feedback, and exhibition or presentation.

DARIAN PARKER, choreographer and performer, New York City, will travel to Bamako, Mali, to conduct intensive study of Malian dance--the technical aspects, its accompanying music and the folklore--with master artists to enhance his abilities as a performer and choreographer. Parker’s study will center on dance training with members of Bamako’s artistic community, music training, and conversations and interviews with artists, community elders, and other gatekeepers of the cultural, folkloric, and historical significance of Malian dances and the accompanying music. One particular area of study will involve the form known in the United States as Lamba. This Malian dance was traditionally performed by the Djeli, a poet, praise singer, and wandering musician considered a repository of oral tradition. Parker wants to understand how different ethnic groups in Mali interpret the form.

"MÁRA PELECIS, filmmaker, Minneapolis, Minnesota, will travel to Jaunlaicene, Mālupe, Alūksne region, and Rīga, Latvia, to learn “Maléniski”, a very rare language (or dialect of Latvian), so that she can understand published texts written by her storyteller grandfather. His texts will be the basis of a future film project.  She will attend weekly group lessons in Jaunlaicene, a small town in Eastern Latvia, as well as supplement her learning with language tutoring sessions.  She will also live with relatives who speak Maléniski, and travel around the counties where it is spoken, in order to use her newly acquired language skills with a broader group."

NERINA PENZHORN, filmmaker, Brooklyn, New York, will travel to South Africa to conduct research for a documentary film about South African tabloid newspapers in terms of how they function as a voice for marginalized South Africans and how their reporting on the supernatural challenges the rationalist ideals of South African journalism and post-apartheid democracy.

PERFORMANCE SPACE 122 (P. S. 122), New York City, received $25,000 in support of three commissions, residency fees, and administrative costs for the commissioning program.  P. S. 122 is dedicated to supporting and presenting artists whose work challenges the traditional boundaries of dance, theatre, music, and performance.  Committed to exploring innovative form as well as material, P. S. 122 is steadfast in its search for pioneering artists from a diversity of cultures and points of view.  The result is robust, innovative, and diverse commissioned work produced during fall and spring presenting seasons and COIL, a winter festival of contemporary performance.  P. S. 122 starts the commissioning process with the artist, not the project.  A long-term commitment gives artists the freedom and security they need to take the aesthetic risks that will hone their artistic voice and practice and lead to art works that garner the attention of fellow presenters and funders, thus furthering careers.  P. S. 122 is working to increase the level of the commissioning fees, add creative residencies, provide additional production support, and secure adequate funding for rehearsal and presentation weeks.  Jerome support underwrites three commissions and creative residencies leading to production.