OVERVIEW: The Jerome Foundation supports individual artists and arts organizations of all kinds in Minnesota and New York City, with additional grants especially for film and video production.
IP TAKE: The Jerome Foundation is a solid arts funder to know for artists and arts organizations who fall within its very restricted eligibility requirements. For one thing, only permanent residents of Minnesota, Jerome Hill’s home state, or New York City, where he forged his career, may apply. It also specifically targets emerging and early-career artists, defined as artists who are established in their careers, but have been creating professionally for no more than ten years. As part of its “commitment to the long game,” the Foundation has committed at least an additional $8 million to the arts, which puts them over the 5% payout rate mandated under tax law. This is a transparent and accessible funder. Its website contains a database of previous grantees with profiles on the artists and their work. All of its regular grants have an open application process in which program officers work with applicants to refine their proposals. This is a multiyear funder that spares its grantees extra work. And according to IP’s Mike Scutari, the foundation, anticipated “grantmakers’ gravitation toward participatory grantmaking and (…) moved to a panel-based model where community members, professional artists, and administrators adjudicate peer competitions and recommend grantees to leadership.”
PROFILE: The Jerome Foundation, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, was originally established as the Avon Foundation in 1964 by Jerome Hill, who lived from 1905 to 1972 and was an Academy Award-winning filmmaker, photographer, painter, composer, and patron of the arts. Avon changed its name to the Jerome Foundation after Hill’s death in 1973. The foundation’s mission is to “honor his legacy through multi-year grants to support the creation, development, and presentation of new works by early career artists.” It has strong ties to Minnesota and New York and supports both individual artists and arts organizations that promote experimentation, risk, innovation and creativity. Currently, its main funding opportunities include the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, Arts Organization Grants, and Film, Video, and Digital Production Grants.
Grants for Writing, Dance, Music, Visual Arts, Theater
The Jerome Foundation supports artists and arts organizations of all media through the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship and Arts Organization Grants.
Arts Organization Grants offer two years of funding support to organizations in Minnesota and New York City that provide opportunities for early-career artists. At least 75% of the grant must go to the costs of artistic and career development, or opportunities that lead to premiere exhibitions, publications and/or productions, while the remainder may support general operating costs.
The Jerome Hill Artist Fellowships support early-career Minnesota and New York City artists “who generate new work that takes creative risks in expanding, questioning, experimenting with or re-imagining conventional artistic forms.”
The fellowship offers $60,000 over three years to support “the creation of new work, artistic development and/or professional artistic career development.”
Arts and literary organizations that have received support from Jerome in the past include the Asian American Writer’s Workshop, which received a grant for The Margins Fellowship program, and New Music Gathering, which received funding to enable early career composers’ participation in the national gathering in Minneapolis.
- Jerome@Camargo offers residencies for research, study and/or creation of new work at the Camargo Foundation in Cassis France to artists who have been supported by the Jerome Foundation within the last five years. Applications are by invitation only.
- Convenings and Research grants promote field-building through convening and/or research that “offers access to greater understanding, deeper information and shared learning, either for early career artists in Minnesota or New York City and the organizations who serve them or for grantmakers and foundations engaged in supporting the arts.”
Grants for Film
While Hill was also a painter and composer, film was his vocation, and support for filmmakers makes up a large portion of Jerome Foundation grant opportunities.
The foundation’s Film, Video and Digital Production Grants are for up to $30,000 and support production and post-production costs on the “creation of new narrative, documentary, experimental or animated works in film, video or digital formats. Only early-career filmmakers, “who have completed at least two short or feature-length films, but do not have more than two feature-length films (running time of 50+ minutes or more) released and in distribution,” may apply.
Applicants to the New York City Film Production Grant must be residents of any of the five boroughs of New York City throughout the grant period.
Likewise, Minnesota Film Production Grant applicants must be based in Minnesota.
In addition to production grants, the foundation also offers a Minnesota Filmmaker Mentorship Grant for up to $10,000. This grant enables “early career filmmakers to engage in self-designed mentorship with experienced directors and further their filmmaking craft and/or professional skills while working on a specific film, video or digital production project.”
Past grantees in the filmmaking space include Maria Juranic, who received support for her film Welcome to Disneyland and Flavio Elves, who received a grant for his feature-length narrative The Garden Left Behind.
Important Grant Details:
The Jerome Foundation’s grants typically range from $7,000 to $90,000 for one- to three-year periods. To learn more about the types of organizations Jerome supports, explore its past grantees page.
The Jerome Foundation’s grantmaking is limited to residents of Minnesota and the five boroughs of New York City. U.S. citizenship is not required, but permanent residency must be established.
Grants are intended for early-career or emerging artists, defined as artists who have been working for 10 years or less but “are not at a point in their careers where they receive consistent development and production opportunities and significant recognition, awards, and acclaim.”
The Jerome Foundation accepts applications for its artist fellowships, organization grants, and film production grants. Deadlines vary by grant program but generally fall in mid-April.
- Grantseekers may write to info@jeromefdn.org or reach out to a program officer in your region for further inquiries.
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