OVERVIEW: The Jerome Foundation supports film and writing for individual artists and arts organization in Minnesota and New York City.
IP TAKE: Grantseekers applying to these grants will have to compete with arts organizations from all other disciplines. Those with a local or regional connection to their work will likely be the most successful. This funder prioritizes giving to organizations in NYC or Minnesota, where it is based.
This is an accessible and approachable funder, but note that grantmaking is competitive.
PROFILE: Established in 1964, the Jerome Foundation was originally called the Avon Foundation and is based in St. Paul, Minnesota. This is the legacy of Jerome Hill, who lived from 1905 to 1972 and was an Academy Award-winning filmmaker, photographer, painter, composer and patron of the arts. The foundation has strong ties to Minnesota and New York, and it supports both individual artists and arts organizations that promote experimentation, risk, innovation and creativity. For artists, there are artist fellowships available, as well as film/video/digital grants and research residencies. The Jerome Foundation awards two-year grants to arts organizations and also supports convenings, research and digital production programs. Overall, this funder prefers to support early career artists in Minnesota and the five boroughs of New York City.
Grants for Writing, Dance, Music, Visual Arts, Theater
The foundation’s grants to arts organizations support the costs of artistic and career development, as well as, opportunities that lead to premiere exhibitions, publications and/or productions. Jerome limits its grants arts organizations to $70,000 distributed at $35,000 per year, over two years.
The Jerome Hill Artist Fellowships support early-career Minnesota and New York City-based artists “who generate new work that takes creative risks in expanding, questioning, experimenting with or re-imagining conventional artistic forms.” Applicants can be from diverse disciplines. Grants are for $50,000 over two consecutive years.
Arts and literary organizations receiving 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.
Grants for Film
While Hill was also a painter and composer, film was his vocation. And thus, 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.” Applicants to the New York City Grant “must reside in the five boroughs of New York City and work in the animation, documentary, experimental or narrative genres, or in any combination of these forms.” Likewise, Minnesota Grant applicants must be based in Minnesota.
In addition to production grants, the foundation also offers a Minnesota Film, Video, and Digital Artist Development Grant for up to $7,000. 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:
Jerome is very specific in its focus on early-career or emerging artists. For this funder’s purposes, that means artists who may have been working for up to 10 years or even a bit longer but who, according to the foundation, “are NOT at a point in their careers where they receive consistent development and production opportunities and significant recognition, awards, and acclaim.”
The foundation accepts unsolicited grant applications and requests for funding for its arts organizations funding program, typically around late spring. To learn more about the types of organizations Jerome supports, explore its recent grantees page.
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