Jerome Foundation Addresses Post-Sept. 11 Needs of New York's Cultural Community

The Jerome Foundation in St. Paul reports that it is working to help meet the needs of New York City cultural organizations affected by the September 11 terrorist attacks. The foundation, which focuses its funding on emerging artists and arts organizations in Minnesota and New York City, has provided immediate relief to help some artists get back on their feet, and is determining how it can help with longer-term needs.

The foundation has made an immediate grant of $15,000 to the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, one of its annual grantees, which was located in the World Trade Center. The Council lost its entire office but its staff is safe. In the past Jerome has provided stipends for the Council's "World Views" artists' residency program. The program had provided a competitively selected group of emerging artists with unleased raw space in the World Trade Center -- this year on the 90th floor. One of the artists involved in the program was Michael Richards, who died in the collapse and whose body was found and identified. All other artists were not yet in their studios that morning, but Richards had spent the night there. Jerome's grant will help the "World Views" artists buy supplies and get back to work in new space.

Jerome's board and staff are also working to determine other ways in which the foundation can help.  Cynthia Gehrig, president of the foundation, reports that board chair Tom Borrup attended a briefing for arts grantmakers in New York, and that she and senior program officer Vickie Benson are conducting research with the New York Foundation for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, The Arts Coalition of New York, the Department of Cultural Affairs, FEMA, New York Community Trust, and other groups to gain an understanding of the effects of the tragedy on the cultural community.  

Another Jerome grantee, a theatrical group called 3-Legged Dog, was located in a building near the World Trade Center and lost its office and its contents. According to Gehrig, other arts organizations below Houston, and especially below Canal, are being affected in various ways, from loss of equipment to cancelled events and low attendance -- hard hits on earned income. Gehrig expects that Jerome's board will review a number of proposals related to the September 11 tragedy at its next meeting in November.