Fifty-five ideas for the Philadelphia arts have been chosen as finalists in the 2012 Knight Arts Challenge Philadelphia. 1,267 applicants answered our question: “What’s your best idea for the arts in Philadelphia?” A diverse group, including individual artists, artist collectives, community groups, jazz and classical music organizations, theater companies and educational institutions, offered a wide array of innovative ideas.

We believe the arts can engage and enrich communities and that great ideas can start anywhere – from individual artists and artist-driven organizations to some of the city’s premier cultural institutions. That’s why the three-year, $9 million community-wide contest is open to anyone with a great idea for the arts.

Read on below for the full list of finalists and their ideas.  Winners will be announced in the spring. Applications for the third year of the challenge will open in the fall. (See our first year winners here.)

Congratulations to the finalists and thanks to everyone who submitted an idea!

Knight Arts Challenge Philadelphia 2012 Finalists

Artists and Musicians of Latin America To cultivate new audiences for Latin Jazz by presenting “pop-up” performances of local artists using a portable stage

Arden Theatre Company To diversify artistic offerings by presenting theater performances alongside the dozens of gallery events during Old City’s monthly First Fridays

Art Sanctuary To celebrate two art forms that use the human voice to tell profound stories by creating a “Hip H’Opera” using the stories of urban life

Asian Arts Initiative To provide everyday artistic experiences in Chinatown and South Philadelphia by creating site-specific works for nontraditional places like restaurants, storefronts and public plazas

Bearded Ladies Cabaret To attract new audiences to theater – and use the medium as a way to explore politics, gender, sexuality and identity – through a series of original, late night cabarets

Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra To showcase diverse cultures by transforming a symphonic “pops” concert into a celebration of world music

Brandywine Workshop To celebrate the 40^th anniversary of this printmaking institution by commissioning 10 emerging and established artists to create prints

Campus Philly To foster a lifelong appreciation of the arts by offering free or discounted admission to venues and performances for college students

Catzie Vilayphonh To promote storytelling within the Lao-American community through a writing, performing and filmmaking workshop

Center City District To help transform historic Dilworth Plaza by commissioning internationally recognized sculptor Janet Echelman to create an artwork inspired by the site’s historic association with water and steam

Center City Opera Theater To attract more Hispanics to the opera by launching a Spanish-language opera festival featuring a new piece by a Philadelphia-based Hispanic composer

Center for Emerging Visual Artists To bring visual art to a wider audience by placing locally produced art in public advertising spaces in the same neighborhood where the piece was produced

Chestnut Hill Friends Meetinghouse Project To spark dialogue about contemporary art by incorporating the work of internationally acclaimed light artist James Turrell into a new Quaker meetinghouse that is open to all

Community Cultural Exchange To bring the South Street business district together through music and culture by introducing family-friendly street performances to the area

COSACOSA art at large To transform overgrown and abandoned spaces into “sacred” art parks for the community by engaging residents to create visual and sound gardens in the Nicetown-Tioga neighborhood

Crane Arts To raise the international profile of local artists by organizing an artist and exhibition exchange between Crane Arts and London’s V22 Collection

David Clayton To help residents fully experience the city’s two main waterways by creating a floating workstation along the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers where artists can interpret and explore the surroundings

Delaware River Waterfront Corporation To use world rhythms – from cowbells to congas, beat-boxing to Bhangra – to learn about cultures at an interactive music and dance festival

Erica Hawthorne To give a boost to local artists by creating a mini grant program to help cover their costs with awards ranging from $50 to $1,000

Fleisher Art Memorial To engage the community in hands-on art making by expanding the reach of a mobile studio where participants create projects inspired by their neighborhoods

Franklin’s Paine Skatepark Fund To help transform neighborhoods by turning blacktop lots into art-laden skate parks

Geoffrey Johnson To foster appreciation for public art by covering publically displayed statues in the city for a month – and then unveiling them with fan fare at a festival

GoKash Productions To promote original plays through a free theater festival dedicated to the contemporary African-American experience

Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation To engage new audiences in the visual arts by launching With Art Philadelphia, a two-year joint marketing program that includes late-night happenings for younger audiences at local museums

Iron Age Theatre To create new performing arts experiences through a series of live-streamed, mini movies that patrons can watch throughout the city by scanning QR codes on their cellphones

Katarina Dudas To develop the next generation of visual artists by pairing children with local artists to create site-specific environmental art in the Kensington community

Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts To engage new audiences in the performing arts by creating a residency program in the Kimmel Center’s black box theater for innovative and emerging art groups

Little Berlin To help transform the East Kensington neighborhood by turning an empty lot into an event space for musicians, art fairs and children’s workshops

Moore College of Art & Design To introduce the work of local visual artists and filmmakers to a wider audience by establishing an urban drive-in movie theater on the Parkway

Music Row Philadelphia To support emerging musicians and create a destination for live music by fostering the growth of music venues along Girard Avenue

Musicopia To empower and inspire Philadelphia’s youth by providing them with weekly drumming lessons and performing opportunities

Norris Square Neighborhood Project To preserve local Latino culture in North Philadelphia by creating a sound booth to record stories that will be featured in podcasts

Orchestra 2001 To celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by presenting a new concerto based on the civil rights leader’s life and featuring local performers

Partners for Sacred Places To expand the capacity of the city’s theater community by providing a new space for theater designers and visual artists at a decommissioned church

Philadelphia Art Alliance To re-imagine public space and civic life by organizing an all-night, free arts festival based on the Nuit Blanche/Bring to Light events in Paris, New York, Miami and other cities

Philadelphia Photo Arts Center To encourage broader audience participation in the city’s visual arts by expanding “Philly Photo Day,” where the community is invited to take and submit a picture that is ultimately used in an exhibition

Philadelphia Theatre Company To use the theater as a way to examine the United States’ education system with a work that actor/journalist Anna Deavere Smith will create during a two-year residency

Philadelphia Youth Media Collaborative To support the emerging creative underground in Philadelphia by establishing a festival that highlights the next generation of filmmakers, visual artists, musicians and performers

Phillyjazz.org To foster the development of local jazz artists by formalizing mentor relationships between established and younger musicians, where the elders teach life lessons, and emerging artists offer tips on using new media

RAIR, Inc. To create awareness about sustainability through art and design by establishing a yearlong series of projects that allow local artists to experiment with recycled materials

Scribe Video Center To explore the city’s relationship to mass transit by publicly displaying multiple digital video works in high traffic public sites

Sean Stoops To support an innovative form of 3D storytelling by creating a series of outdoor video art events screened on local buildings

Sharon Torello To engage younger audiences in classical music through the creation of a group with membership benefits that include discount ticketing and unique social gatherings

Sojourner Ahebee To further cultural understanding by facilitating youth-led poetry workshops for Liberian teenage girls in Philadelphia and Liberia

Swim Pony Performing Arts To weave the arts into the community by presenting revamped versions of plays in non-traditional spaces, including Eastern State Penitentiary and the Land Conservancy of Elkins Park

The Brothers Network To introduce more diverse audiences to the performing arts by creating a multidisciplinary festival that features black male choreographers, filmmakers, actors, writers and composers

The Clay Studio To explore the relevance of handmade ceramic objects in the 21^st century by providing a handmade mug to people leaving coffee shops with disposable cups and encouraging them to post about their experiences on the Web

The Crossing To introduce a wider audience to contemporary chamber music by establishing a series of new works designed specifically for a nontraditional venue – the recently restored Crane Arts’ Icebox.

The Fabric Workshop and Museum To create a new sculpture series by artist Daniel Arsham at the museum that will debut along with a live performance and explore the boundaries between the galleries and theater

The Hacktory To promote the use of technology in the arts by developing a corps of interactive artist teachers who will share their knowledge and expertise in programming and engineering with Philadelphia artists

The University of the Arts To promote economic stability for the city’s cultural community by offering support to emerging creative businesses with pre-seed funding, mentorships programs and workshops

The Village of Arts and Humanities To develop young people’s awareness of the city’s vibrant cultural scene through interactive scavenger hunts led by local artists

The Wilma Theater To enhance training for local actors by creating a series of master classes

University City District To establish a new outlet for public art that showcases temporary installations to the city’s tens of thousands of daily commuters

Vic Reznik To help promote the city’s cinematic identity by commissioning emerging filmmakers from Philadelphia to produce shorts for a new, local film festival