This week, Knight Foundation is celebrating the arts in Charlotte. I’m excited to join Dennis Scholl, Knight’s vice president for arts, in recognizing those organizations – large and small – receiving a combined $1 million in Knight funding as they continue to make Charlotte such a great place to live, work and play.

With Patricia McBride’s recent Kennedy Center Honors, the spotlight has been on Charlotte Ballet. What a thrill to see her beauty and talent recognized as well as her protégés in Charlotte Ballet when they performed on the national stage.

During the broadcast of that awards show where Tom Hanks, Lily Tomlin, Al Green and Sting also were honored, I was reminded of how the old Ed Sullivan TV show once showcased all the arts – from Patricia McBride, the lovely classical ballerina, to the Beatles.

Today, we must seek out such variety, and we depend on the arts groups themselves to showcase their offerings.

My hat’s off to Opera Carolina for introducing opera to many unaware of its power and passion and to the Charlotte Symphony for its Knight Sounds series, inviting younger audiences to sample classical music over a beer.

Smaller organizations are adding color and texture to our cultural landscape.

Lonnie and Ocie Davis landed in Charlotte after Katrina turned their New Orleans world upside down. Now, they’re bringing jazz to appreciative audiences in monthly concerts and growing a new generation of musicians through their Jazz Arts Initiative program.

Guitar teacher John Tosco has grown a jam session in his living room to a popular concert in Knight Theater. It’s hard to say what’s best: the wide range of regional talent he brings to the stage or the old-fashioned sing-a-longs with the audience. Both make for a family-friendly evening of entertainment, with John the congenial host and promoter of live music.

Charlotte’s lucky to have two brothers, Brad and Rick Ritter, bringing the wide world of independent films to screens here. If you haven’t checked out the Charlotte Film Society’s schedule, do. There’s the Saturday Night Cine Club series, the Back Alley Film series and the new Charlotte Film Club that includes conversations with filmmakers.

A local filmmaker, Scott Galloway, launched a new film festival last fall, the 100 Word Film Festival. I was impressed by the quality of the student films presented and reminded that complex stories can be told with images beyond words.

Theater companies, museums, artists, photographers … my list of favorites could go on and on.  They are all part of Knight Foundation’s efforts to weave the arts into the fabric of our community to engage and inspire the people living here. Below you can see the full list of our 2014 arts grantees. We’re excited to celebrate their contributions to Charlotte.

The latest Charlotte arts grantees:

100 Words Film Festival ($20,400): To launch a film festival that challenges professional directors and student filmmakers to focus on the essence of storytelling by creating films that use exactly 100 spoken words. The first event was held Nov. 22 at the McGlohon Theater.   A sold-out crowd saw more than 30 film premieres, many by award-winning filmmakers.

Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte ($80,000):  To bring new works to the stage through the NuVoices for a NuGeneration Play Festival for the next two years. Each of the finalist playwrights will workshop their plays Jan. 11-18, 2015, and the audience/judges’ favorite will be given a full production in the 2015-16 season.  The same format will be in place the following year. Past winners have gone on to have their plays produced nationally.

Afro-American Cultural Center ($50,000): To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, with “40 and Counting” – an exhibition and programming series that culminates this month. “40 and Counting” highlights the institution’s journey and influence on the region, featuring works of sculpture, painting, textiles, photography and more from 16 previous exhibitions.

Arts & Science Council of Charlotte/Mecklenburg ($215,000 to four initiatives): To support the council’s Cultural Innovation Grant, which invests in emerging cultural organizations that show programmatic promise and innovation in serving diverse audiences; present six productions by On Q Performing Arts, Charlotte’s premier African-American theater company; and raise awareness of local theaters through a joint advertising program; and host a 2014 summit on sustainability in the arts.

Blumenthal Performing Arts ($20,000): To bring the arts to a wider audience by providing seats for the 2014 Charlotte performance of the renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra led by Wynton Marsalis.

Charlotte Film Society ($30,000): To provide otherwise inaccessible films to enthusiastic audiences, through screenings in both indoor and outdoor venues around the city. The Charlotte Film Lab series then brings in prominent filmmakers to talk about their pieces at events following the showings, including recent discussion led by L.A.-based Charlie Siskel, director of the acclaimed documentary “Finding Vivian Maier.”

Charlotte Symphony Orchestra Society ($240,000): To support continued arts innovation through the KnightSounds concert series, now in its fourth season, while bringing select programs outdoors for simulcasts.

Jazz Arts Initiative ($30,000): To expand the successful Jazz Room @ Stage Door Theater, which transforms the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center’s black box theater into an intimate jazz venue featuring local, regional and international performers. Funding helps to present this monthly concert series twice in one night, instead of just once. Knight support will also present two larger special edition concert events as a part of the Jazz Room Series: the April Jazz Appreciation Month Celebration, featuring Delfeayo Marsalis at the Blumenthal McGlohon Theater and the Jazz Room Holiday Edition at the Blumenthal Booth Playhouse.

McColl Center for Visual Arts: Arctic Utopia.

McColl Center for Visual Art ($95,000): To elevate Charlotte as a hub for artistic excellence by supporting the McColl Center for Art + Innovation’s Knight Artist in Residency program. Funding will help fellows expand their community engagement efforts in Charlotte. Meanwhile, the center will also renovate and reconfigure the McColl building first floor, to transform the galleries into an open, multiuse space of 3,000 square feet for large-scale exhibitions and special events.

Oneaka Dance Company ($5,000): To engage Charlotte audiences with “Dances of the Soul,” a workshop series that paired professional artists and dancers with community leaders and residents to participate in the creation of dance and performance art.

Opera Carolina ($60,000): To create a series of performances taking opera out of the theater and into the streets of greater Charlotte.

Mel Chin, “SEA to SEE” at The Mint Museum.

The Mint Museum ($100,000): To support Mint Museum’s Enhanced Digitization Project, which is creating virtual tours of the museum and its collections and special exhibitions, plus interviews with curators and artists. Funding also commissioned “SEA to SEE,” an immersive large-scale installation by renowned North Carolina artist Mel Chin celebrating the centennial of the Panama Canal.

Tosco Music Party ($60,000): To support two seasons of the Tosco Music Party, which is now a sell-out series at the Knight Theater at Levine Center for the Arts.  Any given concert presents professional, semiprofessional and amateur acts, ranging from acoustic rock sets and bluegrass bands to string or jazz ensembles, sitar musicians and barbershop quartets. The group adds a unique voice to the local cultural community while relying on a grassroots, musician-centered model.