The Knight Foundation’s new nationwide arts initiative kicks off this week as six arts groups in Charlotte receive the program’s first round of grants to enrich and engage their community. Recipients range from the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art to WDAV Classical Public Radio (see complete grantee list below.) The grants aspire to spark conversations, celebrate the region’s diversity and strengthen established and emerging institutions.

“All residents can become more engaged in their community through a vibrant arts scene,” said Dennis Scholl, the Knight Foundation’s vice president/arts. “We looked at projects that could lift these organizations to the next level.”

Scholl, an art collector and advocate named vice president/arts earlier this year, is working with leaders in eight U.S. communities to identify and fund innovative cultural programs that enhance community engagement. Those Knight communities are: Akron, Ohio; Charlotte, N.C.; Detroit, Mich.; Macon, Ga.;Miami, Fla.; Philadelphia, Pa.; San Jose, Calif.; and St. Paul, Minn.

In Miami, Scholl also leads the Knight Arts Challenge, a $40 million initiative to unite South Florida through the arts.

The Charlotte recipients are:

• Bechtler Museum of Modern Art: to increase the young museum’s reach by creating a digital library of the rarely-seen 1,400 piece collection ($107,500)
• McColl Center for Visual Art: to raise the center’s profile by bringing nationally renowned contemporary artists into its artist-in-residence program ($80,000)
• Arts & Science Council of Charlotte-Mecklenburg: to fill the gaps in local cultural programming by investing in emerging arts organizations ($60,000)
• WDAV Classical Public Radio: to engage the area’s growing Hispanic community by developing Concierto, a nationally syndicated Spanish-language classical music service expected to launch in 2011 ($55,000)
• Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture: to bring alive African-American arts and history by creating a dynamic educational outreach program at the center’s new facility ($50,000)
• Levine Museum of the New South: to engage a broad audience and spark dialogue by creating innovative programming for the return of the nationally acclaimed Civil Rights exhibit,COURAGE: The Carolina Story That Changed America ($50,000)
• Arts & Science Council of Charlotte-Mecklenburg: to showcase the areas’ cultural vibrancy by creating a series of public “Random Acts of Culture™” ($30,000)