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Making art general in cities across America is the charge of Dennis Scholl, vice president for arts at Knight Foundation.  Dennis and his colleagues are the brains behind the Knight Arts Challenge (which is currently open for ideas in South Florida), the enormously popular Random Acts of Culture, and Inside|Out, the project that takes replicas of famous works of art in museums and puts them in unexpected places. Sign up for Podcast Alerts Subscribe

This week on “Knight Cities,” Dennis and I talk about his work and how art is bringing new vibrancy to cities.

Listen to my conversation with Dennis here. And sign up for the “Knight Cities” newsletter to get alerts as soon as new conversations are posted.

Last week I spoke with Sandra Kulli, a real estate marketing strategist and president of Kulli Marketing, based in Los Angeles. Here are five things you should know from my conversation with Sandra:

1. The key to creating a sense of community in any new development is involving the community from the very beginning.
2. There are some people for whom naysaying is their joy in life. Don’t spend a lot of time on them. They won’t help you move forward. 
3. Most people don’t fear change. They don’t want to be changed.
4. There are certain truths that apply everywhere that create happiness, well-being, and enrichment in communities. They are:
   • Be active.
   • Take notice.
   • Keep learning.
   • Give.
   • Connect. 
   • Note that they are all free. 
5. The greatest amenity we can put into a new community is the elimination of loneliness. What people fundamentally want are the primal things that make them feel happy, safe and among friends.

Look for new “Knight Cities” content posted every Wednesday here. You can follow us on Twitter at #knightcities or @knightfdn. And if you have ideas for people you’d like to hear more from, please email me.

Carol Coletta is vice president of community and national initiatives at Knight Foundation. Follow her on Twitter@ccoletta.