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    Conversation Starter: Love-Trouble

    Published April 1, 2015 by

    By Philadelphia Young Playwrights "Most girls’ boy problems consist of them having to choose between two guys or something like that. I have to choose between a guy and my religion.” Each spring, Young Playwrights partners with InterAct Theatre Company to produce the Young Voices Monologue Festival, featuring the work...
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    Free to download: a new book of art projects for kids

    Published April 1, 2015 by

    By Art Sphere After a lot of hard work and generous help, we are excited to share “Creating Legacies through Art,” a book of free art lesson plans for anyone serving curious kids. The book is designed to provide teachers and families with free, approachable art projects that stimulate creative...
  • Article

    Free to download: a new book of art projects for kids

    Published March 31, 2015 by

    After a lot of hard work and generous help, we are excited to share “Creating Legacies through Art,” a book of free art lesson plans for anyone serving curious kids. The book is designed to provide teachers and families with free, approachable art projects that stimulate creative thinking and self-expression. Each lesson has easy-to-follow instructions, can be completed in less than an hour, and uses affordable materials. All of them have been tested by our teachers here at Art Sphere, where we offer what we call “artistic first aid” to help fill the gap left by underfunded programs in Philadelphia’s schools and community centers. 
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    Dinnovate moves San Jose, Calif., forward one meal at a time

    Published March 31, 2015 by

    Guests gather at the School of Visual Philosophy over French cuisine and a discussion on reimagining San Jose’s public spaces. In San Jose, we are bringing the city’s leaders together around the dinner table. Every month, Knight Foundation and Moveable Feast invite 25 of the city’s cross-sector leaders to Dinnovate, a dinnertime salon focusedon the future of San Jose. From Japanese small plates paired with wayfinding, to French comfort food with a side of reimagining public spaces, each event celebrates the diversity of the city’s cultures,people and perspectives. The guest list changes monthly and may include a former mayor, a magazine editor, a public transportation advocate, a tech executive and a hip-hop artist. What unites the group is their shared love for, and commitment to, the well-being of San Jose. And, it’s not just a networking opportunity;an expert facilitator leads each group through a guided discussion and prototyping exercise. Topics are informed by Knight’s strategy to accelerate place through investments in talent, opportunity and engagement.
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    Fiber artists plan to dress up Detroit’s Avenue of Fashion

    Published March 31, 2015 by

    Livernois. The Knight Arts Challenge Detroit is now accepting applications for the best local ideas for the arts. Here, writer Julie Edgar catches up with past winner Detroit Fiberworks. Like so many others who see Detroit as a wide-open frontier, Mandisa Smith and Najma Wilson are pushing against urban blight and indifference to achieve their entrepreneurial dreams. Only they’re a bit older than the 20-somethings streaming in to the city to stake a claim. They’ve already retired from executive and teaching careers and have always lived in Detroit. Opening Detroit Fiberworks in 2013 was a way to do what they love in a place they love, and to play a part in the city’s resurrection. A bit about the two women: After high school, Smith and Wilson followed their own paths. Wilson taught art at Wayne State University and in Detroit Public Schools, while Smith got her MBA from the University of Michigan and took a high-paying job in the auto industry. Decades later, when Wilson retired and Smith got laid off, they started thinking about how they could practice their respective crafts.
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    Urban tech startups and the cities of the future

    Published March 31, 2015 by

    Courtesy Smart City Startups. Shaun Abrahamson is CEO and co-founder of Urban.Us, an investment fund investing in startups that make cities better. He also produces Smart City Startups, an annual event that focuses on people and organizations transforming our cities in the next decade that will next take place April 23-24, 2015 in Miami. Knight Foundation supports the event. People are moving to cities at unprecedented rates. The chart below forecasts the growth of our urban population and the targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change (targets set by the European Union). Since cities currently account for about 75 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, if we cannot change how we build and operate them we have little hope of achieving our climate goals. Cities must be smart if they are to serve the needs of more people while shrinking emissions. Smart City Startups is a showcase for technology and ideas that get us closer to that goal.
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    32 civic innovators receive $5 million in funding in first Knight Cities Challenge

    Published March 31, 2015 by

    Civic innovators from across the country, including the Knight communities, helped review more than 7,000 applications for the first Knight Cities Challenge. Just six months ago, we launched the first Knight Cities Challenge. It attracted more than 7,000 applications, and we were, at once, thrilled and overwhelmed – thrilled because there are so many people who want to test their ideas for making their cities more successful, but overwhelmed by the number of good ideas submitted. 
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    DSA Senior wins photojournalism scholarship

    Published March 31, 2015 by

    By Christopher Tiffany, University of Michigan School of Education Young women in the Detroit School of Arts’ 11th and 12th grades recently had the opportunity to participate in Cranbrook’s “Women in Photojournalism” workshop. The Detroit School of Arts (DSA) is a performing and fine art public high school in midtown...
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    PAMM Fund for African American Art helps museum collection reflect South Florida’s diverse cultures

    Published March 30, 2015 by

    From its inception, the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) set out to be both a window into the visual art world for Miami, and a mirror, reflecting the diversity of the local community. The PAMM Fund for African American Art, focusing on the purchase of contemporary art by African-American artists for the museum’s permanent collection, was one of the early key initiatives towards that goal. The museum started it in September 2013 with a $1 million seed fund, sponsored in equal amounts by developer and art collector Jorge M. Pérez, a trustee and major donor whose name is on the museum, and Knight Foundation. “Miami is a very diverse community, and one of the wonderful things about PAMM is that it seeks to make the museum a home for every sector of the community,” says Marilyn Holifield, a partner with the law firm of Holland & Knight in Miami who is a museum trustee and co-chair of PAMM Ambassadors for African American Art, a group of donors who support the fund. “That diversity is what makes Miami unique and for our museum to emphasize the importance of African-American art, not only for the African-American community but for the community at large to gain a greater appreciation and awareness of this work is a wonderful thing.”
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    It’s O, Miami Poetry Festival time

    Published March 30, 2015 by

    O,bviously... poetry is not dead, at least not in Miami. P. Scott Cunningham and his cohorts at O, Miami have made this abundantly clear as they gear up for the annual O, Miami Poetry Festival, which is held every April in celebration of National Poetry Month. For 30 days, festival...
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    Open data project adds transparency to African elections

    Published March 30, 2015 by

    An innovative tool developed to help people register to vote in Kenya is proving to be a valuable asset to voters across the African continent. GotToVote was created in 2012 by two software developers under the guidance of ICFJ’s Knight International Journalism Fellow Justin Arenstein for use during Kenya’s general elections. In just 24 hours, the developers took voter registration information in a government PDF and turned it into a simple website with usable data that helped people locate the nearest voting center where they could register for elections. Kenyan media drove a large audience to the site, which resulted in a major boost in voter registrations.