• Article

    “Moment Mile” at Mint Museum Uptown

    Published January 5, 2015 by

    On November 1, 2014 at 6:15 p.m., a groundbreaking photograph was taken in Uptown Charlotte. One hundred and thirty-eight photographers gathered on Tryon Street to take two simultaneous photographs that captured both sides of the street for one unique panorama called “Moment Mile.” Led by Sean Busher, the photograph was...
  • Article

    Miami-Dade libraries offering new tech classes with Knight support

    Published January 5, 2015 by

    Participants in the "Make It! Create an Android App" class.  Jessica Melgarejo Cespedes is the library services specialist in charge of programming and Project L.E.A.D. (Literacy for Every Adult in Dade), and Alisha Latham is the social media specialist in the Community Engagement and Programming department of the Miami-Dade Public Library System. Offering free technology programs in a public library setting is paramount to bridging the digital divide. The Miami-Dade Public Library System, through $25,000 in support from Knight Foundation, has ambitiously begun providing new quality technology programming to the public. The first of these programs, “Make It! Create an Android App” was recently offered at the Edison Center Branch Library. Spanning four weeks, participants gained hands-on experience in creating an application for Android-based mobile phones.
  • Article

    Gimlet Media proves even podcasts about podcasts can be popular

    Published December 29, 2014 by

    Gimlet Media co-founders Alex Blumberg (left) and Matthew Lieber (right). Photo courtesy of Gimlet Media. Ten episodes in and Gimlet Media has already revealed a lot about the highs and lows of starting a podcasting company – in one of its own podcasts, “StartUp.” A podcast about podcasts is “meta,” as Gimlet co-founder Alex Blumberg says in the introduction for each show.  But it is a rare peek into the challenges startups face that often happen behind closed doors. “StartUp” remains a leader on the iTunes podcast chart for its candid storytelling about the process of building a company from scratch. Everything from picking a company name to the grueling fundraising process is documented for listeners. Even in its infancy, Gimlet Media has already raised $1.5 million, which included an investment from Knight Foundation’s venture capital arm, the Knight Enterprise Fund.
  • Article

    Don’t miss National YoungArts Week 2015

    Published December 24, 2014 by

    Note: This article is cross-posted from YoungArts.org During National YoungArts Week, which takes place in Miami each year, approximately 170 YoungArts Finalists in the visual, literary, design and performing arts to work with distinguished master teachers and mentors in their field. Each night these talented young artists will wow audiences through performances, film screenings, an art exhibition, writers’ readings and a jazz combo performance. It’s not to be missed! 
  • Article

    Don’t miss National YoungArts Week 2015

    Published December 24, 2014 by

    During National YoungArts Week, which takes place in Miami each year, approximately 170 YoungArts Finalists in the visual, literary, design and performing arts to work with distinguished master teachers and mentors in their field. Each night these talented young artists will wow audiences through performances, film screenings, an art exhibition,...
  • Article

    Wyncode plans to expand to Fort Lauderdale

    Published December 23, 2014 by

    Above: Winners of the third Wyncode pitch showcase say they’re excited to be alumni of the nine-week code bootcamp founded by Juha Mikkola (left) and Johanna Mikkola (right). Raymond Braaf and Todd Metheny pitched Interque, a technical Q&A crowdsourcing platform, to a crowd of 200. Photo by Jenna Buehler. Miami’s first coding bootcamp has become so successful that its founders plan to expand to Fort Lauderdale. That news emerged Thursday from Wyncode Pitch Day Tres hosted at The LAB Miami in Wynwood. The pitch day introduced 21 new coders to the local tech community, the third class to complete the program. Since the launch of the nine-week code curriculum in May, the school has connected 96 percent of its graduates -- who had no previous coding experience -- with jobs in the region’s growing tech scene. Co-founders Juha and Johanna Mikkola said that because of the success of their 51 graduates and the receptiveness of local hiring partners they plan to expand Wyncode Academy to Fort Lauderdale in 2015.  
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    League connects Akron, Ohio, residents with stories of gratitude

    Published December 23, 2014 by

    As people across the country shopped for bargains at big box stores and shopping malls the weekend after Thanksgiving, the Akron League of Creative Interventionists headed to a local market to capture grateful thoughts. Akronites, it turns out, are grateful for a lot, including kittens and pancakes. But mostly, they said they are grateful for each other. It was one of three gratitude-themed events the league organized in late November and early December.
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    Artists-in-residence program creates recipe for healthy civic engagement in Philadelphia

    Published December 22, 2014 by

    The SPACES Artists-in-Residence program at The Village of Arts and Humanities is a winner of the 2013 Knight Arts Challenge. Lillian Dunn is SPACES program manager. This summer, Philadelphia-based public arts collective Amber Art & Design joined The Village of Arts and Humanities for the first cycle of SPACES, a unique urban artist-in-residence program in which artists live and work on site in North Philadelphia. Amber Art sought to celebrate local culinary traditions and foster excitement around healthy food in the neighborhood. To that end, they created The Village Table, a ticketed four-course sit-down meal held in Meditation Park. Anyone could earn a ticket by volunteering or sharing a recipe with the team, creating an alternative exchange based on civic engagement.
  • Article

    The unlikely train that connects a Twin Cities community

    Published December 22, 2014 by

    Chuck Salter is a senior writer at Fast Company, who produces and performs live, staged versions of in-depth stories. St. Paul, Minn., is one of 26 Knight communities. The Green Line. Photo by Flickr user Jerry Huddleston. “Trains are about journeys, and that’s what we’re embarking on today.” So begins “The Green Line: Eleven Miles of Hopes, Dreams and Fears,” the story of how the new light rail line between Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn., overcame nearly 30 years of uncertainty and turmoil before opening last summer. Transit projects of this magnitude—this one had a nearly $1 billion price tag—are inherently daunting, financially, politically and physically. In St. Paul, the line faced a psychological hurdle as well: the legacy of a transit project that tore apart the city’s largest African-American community 50 years earlier. How this once-divisive train project became a reality is a complicated and inspiring story about the persistence, unusual collaborations and creative problem-solving necessary for transportation-led economic and community development.