• Article

    eMerge Americas tech and innovation event returns to showcase Miami’s entrepreneurial spirit

    Published December 16, 2014 by

    Xavier Gonzalez is executive director of eMerge Americas, the movement behind a technology event hosted by the Technology Foundation of the Americas, that is scheduled for May 1-5 across South Florida. Knight Foundation is a founding funder of the event.  In 2012, Knight Foundation widened its work in Miami to focus on entrepreneurs. eMerge Americas, which was a budding idea from Manuel D. Medina, chairman and CEO of Medina Capital, had a similar hope: to make Miami a center for innovation and technology. In 2014 those overlapping visions assembled a thriving community of entrepreneurs and disruptors at the first eMerge Americas event in May. Now, Knight and eMerge Americas are embarking on a three-year partnership to grow this vision into a movement that draws international attention to Miami. The 2014 gathering set the bar for what a movement could accomplish: 6,000 attendees, 400 participating companies, 150 speakers, and 115 startups showcased.
  • Article

    For the Love of black theater

    Published December 16, 2014 by

    By Quentin Talley, OnQ Productions Recently, OnQ wrapped up its first production of the season, For The Love of Harlem, to rave reviews from audiences and critics alike. This original musical, written by Jermaine Nakia Lee with musical direction by Tyrone Jefferson & A Sign of The Times of the...
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    Festive events for the holiday season

    Published December 15, 2014 by

    "The Nutcracker" performed by the Charlotte Ballet. Photo by Peter Zay This festive time of year brings lots of holiday happenings across the Queen City. If you are looking for some Christmas cheer or New Year’s mayhem, be sure to check out these events. For the...
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    Shaneeka Harrell is Cassius Clay

    Published December 15, 2014 by

    Artist Shaneeka Harrell takes on the role of Cassius Clay (a.k.a. Muhammad Ali) in a new dance theater work that is currently under development at Inkub8 (a Knight Arts grantee) as part of Thought Loom’s Synapse Performance Project (also a Knight Arts grantee). Shaneeka Harrell embodying...
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    St. Louis Post-Dispatch uses Videolicious to help increase audience

    Published December 15, 2014 by

    View the original video at StLToday.com Matt Singer is CEO of Videolicious, a Knight Foundation investment through its venture capital initiative, the Knight Enterprise Fund. This is part four of five in a series exploring ways journalists are using Videolicious to enhance storytelling. Videolicious is available for iOS. What do community expertise, Plexiglas, and an iPhone mean for the future of newsroom video? The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has combined these ingredients to create a hyperefficient video-creation engine that’s driving audience growth and increasing sponsorship revenue. Because video is so important to its audience, the Post-Dispatch has pursued innovative video types and created them in multiple ways. “There’s not just one particular type of video that readers like to look at,” says Post-Dispatch Video Director Gary Hairlson.  Hairlson compares the paper’s offerings to a “video buffet” featuring everything from short journalist videos created in the field to more complex video series built in the newsroom and associated with the paper’s weekly Go! Magazine.
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    Erik Howard brings the corner and the community together in unlikely ways through The Alley Project

    Published December 12, 2014 by

    Photo of Erik Howard by Marvin Shaouni. This article is cross-posted with permission from Creative Exchange. To read the abundance of news coverage coming out of Detroit over the last few years heralding the downtrodden city as a hotbed of creativity and innovation, attracting young creatives and start-up entrepreneurs from all over the country – the Detroit-is-what-you-make-of-it, "blank slate" narrative – one might be tempted to think that there was no such social activism or creative energy there prior to, say, 2009.   But while there have been innumerable socially-minded projects and organizations taking root in recent years, there are just as many that started planting their seeds years, decades even, before there was any promise that they might come to fruition.   Young Nation is one such organization, and it has grown organically since photographer and youth advocate Erik Howard and his collaborators started discussing an idea for a neighborhood-based group in 1999.
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    “Mi Casa Su Casa” opens at the Sandbox

    Published December 12, 2014 by

    Now that Basel is over, it's time to get back to Sandbox at the Miami Theater Center (a Knight Arts grantee) for "Mi Casa Su Casa," a multidimensional, cross-disciplinary performance installation produced by GodoyPradera Projects. GodoyPradera Projects. This will be the third iteration of "Mi Casa...
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    Let the Peter Marino exhibit mess with your head

    Published December 12, 2014 by

    Detail from Manolo Yllera, Peter Marino's "Double Portrait." While the highlights of Art Basel week usually include some of the top-quality artworks at the various fairs, this year two locally presented exhibits competed with the best of them. Unfortunately, “Auto Body,” a temporary exhibit in a...
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    Miami natives build a tech ecosystem that fosters creativity, loyalty

    Published December 12, 2014 by

    Entrepreneur and Startup Grind host Jason Ibarra asked Will Weinraub, founder of Live Ninja, about his experience launching a startup in Miami. Both Ibarra and Weinraub are Miami natives. Photo by Preston Tesvich. Miami natives are strengthening the city’s entrepreneurial ecosystem by fostering loyalty and creativity in the emerging tech community. More than 40 South Florida entrepreneurs traveled to Venture Hive in downtown Miami Tuesday night to participate in Startup Grind and hear about successful efforts from local startups. Startup Grind is a collection of hyper-local conversations that aim to inspire, educate, and connect entrepreneurs across the globe. Startup Grind Miami, which debuted in March, hosts conversations in entrepreneurship each month powered by Google for Entrepreneurs and supported by Knight Foundation.
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    Welcoming immigrants helps cities succeed

    Published December 12, 2014 by

    A soccer tournament from 2013 National Welcoming Week. Photo credit: Uniting NC. “Cities should roll out the welcome mat for entrepreneurial new Americans, because nothing does more to improve a community’s economic future than its ability to attract and retain talent.” -- Carol Coletta, VP, community and national initiatives, Knight Foundation With President Obama’s visit to Nashville this week to recognize the efforts of that city to welcome immigrants and benefit economically as a result, the nation was reminded of a story that has the potential to play out in cities across the country. With support from Knight Foundation, Welcoming America – which was also recognized by the president during his visit – will now have the opportunity bring Nashville’s story to communities nationwide. We will expand our Welcoming Cities and Counties Initiative to work with leaders across the country to create robust local initiatives that ensure that immigrants are able to achieve economic mobility, participate civically and contribute more fully to the future of their communities.