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    ARTLAB J: It is my mission to make the individual think

    Published August 20, 2014 by

    This month, five Detroit arts groups are vying for the Knight Arts Challenge People’s Choice Award, a $20,000 prize the winner can use for a project of their choice. The award is one of the ways Knight aims to bring attention to small arts organizations and their impact on the city. Here, KnightArts.org has a quick word with  Joori Jung of nominee ARTLAB J, a troupe working to strengthen the city’s dance community. Vote for the museum by texting Detroit3 to 22333 and learn about the other nominees at knightarts.org/peopleschoice. Q. What do you love most about your arts group? A. ARTLAB J has an array of unique artists from various backgrounds whether it’s different dance styles, or the places that we come from. We gather together collectively with our different ideas and make them assemble right here in the City of Detroit whether it’s marketing, advertising, managing or dancing. Q. What would you do with the $20,000 People’s Choice award? A. ARTLAB J would further develop the organization in order to support the community and to support the local Detroit dancer. This is a community effort with the hopes of reaching also a national and international level. ARTLAB J studio at Saint John and Saint Luke United Church of Christ. Q. Three words or phrases your fans would use to describe your work? A. Wholesome,  Energetic, Sprouting. Q. Who, or what, inspires you as an artist? A. Pina Bausch inspires me. Her choreography is not just dance and it’s fulfilling because I can feel the humanism from her choreography. She makes me think about my life and at the end she brings more topic to me.
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    Our Walker West Story: Danita and Dewayne Jackson

    Published August 20, 2014 by

    By Peter E. Leggett, Walker West Music Academy At Walker West Music Academy, we know that parents play a pivotal role in developing young musicians. Today, we are celebrating two Walker West parents for the years they dedicated to helping their children explore, learn and grow through music. Danita and...
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    Da Vinci Art Alliance turns up the heat

    Published August 19, 2014 by

    Starting the summer off with new Executive Director Gaby Heit was already exciting news for Da Vinci Art Alliance (DVAA), the South Philadelphia exhibition and studio space, and now that she has been at the helm, DVAA has been experiencing a renaissance of sorts. Aside from reorganizing and updating the...
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    Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians expands efforts to place immigrant professionals in chosen careers

    Published August 19, 2014 by

    Amanda Bergson-Shilcock is director of outreach and program evaluation at the nonprofit Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians in Philadelphia, which Knight Foundation supports to help harness and retain immigrant talent.  By Amanda Bergson-Shilcock I still remember Marcel (I’ve changed his name to protect his privacy). He came into our office one day, a young Haitian man eager to make his mark on the world. In his native country, he’d been a doctor. In this one, he was washing cars—for $6.25 an hour. Becoming an obstetrician would have been an extraordinary achievement in any country. It was even more so in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Marcel’s determination shone through as he talked with our employment specialist. Marcel was far from the first immigrant jobseeker to walk through our doors. The staff at the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians is skilled at helping immigrants find their first U.S. jobs, having placed more than 1,200 legally work-authorized individuals in employment over the last decade. For many of the men and women we work with, these are so-called survival jobs – a significant step down from their earlier careers.  Such entry-level jobs are not a  long-term solution, but the government contracts that have funded our work don’t give us the time to do more than make an immediate job placement. And as our former director of employment, herself a refugee, used to say wryly, “You have to work if you want to eat.” 
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    A Host of People: Making Detroiters feel at home with experimental art

    Published August 19, 2014 by

      This month, five Detroit arts groups are vying for the Knight Arts Challenge People’s Choice Award, a $20,000 prize the winner can use for a project of their choice. The award is one of the ways Knight aims to bring attention to small arts organizations and their impact on the city. Here, KnightArts.org has a quick word with  Sherrine Azab and Jake Hooker  of nominee A Host of People, a theater group celebrating the DIY movement in food and the arts. Vote for the group by texting Detroit1 to 22333, and learn about the other nominees at knightarts.org/peopleschoice. Q. What do you love most about your arts group? A. We love the experimentation.  When we begin, we don’t know where we’re going to end.  We love collaboration.  Everybody in our process -- performers, designers, musicians and especially the audience -- are part of the generation of the work.  We’re all making it together.  And because of all of that creative combustion, what we make, is big, bold, visually arresting, thought provoking and fun. Q. What would you do with the $20,000 People’s Choice award? A. Part of the funds will go directly towards our upcoming production The Harrowing; part will go towards renovating our attic into a rehearsal space/chamber theater where we can develop this and future works; and part will go towards establishing a mobile bike cafe that we can take to events and other neighborhoods in order to get the word out about our own work as well as that of other artists in Detroit. Q. Three words or phrases your fans would use to describe your work? A. Welcoming, transportive, captivating
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    Signs highlight hidden history in Macon, Ga.

    Published August 18, 2014 by

    Signs from the League of Creative Interventionists at a cemetery in Macon. Credit: Molly McWilliams Wilkins. History is around each corner in Macon, Ga., some of it well known, some of it hidden by the depths of time. But the Macon League of Creative Interventionists, a local affiliate of a global group that connects communities with art, sought to uncover some of that history last month. In fact history was the international theme for the league in July, and members of the Macon chapter posted signs around the community to identify historic gems. “Our goal with the history of intervention was to shed some light on places or events that hadn’t gotten a lot of attention, or were just really interesting pieces of local history that not everyone knew about Macon,” said Mark Vanderhoek, chapter leader.  “It was fun to learn about the different pieces league members knew about.” Walking through some parts of Macon, you might find yourself faced with obvious historical sites, such as the Hay House or the Cannonball House. However, many times it is the undiscovered parts of history that are the most interesting. “Macon is a town that talks about its history a lot since it’s pretty star-studded. But often because of that, some of the best stories get left out or overlooked. It was great to be able to bring some of Macon’s lesser-known stories to light. I hope we can continue to add more in the future,” said J.R. Olive, program coordinator for the College Hill Alliance and a member of the Creative Interventionists.
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    “Romantic Endings” at the Bakehouse Art Complex

    Published August 18, 2014 by

    There's nothing like a 10-course meal set to a montage of romantic endings, especially when chef Tanner Gill is behind the meals. "Romantic Endings." Next Wednesday, August 27th at the Bakehouse Art Complex, Pioneer Winter and Indiefilmclub/Film Gate Miami Interactive Festival will present "Romantic Endings," a...
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    Weekend camp empowers girls to learn to code

    Published August 18, 2014 by

    Lessons on resourcefulness and the power of self-motivation are led by Felecia Hatcher, co-founder of Code Fever. Photo credit: Jenna Buehler.  Girl power was a theme at this past Saturday’s Code Fever event. Students learned how to write a pitch for an idea, basic HTML and CSS, and attended a panel of Miami-based code specialists. On Saturday, The LAB Miami -- the co-working hotspot in Wynwood -- became an entrepreneurial wonderland for young girls. More than 29 students participated in a one-day coding event hosted by Code Fever and Codella. The event served as a free introduction to coding for kids and their parents, and as a celebration for 15 girls from Centro Mater who just completed a six-week summer camp with Codella. “We believe that code serves as a tool to empower students,” said Felecia Hatcher, co-founder of Code Fever, which recently received support to expand from Knight Foundation. “More than that, we believe that you can’t teach code without also working individually on each student’s confidence in themselves.”
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    Dabls: I love how the act of storytelling opens people to their dreams

    Published August 18, 2014 by

    This month, five Detroit arts groups are vying for the Knight Arts Challenge People’s Choice Award, a $20,000 prize the winner can use for a project of their choice. The award is one of the ways Knight aims to bring attention to small arts organizations and their impact on the city. Here, KnightArts.org has a quick word with  Olayami Dabls of nominee Dabls MBAD African Bead Museum. Vote for the museum by texting Detroit2 to 22333, and learn about the other nominees at knightarts.org/peopleschoice. Q. What do you love most about your arts group? A. I love seeing how the act of storytelling can open people up to their own dreams. Q. Three words or phrases your fans would use to describe your work? A. Iron, rocks and wood Q. Who, or what, inspires you as an artist? A. Telling stories that I feel need to be told. Q. What’s the best thing about Detroit’s arts  community? A. All the organizations I know about are labors of love. Q. Personal cultural highlight over the past year? A. Everyday that someone really takes the time to walk through the installations. Q. What was your proudest moment as an artist/organization? A. When I see my work inspire people to tell their own stories.
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    How Poderopedia has promoted transparency in its first year and a half

    Published August 18, 2014 by

    This article is cross-posted with permission from ICFJ.org. In its first year and a half of existence, the data journalism platform Poderopedia has promoted transparency and detection of conflicts of interest; generated news stories that made an impact on society; and built alliances with other Latin American organizations. I founded Poderopedia, which tracks who is who in politics and business, in December 2012 in Chile, with a committed team of journalists and programmers and with financial support from theJohn S. and James L. Knight Foundation. At the beginning of 2013, ICFJ named Mariana Santos, Mariano Blejman, Gustavo Faleiros and me as Knight International Journalism Fellows. ICFJ wanted to bring together a group of professionals committed to promoting the use of technology, learning and collaboration among media, civic organizations, journalists and programmers in Latin America. The results: Chicas Poderosas, Ecolab, Latin Hackers Hacks, Open Data Latin America, MediaParty and Poderopedia, among other initiatives. Poderopedia has been finalist for the Data Journalism Award 2013 (competing with the likes of The New York Times and The Guardian) and nominated for Best Innovation at the Bobs Awards from Deutsche Welle 2014. Chile, Venezuela and Colombia. Who's next? In my case, the Knight Fellowship allowed me to continue working hard to enhance Poderopedia and to establish international connections that would enable it to grow from a local project into a global initiative.