• Article

    Ask us anything St. Paul at Knight Arts Challenge Q and As

    Published March 26, 2014 by

    St. Paul Knight Arts Challenge from Knight Foundation on Vimeo. On April 7, we will be launching the St. Paul .Knight Arts Challenge, looking for the best arts ideas that engage and enrich St. Paul. Over the next three years, Knight will be giving away up to $4.5 million in matching grants to innovative ideas. The application, open to everyone, will be available here at KnightArts.org. Applying is designed to be very easy.  In fact, the application is just short two questions, with only 150 words allotted. And there are three rules to follow: The idea must be about arts. The project must take place in or benefit St. Paul. You must find other funding to match the Knight Foundation grant. To help get out the word – and to answer your questions –  Knight will be hosting a series of Community Q&As  the week of April 13. There, Knight Foundation’s Tatiana Hernandez and Polly Talen will talk about how to  craft your application,  discuss the challenge timeline, and answer pretty much any question you throw at them.  (A hint: though you may want to read our list of Frequently Asked Questions first. And for the very motivated, we have a list of all previous winners of the Knight Arts Challenge in the other cities where the contest has taken place.)  
  • Article

    A new mix for Miami’s musicians and entrepreneurs

    Published March 26, 2014 by

    Photo credit: Luis Olazabal. The first MIA Music Summit, celebrated at the New World Center in Miami Beach Monday, combined everything an event that brought together music, technology and entrepreneurship could offer, and more. RELATED LINKS "Una nueva mezcla para músicos y empresarios en Miami" on KnightBlog.org "Music and tech: A new beat for Miami" on KnightBlog.org It was inspirational but buttressed by numbers and definite strategies. It embraced music and the creative spark but also algorithms and Big Data. Just as importantly, it often examined past experiences and new opportunities—on issues ranging from branding and record labels to alternative funding—from unexpected angles. The goal of the event, which was sponsored by Knight Foundation, Choose Digital, .CO, SESAC Latina and Mobile Roadie, was to bridge the different worlds of music, technology and entrepreneurship and, as Matt Haggman, Knight’s Miami program director said, “help make Miami a place where ideas are built.” Reflecting that goal, the summit had a very practical, hands-on component; it actually started Saturday morning with Miami’s first music “hackathon” at The LAB Miami in Wynwood.  About 50 programmers, designers and musicians, most working in teams, set out to create new projects that may be the kernels of new companies. On Sunday judges evaluated 13 new ideas, ranging from programs to find people to jam with, to applications that coordinate what you are reading with the music you play, to a program that adjusts your playlist geographically, depending of the town you happen to be passing. The top five projects were presented to the summit at large, and a new set of judges, on Monday.
  • Article

    Una nueva mezcla para músicos y empresarios en Miami

    Published March 26, 2014 by

    Photo credit: Luis Olazabal. El primer MIA Music Summit, llevado a cabo en el New World Center en Miami Beach este lunes, combinó todo lo que se puede esperar de un evento que involucra música, tecnología y espíritu empresario -- y más. RELATED LINS " "Music and tech: A new beat for Miami" on KnightBlog.org "A new mix for Miami’s musicians and entrepreneurs" on KnightBlog.org Fue inspirador, pero apoyado en cifras y estrategias definidas.  En él se celebró la música y la chispa creadora, pero también la importancia de algoritmos y Big Data. Fue un encuentro que examinó desde nuevos ángulos experiencias pasadas y nuevas oportunidades en un amplio abanico de temas, desde el tema de marcas y los sellos de grabación a modos alternativos de financiación de proyectos. El propósito del encuentro, el cual fue patrocinado por  Knight Foundation, Choose Digital, .CO, SESAC Latina y Mobile Roadie, era establecer puentes entre las culturas del mundo de la música, la tecnología y los startups, como había dicho Matt Haggman, el director de programa de Miami de Knight, “contribuir a hacer de Miami un lugar donde se construyen ideas.” Reflejando ese objetivo, el evento no sólo tuvo charlas, sino también un componente muy práctico, de ‘manos a la obra’. El encuentro comenzó en realidad el sábado a la mañana en lo que fue el primer “hackathon” musical de Miami, celebrado en The LAB Miami en Wynwood. Alrededor de 50 programadores, diseñadores y músicos, la mayoría trabajando en equipos, aceptaron el desafío de crear nuevos productos que quizás podrían ser las semillas de nuevas compañías. El domingo, un jurado evaluó 13 nuevos proyectos que iban desde aplicaciones para encontrar gente con quien tocar o coordinar la música que el usuario escucha con lo que está leyendo a un programa que ajusta la música de acuerdo al lugar geográfico en el que el usuario está en determinado momento. Los cinco proyectos elegidos fueron presentados el lunes a la sala del Summit en pleno y ante un nuevo jurado.
  • Article

    Big interest in big data

    Published March 26, 2014 by

    Photo credit: Flickr user: maximillion. The social sector is undergoing an important transformation when it comes to research and evaluation. Nonprofits have shifted from asking whether they should measure their work to how to most effectively assess impact. Coupled with the emergence of new approaches for collecting and analyzing data, there’s never been more interest and opportunity for nonprofits and foundations to adopt evidence-based practices in their work. I recently discussed Knight Foundation’s experiences with new forms of research and data visualization during a webinar titled “Data-Driven Strategy in the Social Sector” hosted by Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR). Jeffrey Bladt from Do Something and Sean Gourley of Quid, a data analytics firm Knight worked with recently, joined me in providing a small glimpse into how foundations and nonprofits can leverage data to increase their effectiveness and advance knowledge in their fields. Furthering the point that data is on the minds of social sector organizations, 3,000 people registered for the webinar, which set a record for an SSIR webinar. We only had time to address a handful of question from the audience, so here are some additional thoughts related to the most common questions about research and data posed during the webinar and post-webinar survey (I’ll do my best to follow up individually with those who asked questions about the civic tech investment report featured during the webinar).
  • Article

    ‘State of News Media’ starts counting digital upside

    Published March 26, 2014 by

    Photo credit: Flickr user Steve Bowbrick. In its latest “State of the News Media” report, the Pew Research Center chronicles the growth of digital news organizations by estimating they have created 5,000 new full-time editorial jobs. Some may whine that they did not capture all the organizations, or the right ones. But I say bravo. You have to start somewhere, and this is a great beginning. As traditional media shrinks, new forms grow – and it’s refreshing to see someone trying to tell the whole story of digital disruption. More than a decade ago, professor David Weaver’s research showed a shrinking of the overall U.S. journalism workforce from 122,000 in 1992 to 116,000 in 2002.  Since then, daily newspapers have shed another 17,000 journalists. That is the half of the story we hear often. Traditional newsrooms are sinking. The advertising declines are so pervasive that the Newspaper Association of America has stopped issuing quarterly reports on the numbers.  We need to know more about where the jobs are going – and they are out there, or we would not be seeing steady hiring rates of growing numbers of graduating journalism and communications students. So Pew is setting off on a worthy journey.
  • Article

    Dan Graham and more video at MOCA

    Published March 25, 2014 by

    Dan Graham will talk about his sculpture and video. Dan Graham has worked on the formative edge of Conceptual Art since the 1960s, working with text, performance art, video and likely most familiarly, glass-and mirrored sculpture, which appear in sculpture gardens and outdoor spaces through the...
  • Article

    The Clay Studio highlights national work with poise and humor

    Published March 25, 2014 by

    In director Garth Johnson’s own words, although the “Clay Studio National” exhibit does include some more earthy works, “the show as a whole is a little bit pink, fluffy, goopy, colorful and funny.” As a show representing the Clay Studio’s 40th anniversary, the glut of challenging, funky and conceptual content...
  • Article

    ‘Start-Up City: Miami’ explores Miami’s role as an emerging tech hub

    Published March 25, 2014 by

    Above: A scene from “Start-Up City: Miami” in 2013. Photo credit: Knight Foundation on Flickr.  Many recent media reports have captured the excitement of the emerging entrepreneurial community in Miami, a trend that Knight Foundation has supported through more than 50 local investments in the past 18 months. But what’s next? That topic takes the stage during the second annual “Start-Up City: Miami” from The Atlantic and The Atlantic Cities and supported by Knight.  According to The Atlantic, the daylong event at New World Center in Miami Beach “will explore the key components of a successful urban tech hub,” focusing on efforts underway in South Florida.  Speakers will include Sam Altman, president of Y Combinator; Felecia Hatcher, owner of Feverish Ice Cream; Michael Jones, chief technology advocate at Google and co-founder of Google Earth; Peter Kellner, co-founder of Endeavor Global; Philip Levine, mayor of Miami Beach; Laura Maydón, managing director and CEO of Endeavor Miami; Manny Medina, managing partner of Medina Capital Partners; and Rebecca White, professor of entrepreneurship and director of the Entrepreneurship Center at the University of Tampa. Urban expert Richard Florida, co-founder of The Atlantic Cities, will lead the discussions.