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    Miami school gets One Laptop Per Child to help raise digital literacy

    Published January 27, 2012 by

    “How can you pretend you’re actually educating people to live in the 21st century if you’re not making them smart digitally?” asks Knight Foundation President and CEO Alberto Ibargüen. That’s why more than 500 kids received brand-new laptops this morning at a school in Miami. The distribution of the laptops at the Liberty City elementary school are part of an ongoing effort to level the digital playing field for its students. Miami-Dade County Public Schools Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho, Rodrigo A. Halaby, chairman and chief executive officer of One Laptop Per Child, and Knight Foundation President and CEO Alberto Ibargüen presented 525 laptops - one per child - at Holmes Elementary this morning.
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    Now playing at DIA: “plant (3D)”

    Published January 27, 2012 by

    The Packard plant, at one point the most advanced automobile plant in the world, was shuttered and abandoned in 1958, and since then has become one of the more notorious ruins in the country. A vast and sprawling structure, it remains a definitive symbol of Detroit’s economic decline. It has...
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    Preparing for “Open Air” in Philadelphia

    Published January 26, 2012 by

    By Susan Myers, Project Manager, Fairmount Park Art Association In preparation for the Knight-funded public art project Open Air by artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, the Art Association’s Project Manger and Development/Communications Manager recently had the opportunity to travel to Montréal and view Lozano-Hemmer’s installation, Articulated Intersect, commissioned as part of the...
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    Four ideas on how tech can increase civic engagement

    Published January 26, 2012 by

    ​ Code for America The following is written by Tracey Ross, program associate at Living Cities. It is crossposted from Living Cities' blog. Over the past few years there has been a significant amount of energy and technical expertise focused on identifying and solving urban problems within the technology community. According to Jennifer Pahlka, founder and executive director of Code for America, nearly 550 people applied for one of their 26 fellowships to help cities create web-based solutions to civic problems. With hundreds of civic-minded web developers interested in improving cities, there is a growing sense of the untapped potential to use technology to drive civic change. On Thursday, Jan. 19, Living Cities hosted its first Trends in Focus forum to better understand how technology can increase the capacity for civic engagement, collective problem-solving and improved service delivery in cities for the benefit of low-income people.
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    Real time analysis of campaign ads will help inform voters before they head to polls

    Published January 26, 2012 by

    Update: The first analysis of campaign ads was released on Jan. 30 and can be found on Wesleyan Media Project's website. The data informed coverage in a variety of media including NPR, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Miami Herald and USA Today, among others. On Monday, just in time for the Florida primary, The Wesleyan Media project will release its first analysis of campaign ads in 2012 – shedding light on those attempting to influence the presidential election. Knight Foundation is funding the project, the first in a series of grants to be announced this year to support new ways to deepen Americans’ engagement in elections and foster more informed communities. The support for the projects is emerging from a meeting last fall, where Knight gathered a group of media thought leaders for a discussion about new ways for people to participate in elections through digital tools and content.  We’ll be announcing more projects soon here on KnightBlog.org and @knightfdn.
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    “Duett: Alanna Lawley & Matt Giel” at Grizzly Grizzly

    Published January 26, 2012 by

    To kick off 2012, Grizzly Grizzly introduces the show “Duett: Alanna Lawley & Matt Giel." The project, initially proposed and facilitated by art writer Becky Hunter, has two artists working together on a long-distance, collaborative installation in response to a location and to one another. Alanna Lawley is a British,...
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    Arts & Science Council is transforming Charlotte

    Published January 26, 2012 by

    The Arts & Science Council (a Knight Arts grantee) is transforming our city through its creative and innovative programming. Some Charlotteans may not realize the magnitude of what this organization is doing in their own backyard. Or, they know them by name but not really what they do. As we...
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    Application period for 2012 Knight Arts Challenge Miami

    Published January 26, 2012 by

    Highlights from the 2011 Knights Arts Challenge Miami awards ceremony Dream big South Florida - it’s almost time to send in your best ideas for the South Florida arts! On Tuesday, Feb 21. the application period for the next round of the Knight Arts Challenge Miami will officially open. The challenge, now in its fifth year, is a community-wide contest to find the best ideas for the arts. It was created as a way to bring the South Florida community together through cultural opportunities.   
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    Inside Mu Daiko’s 15th anniversary concert

    Published January 26, 2012 by

    By Iris Shiraishi, Mu Daiko Artistic Director Mu Daiko is three weeks from the opening of its 15th anniversary concert at the Ordway’s McKnight Theatre! Rehearsals are in full swing - we're premiering three new works and are in the process of resurrecting and polishing long-standing audience favorites. And, we're...
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    Living life outside the circle

    Published January 26, 2012 by

    By Nora LeRoux, Teatro del Pueblo This March, in collaboration with Pangea World Theater, Teatro del Pueblo will bring the Twin Cities theater community, Outside the Circle, a new play by Andrea Assaf and Samuel Valdez, examining the nature of love, and what happens to love when we internalize society’s...
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    Don’t just watch the show. Be the show.

    Published January 26, 2012 by

    By Robin Barnes, Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe Headlong Dance Theater will premiere their newest work This Town is a Mystery at the 2012 Philadelphia Live Arts Festival. But first, they must find four Philadelphia households to participate. It could be in your home. You could be the...
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    Finding Miami Beach’s “Pulse”

    Published January 26, 2012 by

    If you haven't been to “Pulse” at the New World Symphony, you haven't experienced one of the most exhilarating and energetic fusions of live electronica with classical music anywhere. For four hours last Friday night, the famed New World Center turned into a mega nightclub, a new age spacecraft, where...