• Article

    Bridge Red “Set”-ting some standards

    Published October 18, 2011 by

    It's becoming a real treat to visit the Bridge Red Studios alternative gallery off of 125th Street in North Miami, which opened less than a year ago. Not only are quality artists, who are not represented at galleries around town, highlighted, but the...
  • Article

    Nonprofit news sites need to act more like digital businesses

    Published October 18, 2011 by

    By Mayur Patel and Michele McLellan: In the emerging landscape of non-profit news, good journalism is not enough. Even with generous foundation support, high-quality reporting alone will not create an organization that can sustain its ability to produce news in the public interest.  Instead, successful news organizations – even the nonprofit ones  - have to act like digital businesses, making revenue experimentation, entrepreneurship and community engagement important pieces of the mix. Understanding how to create social and economic value and how to adapt and innovate are just as important as good content. The new study we just completed, “Getting Local,” offers a detailed look at some of the country’s leading online local nonprofit news ventures, providing data on how they are generating revenue, engaging users and cultivating donors.
  • Article

    Knight Arts earns an Emmy nod

    Published October 17, 2011 by

    Knight Foundation is celebrating a Suncoast Emmy nomination for its "Ideas in Motion" short program. The 30-minute documentary follows five Knight Arts Challenge winners on their journeys to realize their artistic visions. Highlighted artists include the Florida Grand Opera, Teatro Avante, Kathleen Hudspeth of Turn-Based Press, Lauren “Lolo” Reskin of...
  • Article

    The take-your-parent-to-a-show project

    Published October 17, 2011 by

    By Neil Thackaberry, Actors' Summit Things are moving fast at Actors’ Summit with our “Take-your-parent-to-a-show!” PROJECT. With the support of Knight Foundation we’re developing a whole new set of contacts with area schools, and, hopefully, a theater audience for the future. The program provides free tickets to parents when their...
  • Article

    Theatre Unbound’s fractured fairy tale “Anna Bella Eema” at the Lowry Lab Theater

    Published October 17, 2011 by

    “Anna Bella Eema” bills itself as “a ghost story with three bodies for three voices” — that’s about as good a description as any. Obie Award-winning playwright Lisa D’Amour’s otherworldly script just doesn’t fit comfortably in the confines of a tidy subhead capsule description. [caption id="attachment_26695" align="aligncenter" width="460" caption=""Anna Bella...
  • Article

    How funders can better evaluate place-based initiatives

    Published October 17, 2011 by

      Jon Sotsky, Strategic Assessment Officer and Jeff Coates, National Program Associate: We and our funder colleagues make several grants in specific communities each year, but often struggle to understand the cumulative impact of these investments in the community. So Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, known as GEO, recently formed a group of private funders and federal agencies to generate new ideas for evaluating the overall community impact in places where we fund multiple programs. At a recent gathering in Washington D.C., the group entertained several interesting conversations about evaluating place-based philanthropy. The biggest takeaways pertained to the following questions:
  • Article

    Artist Interview: Augusto Soledade

    Published October 17, 2011 by

    Augusto Soledade is Brazz Dance Theater's acclaimed choreographer and artistic director. He will premiere exciting new work, entitled "Cordel" and set to music by Daniel Bernard Roumain, at the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center on Nov. 11, 12, 18 and 19 at 8:30 p.m. and Sundays on Nov. 13 and...
  • Article

    Showing off around town

    Published October 14, 2011 by

    The artist Karen Rifas says she got the idea for her latest show, "Strung Out," at the Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, when she was working with the strings she is (up to this point) best known for — those woven with oak leaves,...
  • Article

    Steven Clift: When you roll up your sleeves, you can shape democracy

    Published October 14, 2011 by

    Steven Clift, Founder and Executive Director, E-Democracy.org This post is part of "The Digital Revolution and Democracy" series. For more information on the series, read "Digital Democracy: A More Perfect Union". What technology is used to influence the media, the public and democracy? What tools will people use to defend against propaganda and find content that can help them navigate and manage their community? And will people be powerless against high-tech manipulation? "You have to realize that when you roll up your sleeves, you can shape democracy," says Steven Clift, founder and executive director of E-Democracy.org and an online strategist focused on the use of the Internet in democracy, governance and community. "It isn’t just about using the technologies neutrally, though, you have to use them with intent," he says. "People can have a voice, people can solve problems. Governments can provide more information. But unless people bring their democratic intent to it, it doesn’t measure up." Knight Foundation's interview with Clift is the first of 17 to be published on KnightBlog as part of "The Digital Revolution and Democracy," a series of idea-inspiring videos that examine the ever-evolving trends transforming our lives. From the Arab Spring to the Digital Divide, from the promise to the peril of these new tools, we talk with thought leaders who are shaping the future of media and democracy. Follow along as foundation Vice President Dennis Scholl interviews 17 leaders who believe passionately in self-government -- but have different visions of how it will evolve.
  • Article

    Students teach digital and media literacy skills to Charlotte residents

    Published October 14, 2011 by

    Last year, Knight Foundation funded the James L. Knight School of Communication at Queens University of Charlotte, in order to  develop programs to teach digital and media literacy to its students and the community, a priority of Knight's journalism and media innovation program. We recently blogged about the ways in which the school's students have started teaching digital and media literacy to Greater Charlotte. The following post, written by Van King, dean of the school, and Dr. John A. McArthur, assistant professor, details a recent workshop where students shared what they're learning about digital life with residents of Myers Park, a nearby neighborhood. King and McArthur: Raahil Djhruva reached out gently across the generational divide and helped a community member learn how to use Skype so he could communicate with his daughter. Dhruva, a junior at Queens University of Charlotte from London, England, called the experience “an emotional moment.” His was one story of many. Along with a team of students in the James L. Knight School of Communication, Dhruva volunteered to teach digital and media literacy skills to residents of Myers Park, the university’s neighborhood. Through a new partnership with Myers Park Home Owners Association, the school offered a digital and media literacy session entitled "My Digital Life: Social media meets personal privacy" on Oct. 12. The school’s Knight-Crane Convergence Laboratory was filled with curious residents, eager to learn and to share their questions and worries about the Digital Age. Dr. John A. McArthur, an assistant professor in the school, led a discussion about social media and privacy, providing the context of Marshall McLuhan’s predictions come true and citizens’ growing need to keep up with rapid change. After the discussion, communication students and attendees met shoulder to shoulder at the computers.