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    St. Paul celebrates America’s musical roots

    Published July 25, 2011 by

    Mears Park, a jewel in the crown of St. Paul’s arts district near downtown, is hopping with live music throughout the summer months. There’s something going on nearly every weekend, from the Music in Mears free concert series to the eclectic Concrete and Grass festival in September. And this Saturday,...
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    The act of art work worship

    Published July 23, 2011 by

    These paintings in the ground-floor entrance area of the Bass Museum (a Knight Arts Challenge winner) are figurative, seemingly bucolic, most of them small. They are punctuated by a triptych in the middle, facing the ramp that leads to the Bass's main galleries upstairs. The...
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    A New Challenge

    Published July 22, 2011 by

    Cross-posted from Daniel Sinker at dansinker.com I’m excited beyond belief to announce that I’m joining Mozilla as the head of the Knight-Mozilla News Technology Partnership. It’s an incredible opportunity to help build discussions, communities, and tools to drive innovation in journalism. The partnership is funded by the Knight Foundation, the folks that created theKnight News Challenge (which I was a reviewer for this year), and is run byMozilla, the folks that bring you the Firefox web browser. The idea of the partnership is to help to facilitate further collaboration between technologists and journalists through a series of design challenges, learning labs, and culminating in a fellowship program that places developers in residence in newsrooms around the globe. The partner newsrooms for 2011’s fellows are Al Jazeera, the BBC, the Guardian, Die Zeit, and the Boston Globe. It’s an amazing group of people that I am excited to collaborate with.  
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    Frontiers of Democracy: Innovations in Civic Practice, Theory, and Education

    Published July 22, 2011 by

    Practitioners, academics, public officials, funders, and others are gathering in downtown Boston today for the Third Annual Conference in Civic Studies at Tisch College, Tufts University. Its title is “Frontiers of Democracy: Innovations in Civic Practice, Theory, and Education." Paula Ellis, Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, and Damian Thorman, National Program Director, are both representing  Knight Foundation at the conference.
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    Coming “Home”

    Published July 22, 2011 by

    The first piece you’ll see when you check out “Homeland,” the show on view at the N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art until August 20, is Jother Woods’ astonishing, 52-foot long installation “Plantation House.” The dense miniature world, full of buildings, vehicles, avenues and landscaping constructed mostly from found materials, is...
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    The Arts Journalism Challenge is taking questions

    Published July 22, 2011 by

    What exactly is the Knight/NEA Community Arts Journalism Challenge? Who can apply? What are the requirements? And how much money is there to win anyway? The Arts Journalism Challenge, an eight-city contest to find new business models for arts criticism and coverage, is taking questions: Join Knight and NEA staff...
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    Games for engagement: Huffington Post says “put down your pencils and play”

    Published July 21, 2011 by

    A recent article in the Huffington Post cited the importance of using interactive games to strengthen youth education.  Central to the argument was the idea that creative, digital teaching methods are part of learning in the 21st Century. As a strong supporter of games for engagement, Knight, too, believes in the potential of games.  It’s important that we take advantage of the tools that are being developed, and with all the activity taking place in the field, we’re glad to be involved. “Video games have become central to our social fabric,” wrote author Michael Levine, executive director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, a Knight grantee.  “They are...
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    Busy month for Vox Populi

    Published July 21, 2011 by

    Knight Arts Grantee Vox Populi certainly has a lot going on this month. It is currently exhibiting its show “Vox VII,” which is quite a whopper of an exhibition. Narrowing down the more than 25 artists to some of the highlights is a feat in itself, but there are definitely...
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    Exploring theatre as a community art form

    Published July 21, 2011 by

    By Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia First love for theatre usually comes at an early age. The Philly Theatre Casting Couch celebrated that youthful engagement with theatre when it visited the Moorestown Theatre Company’s production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, at the William Allen Middle School, in Moorestown, New Jersey...
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    Experience the 1st Annual Soul Fest Weekend

    Published July 21, 2011 by

    Last week I spoke to Carlos Garcia, owner of The Stage, the state-of-the-art live music venue that will host The 1st Annual Soul Fest Weekend from July 29 through 31, 2011. Soul Fest will feature top-notch live musical performances from groups such as Albert Castiglia, Electric Piquete, Stokeswood and Joel...
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    Exploring the film microbudget

    Published July 20, 2011 by

    2010 Knight Arts Challenge Miami winner Borscht Film Festival was awarded $150,000 to shape Miami’s cinematic identity by showcasing and creating original films that tell unique Miami stories. This week, FilmMaker Magazine celebrated Borscht's approach, calling it "the perfect example of local, sustainable filmmaking." Borscht's Minister of Agriculture Andrew Hevia...