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    MCAD: A visionary take on urban renewal

    Published May 18, 2015 by

    The historic Downtown building that houses MCAD, AIA Miami and the Downtown Miami Welcome Center. Even before entering the Miami Center for Architecture & Design (MCAD) in Downtown, you know you are in for something special. The 1912 building sits in the heart of what remains of the historic center of Miami, still populated by buildings with deco facades, awe-inspiring lobbies and soaring ceilings. Climbing up the outdoor stairs, the original brass doors invite the visitor into a space that opens up with huge archways, a high ceiling with chic lighting, and a simply eye-catching contemporary steel staircase. This is MCAD, which houses the Miami chapter of AIA (American Institute of Architects), the Downtown Miami Welcome Center, a lecture area, and exhibition spaces that, as of May 14, include a quirky small art and design project room. Opened up officially in December 2013, last year MCAD won a Knight Arts Challenge grant with the aim to “bring together artists and architects for discussions around the trend of incorporating art into new buildings. …. Taking advantage of Miami’s arts scene and unique architecture, MCAD will bring together local and global architects and artists who have successfully collaborated on projects.”
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    Dante Symphony to bring this season’s Mainly Mozart Festival to a dazzling end

    Published May 18, 2015 by

    The Paradiso begins at the top of Mount Purgatory. The Mainly Mozart Festival’s artistic director, Marina Radiushina, doesn’t hide her excitement about the festival’s upcoming season finale, a multidisciplinary effort entailing technical and musical challenges. That’s how the Ukranian pianist describes it for our readers. The Mainly Mozart Festival concludes this year with a very special grand finale. Could you give us an overeview of the Dante project? In recognition of the 750th birthday of Dante Alighieri Mainly Mozart Festival will present an innovative and original production of Franz Liszt's great Dante Symphony, inspired by Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. Liszt himself was very interested in the idea of cross inspiration between different art forms. And that interest, which is manifested in his work, became the impetus for this production. Nowadays we have a few extra tools in our palette, the moving image, amplification, lighting, all the capabilities of a modern performing arts facilities to continue the tradition, bring it to our century. Following in Liszt’s footsteps we are re-imagining the re-imagined. This production stands at the intersection of music, literature, dance and film, and we hope to provide the audiences with a full experience carefully balancing various elements. Live narration will be by the inimitable Frank Cooper who reworked the John Ciardi commentaries and translation of the poem. Liszt’s virtuoso two-piano rendition of his own Dante Symphony, originally written for orchestra, will be performed by myself and Grace Fong, a multiple piano competition winner. During the last section of the work, Magnificat, the pianists will be joined by the Miami Children’s Chorus and coloratura soprano Maria Aleida. Original choreography for this production was created by Adriana Pierce and will be performed by the Miami City Ballet dancers. Lastly, simultaneous visual narration is created by the award-winning filmmaker Ali Habashi. Dante’s visionary notion that human love could lead to the capacity for divine love was very progressive for his time and still is very relevant today. He clearly was a man who questioned and thought deeply within the particular belief system of his time and place – Christianity. This profoundly human aspect of his work, which transcends its setting, is where our main interest lies.   The audiences will be able to experience this dazzling multimedia performance at the Knight Concert Hall of the Adrienne Arsht Center, a performance that will take them on an epic journey through the infinite torment of Hell, up the arduous slopes of Purgatory, and onto the glorious realm of Paradise. How is the Miami audience responding to the MMF? I think that the age and endurance of the festival speaks for itself. Our attendance is growing; many of the concerts are sold out. The 2014 Season Finale concert at the Arsht Center attracted almost 2,000 people. The key to the upward trajectory of the festival’s success is two-fold. First, we are building trust in our audiences, the artistic merit and level of performances is consistently high, the atmosphere at the festival is amiable and unstuffy, which makes for a good overall experience. Second, we make an immense effort to continuously raise our own bar when it comes to quality. Foremost comes the quality of music and curatorial work. We know that our audiences want to leave a concert hall having experienced something memorable and moving, a moment of true beauty to behold. I hope that we are moving in the right direction in that respect.
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    ‘To this we’ve come,’ fitting summary of a drama

    Published May 18, 2015 by

    “To this we’ve come...,” laments Magda Sorel in her great aria from The Consul, the opera that closes Florida Grand Opera’s season and marks the climax of Gian Carlo Menotti’s grim and most famous melodrama. If the aria bears some similarity to Vissi d’arte in Tosca; in fact, the Italian-American composer resorted to several Pucciniesque moments to add interest to a work than in this 21st century has lost some of the freshness of its premiere 65 years ago. The Consul is a classic of the 1950s, a somber opera that flirts with vernacular musical theater, sometimes with Italian verismo, but has managed to retain a sort of cult status over time among a group of unconditional fans that eagerly await the sporadic occasions on which it returns to a professional stage. In spite of musicologist Joseph Kerman acerbic words “Menotti is a trivial artist, a sensationalist in the old style, and in fact a weak one, diluting the faults of Strauss and Puccini with none of their fugitive virtues” to attend a complete Consul was the main interest of the FGO last venture of 2014-15. It’s worth mentioning that beyond its undeniable musical virtues, a production that was daring in the midst of the McCarthy furor today involves the risk to appear dull or old-fashioned if it fails to highlight its parallels to an issue as timely now as it was then.
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    Grammy Camp changes focus to build young girls’ skills in music production

    Published May 17, 2015 by

    What started as the next iteration of Grammy Camp St. Paul, an ongoing program focused on teaching music-making to young people, has morphed into a new program called Women in Music and Audio weekend Targeting teenage girls ages 13-18, this 2014 Knight Arts Challenge Award-winning project is a collaboration between McNally Smith College of Music and the Grammy Foundation. Its goal is to bridge a noticeable gap in the music industry: women working on the technological side of music production. When Grammy Camp suggested the project to McNally Smith’s Chris Osgood, he jumped at the prospect. “The idea of getting something from the Grammy Foundation that we could help coordinate that would move the needle in terms of getting women into the technological part of the music business was exciting,” Osgood, vice president of organizational development, said. The Women in Music and Audio weekend will be shorter than regular Grammy Camps, which are typically seven to nine days and are non-residential programs. The Grammy Foundation has done technology-focused weekend programs in the past, but this will be the first one that focuses entirely on girls and women aspiring to work in the music industry. Locally, several successful and influential women in the music industry are collaborating on plans for this project, and this cohort makes it clear why St. Paul is a great place to pilot a program like this.
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    The Haitian Caribbean Book Fair honors Danticat, Férère and Diederich

    Published May 17, 2015 by

    Publishers at the Haitian Caribbean Book Fair 2014. The third annual Haitian Caribbean Book Fair, a Knight Arts grantee, will be held this weekend, beginning with an opening reception on Saturday evening and running through Sunday, May 24th at the Little Haiti Cultural Center.  The Haitian Caribbean Book Fair is part of a boom in literary culture in South Florida. Not too long ago, the Miami Book Fair International was the only major literary festival in town.   Today, the literary landscape is booming, thanks in part to the Knight Foundation's support of local organizations, such as the O, Miami Poetry Festival, Tigertail Productions, the Reading Queer Literary Festival, and The Writer's Room at The Betsy Hotel, among others.
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    Inside|Out: Art in the heart of Akron

    Published May 15, 2015 by

    The launch has begun! On the evening of Thursday, May 7, the Akron Art Museum hosted what it called a block party to celebrate the start of Inside|Out, a new community-activated project funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation that is bringing reproductions of the museum’s art into the city’s streets and beyond. A few hundred people (many of them children) came to the party, eager to listen to the live music, taste some of the local food and drink (and desert ices) provided, engage in art activities for all ages, and participate in guided tours of the museum galleries (including a gallery talk by Liz Carney on the opening of her new exhibition, “Staged Photographs”). Reproduction of Childe Hassam's "Bedford Hills" at Big Bend trailhead. Photo by Roger Durbin  
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    Hialeah Performance Arts Club’s 2015 Spring Concert

    Published May 15, 2015 by

    On April 15, 2015, Hialeah Performance Arts Club presented the 2015 Spring Concert to Miami Dade College- Hialeah Campus students, faculty and staff. The Hialeah Performing Arts and Music Club promotes cultural enrichment amongst the student body, thus allowing students to gain an artistic view through events and participation on and off campus. Dr. Mattie Roig-Watnik, Hialeah Campus President, recited the poem “Leaves” by Professor Hernando Marin, accompanied by Daniela R. Lemus Castillo playing the violin. Such events provide cultural and educational experiences to the students, faculty and staff. Miami Dade College-Hialeah Campus will like to invite artists with a Hialeah connection to join the artist directory. This artist directory will serve as a who’s who of the Hialeah art scene. The directory will facilitate networking within the community and the possibilities for future exhibitions. For more information click here to register: http://www.mdc.edu/hialeahculturalcenter/artists
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    Knight Prototype Fund winner helps farmers markets become data-savvy

    Published May 15, 2015 by

    Shoppers at a downtown farmer's market in Sacramento, Calif. Photo by Flickr user Robert Couse-Baker. One of the biggest issues facing the more than 8,000 farmers markets across the United States doesn’t concern fruit and vegetables. Instead, it’s the data – or lack thereof. Farmers Market Coalition – a national nonprofit working to improve the skills of farmers market managers – says there just aren’t enough people taking advantage of the data that is available. The nonprofit has 900 members from around the country that represent about 5,000 farmers markets. The organization received $35,000 from the Knight Prototype Fund in 2013 to help develop “Market Metrics,” a platform that makes data collection easier for market managers.
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    New national choreography center to offer residencies for next generation of American dance makers

    Published May 14, 2015 by

    Highlights from the University of Akron Dance Company. Above photo: Carrie Hanson and 'The Seldoms,' who will be one of pilot residency artists this summer at the University of Akron. Photo by William Frederking. Scott L. Scarborough, PhD, is the President of The University of Akron and Pamela Young is the executive director of DANCECleveland. You enter a theater and take your seat. The house lights dim, the curtain goes up and a dance performance by a national touring company begins to unfold. The talented dancers, stunning lighting, exquisite costumes, inspiring music and standing ovation during the final bows create an evening to remember. Though the beautiful memory will linger, you will likely not think of the struggles that the choreographer overcame to bring the performance to the stage.
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    Local artists explore and respond to permanent collection at Center for Art in Wood

    Published May 14, 2015 by

    For an exhibition as robust as “Other Selections: Local Artists Respond to the Museum Collection” at the Center for Art in Wood, its name is both literal and surprisingly modest. The uncomplicated title is useful, however, for allowing the creations of the 18 Philadelphia-based artists participating in this show speak for themselves, and the inclusions certainly constitute an impressive assortment. Since none of these individuals work primarily in wood, their dialogue with the Center’s permanent collection is all the more unpredictable, and the result is a testament to multidisciplinary thought and improvisational style. Each artist in the show selected one or more pieces from the museum and utilized them as points of departure for assembling responses in their media of choice. We find ceramics, prints, video installations and a number of multimedia works that contrast and mimic the wooden objects discovered in the collection with conceptual zeal. Steven and Debra Gray, "Kaleidescope."
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    Second round of Knight Green Line Challenge opens June 10

    Published May 14, 2015 by

    The St. Paul Green Line. Photo by Flickr user Jerry Huddleston. Today we’re announcing year two of the Knight Green Line Challenge. The challenge is an open call for the best ideas to build more successful communities in the Central Corridor neighborhoods along the Green Line that connects St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minn. The challenge seeks answers to one key question: “What’s your best idea to tap into the potential of the Green Line to make surrounding neighborhoods more vibrant places to live and work?” There is $500,000 in grant funding available to make the winning ideas a reality.
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    Detroit Journalism Cooperative chronicles story of Detroit’s reinvention on multiple platforms

    Published May 14, 2015 by

    Photo of Detroit by Flickr user Kevin Chang. John Bebow is president and CEO of The Center for Michigan, a nonprofit “think and do tank” which publishes Bridge, a thrice-weekly online news journal in Michigan. Below, he describes how the adversity of the Great Recession helped create the environment for five media properties to form the Detroit Journalism Cooperative. Knight Foundation is extending its financial support of the cooperative from one to three years. The cooperative includes, Bridge, Detroit Public Television, Michigan Radio, New Michigan Media and WDET. When I wear the Detroit Tigers’ “Old English D” baseball cap as I travel across the country, it always draws a reaction. Sometimes it’s a knowing nod from someone who appreciates tough and gritty and has a sense that Detroit is an incredible news town full of tough stories and amazing tales of reinvention.
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    ‘Knight Cities’ podcast: Rebalancing the cost-of-living equation to build better communities

    Published May 13, 2015 by

    Even though young college-educated adults are moving to city centers in far greater numbers than any time in 40 years, it is also true that poverty is growing in most American cities. While at least one strategy for tackling poverty – increasing the minimum wage – is gaining strength, the policy response to the problem has been pretty anemic. Enter Scott Bernstein. As president and co-founder of the Center for Neighborhood Technology in Chicago, Scott is working on detailed plans to show cities how they can reduce the cost of living for people with low incomes and at the same time, put those same people to work to make the changes that reduce their cost of living. It’s an approach that defies conventional thinking, and I talked to Scott earlier this week to learn more. Here are five things you should know from our conversation: 1.    Reducing the cost to families of transportation, residential energy consumption, sewer services, food, and telecommunications are five big ways to lower the cost of living, especially for people with low incomes.
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    Live stream: Join us – virtually – for the 2015 Media Learning Seminar

    Published May 13, 2015 by

    Knight Foundation Media Learning Seminar, 2014. From left; Alberto Ibarguen, President & CEO of Knight Foundation, Kelly Ryan, CEO of Incourage Community Foundation, Chris J. Dagget, President and CEO of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and Emmett Carson, CEO of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, discuss ideas during a plenary session. While the digital age offers evolving opportunities for informing communities, navigating the terrain can be a challenge for civic and philanthropic leaders. That issue will be at the heart of the conversations at Knight Foundation’s 2015 Media Learning Seminar, a gathering of community and place-based foundations, media and tech leaders taking place May 18-19 in Miami. The sessions will be streamed live, starting at 9 a.m. Monday, May 18, at knightfoundation.org/live.
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    Better Block and Open Streets events transform neighborhood in Akron, Ohio, with more vibrant street life

    Published May 13, 2015 by

    North Main Street in Akron, Ohio. Photo by Susan Ruiz Patton. The people in North Hill won’t have to imagine what it would be like if their Akron neighborhood was a pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly place with lots of shopping, dining and family activities. They’ll get to see and experience it this month. May 15-17, neighbors, city organizations, businesses, nonprofit groups and the city of Akron will bring both Better Block and Open Streets to North Hill with the support of Knight Foundation.   Better Block Akron will create a pop-up version of what the North Main Street block at Cuyahoga Falls Avenue would look like if all the storefronts were filled and lots of people showed up to shop and dine there. The “better” version of the block runs 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, May 15, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 16, and Sunday, May 17.