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    Artist Nick Cave invades Detroit for ‘biggest, baddest’ performance series

    Published April 22, 2015 by

    Now through the fall, Detroit will become the backdrop for artist Nick Cave’s most ambitious project to date, including seven months of events and his first solo exhibition at Cranbrook Art Museum, all funded by the Knight Arts Challenge. Here Cranbrook Curator Laura Mott writes about Cave’s first stop in the city, where he traveled around the city in his signature embellished costumes known as Soundsuits. Everywhere he goes, artist Nick Cave brings with him explosions of energy, color and creative force. Last week, we got our first taste of what the project “Nick Cave: Here Hear” is bringing to Detroit this year. Cranbrook Art Museum and Nick Cave staged the first round of Soundsuit Invasion Photo Shoots in locations around Detroit. The resulting photographs will create an extra-large postcard book titled “Nick Cave: Greetings From Detroit.” The book will feature Nick Cave in Soundsuits at each location, with photography by Detroiter Corine Vermeulen and designed by Bob Faust.
  • Article

    Boot camp for entrepreneurs boosts minority businesses in Detroit

    Published April 21, 2015 by

    David Blaszkiewicz, president and CEO, Invest Detroit; Katy Locker, program director/Detroit, Knight Foundation; and Rodrick T. Miller president and CEO, Detroit Economic Growth Corp., present awards to winning contestants. Photos courtesy Detroit Economic Growth Corp. Ruth Bell was so nervous about pitching Chugga’s, her wholesale bread-baking company, she had to be shoved into the room where some of Detroit’s power brokers—people with the venture capital she needs to grow her business—waited to hear her presentation last week. Yet, moments later, she had the crowd chanting for her Monkey Bread, pull-apart, braided loaves that are free of artificial ingredients and come in flavors such as Rum Raisin and Zesty Lemon. “What time is it?” she repeatedly asked the audience of about 100 people, including a panel of judges that had come to award $20,000 in seed money. “It’s Monkey Bread time!” they responded. (Monkey Bread, for those not in the know, is a Southern delicacy named after the fruit of the African baobab tree.)
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    Destination Downtown: Second Street block party and spring cleanup

    Published April 21, 2015 by

    Georgia Cities Week - Destination Downtown Second Street block party and Spring Cleanup. The Georgia Municipal Association is a nonprofit conglomerate that was created to go to bat for cities in Georgia. As of this date, 521 townships are members of the Georgia Municipal Association, which provides a plethora of services to help its members make their cities prosper. The Georgia Municipal Association, also referred to as GMA, assists governments in Georgia by training their authority figures, helping the municipalities generate revenue, creating aid for their workers and informing all branches of the legislature about the cities' needs and developments. The GMA has been serving Georgia's communities since 1933. One of the GMA's programs is Georgia Cities Week, which takes place from April 19 to April 25.
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    Government’s trust conundrum

    Published April 21, 2015 by

    Over the past several years, an increasing number of governments, businesses, social sector organizations and technologists have supported efforts to make government data more accessible and useful. Knight Foundation has actively supported this growing Open Government movement, funding organizations such as Sunlight Foundation and Code for America as well as hosting a Knight News Challenge focused specifically on Open Government. Related Links Pew Research Center "Public Is Somewhat Optimistic about Open Data Initiatives Making Government More Accountable, Yet Few Say Government Effectively Shares Data with the Public" -- Press release, 4/21/2015 Yet, Open Government data is not something on the minds of most people according to a study released today by Pew Research Center. In the report “Americans’ Views on Open Government Data,” which was funded by Knight Foundation, only 31 percent of people said they could think of either a positive example of the government providing data or a negative example where the government did not provide enough useful data. Taken conversely, that means 69 percent of people are not thinking much about government data. Even when accounting for the public’s generally low consciousness of government data and initiatives underway to improve its accessibility and utility, the report clearly shows that Americans believe government at all levels could do a better job releasing data. Only 5 percent believe that the federal and state government does a “very effective” job sharing data, and 7 percent say the same for local government.
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    West Virginia University Innovator-in-Residence program taps experience of professionals with practical methods

    Published April 21, 2015 by

    Journalism and media programs across the country have adapted and pivoted and entrepreneured themselves through an identity crisis over the past five years. Much-touted new curriculum had promised to solve the disruption problem (hmmm, that didn’t work, or did it?) and would breed a sought-after “unicorn” with a magic kit of evolving skill sets. Meanwhile, universities played by a rulebook that seemed to inhibit innovation, which Knight Foundation and others called out in the influential — and controversial — “Open Letter to University Presidents” and direct questioning of the value of academic research back in 2012. We were paying close attention to these challenges, and we envisioned the West Virginia University Reed College of Media Innovator-in-Residence program in their wake. But, to be frank, it also was created in response to a frustrating failed search for a visiting professor willing to leave the industry and relocate to West Virginia.
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    Miami Caribbean Code powers STEAM with inaugural MC² Youth Tech Summit

    Published April 21, 2015 by

    Eveline Pierre is co-founder of Miami Caribbean Code, which is convening the MC² Youth Tech Summit. Knight Foundation supports the summit to help attract and retain talented entrepreneurs and innovators in South Florida, while expanding economic opportunity.   Have you ever seen how quickly a child adjusts to a high-tech device? Current high school and middle school students were born into a world of technology, but many are not encouraged to explore careers in technology and, worse, many don’t have access to technology at all. At Miami Caribbean Code, our mission is to create a platform that will provide tools, education and the resources to help the Miami Caribbean community take advantage of innovations in the tech industry. Miami is the ideal location for this mission; about 55 percent of Floridians who are foreign born are from the Caribbean, according to the 2010 census.
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    Five lessons from investing in civic tech

    Published April 21, 2015 by

    Last year, Knight Foundation profiled the rapidly growing field of civic tech in a report titled “The Emergence of Civic Tech,” capturing $695 million of investments made between 2011 and 2013 to organizations using technology to spur citizen engagement, increase government effectiveness and strengthen cities. Many were excited by the high volume of activity and investment in civic tech and the promise of this growing community. JONATHAN SOTSKY While investment is clear, impact is not. Practitioners and funders alike have lamented the struggle to measure the effectiveness of new civic tech tools, including how they promote civic engagement, social capital and ultimately more participative local democracies. To that end, Knight supported Network Impact to publish a civic tech evaluation guide. “Assessing Civic Tech” features tips, tools and metrics for measuring important outcomes. We hope this will be treated as an initial step in advancing better measurement in the sector and that more sophisticated approaches will develop over time.
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    Poet meets Everglades

    Published April 20, 2015 by

    Photo of the Everglades by Flickr user Rasmus Bøgeskov Larsen. Boundaries between earthwatersky melt here, blur. You are 4000 years in the past, 200 years in the future; you are DNA, corpuscles, marl, periphyton. You are limestone pockets, banyan root, propagule, gallinule, ghost orchid, ancient mahogany hidden in hammock. Dry and wet cycles let the same parts of the earth switch roles. Tides move creatures; creatures move in and out with the tides, with the filling and emptying of cypress domes and gator pits. Every-Thing grows from inside out, shrinks from outside in. . .and lives.
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    St. Paul: Send in your best ideas for the Knight Arts Challenge

    Published April 20, 2015 by

    The door is (officially) wide open St. Paul: Starting today, you can send in your best ideas for the arts for a chance at funding through the Knight Arts Challenge. The deadline is May 18th, the application available here at KnightArts.org, and there are just three rules to follow:    The project must be about art. It must take place in or benefit St. Paul You must find additional funding to match the Knight Foundation grant. If your idea falls within these three rules, you’re eligible. And that means everyone from private companies to nonprofit organizations and individuals.
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    Denève and the NWS, an unmistakably French festin sur l’herbe

    Published April 20, 2015 by

    French conductor Stéphane Denève. Once in a while a sumptuous French banquet comes our way to reminds us that it’s good to be alive and to savor the earth’s bounty by virtue of the uniqueness of that splendid cuisine. Excellence is what distinguished the New World Symphony’s April 12 French concert under the superb direction of Stéphane Denève. At 43, the French conductor is a rising star and for good reason, witnesses the fantastic chemistry he achieved with his musicians, who responded diligently and fervently to his leadership. Denève confirmed the positive impression he left a few seasons ago, when he performed with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet.
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    Inside Tosco Music Parties’ Apr 11 concert

    Published April 19, 2015 by

     Tosco Music Parties is a Charlotte, NC nonprofit organization that hosts family-friendly musical variety concerts to help raise money for youth music scholarships. This video is a compilation of some of the highlights from our April 11, 2015 concert, which included performances by a dozen music acts including local high school student Sean Mason (winner of last year's Loonis McGlohan Young Jazz Artists Competition), the Carolina Ukulele Ensemble (a group of college students from UNC Chapel Hill that all play the ukulele), and singer-songwriters from Iran and Australia. Click here for more information about Tosco Music Parties.
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    A Zine scene shining bright

    Published April 18, 2015 by

    Examples of Zines in EXILE Books floor. The iconic Bacardi building complex on Biscayne Boulevard has always been a beacon, with its distinctive architecture and the stained-glass horizontal tower lighting up the neighborhood even during its bleakest days, promising better things to come. But when the YoungArts Foundation (which has received multiple grants from the Knight Foundation) decided to transform the spaces into its national headquarters in 2012, bringing in famed architect Frank Gehry to help with renovations, that promise turned into reality. The now vibrant campus hosts lectures, classes, residencies, performances and a YoungArts Gallery, which just opened the exhibit “Love! Rage!! Passion!!! The World of Zines.” Somehow this seems a great fit for the location and the campus. A collaboration between EXILE Books (a 2104 Knight Arts Challenge winner) and the University of Miami Special Collections, the Zine theme reflects the recent bubbling creativity that has taken over this area north of Downtown.
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    Live from Detroit – and ready for download: Vintage Folk Blues Night recordings

    Published April 16, 2015 by

    Folk Blues Night No. 1. Hamtramck's LO & BEHOLD! Records & Books has completed the first volume of its FOLK BLUES NIGHT series. It's title is Give Me No Trouble in the World I Know and features a handful of local Detroit/Hamtramck traditional artists as well as a couple who took the time to drive up from Detroit's sister city to the south, Toledo. FOLK BLUES NIGHT is a curated, monthly traditional music showcase at LO & BEHOLD! This release marks the first long playing record in a series of LP's, all of which I recorded live during the monthly event. The store received the 2013 Knight Arts Challenge People's Choice Award along with a challenge grant.
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    University of Miami blends placemaking and entrepreneurship in Third Place Project

    Published April 16, 2015 by

    The Doughnuttery at Broadway Bites. Photo courtesy of New York by Design. Charles Bohl is the author of “Placemaking,” and an associate professor and director of the Master of Real Estate Development + Urbanism program at the University of Miami School of Architecture. Sociologist Ray Oldenberg coined the term “third place” to describe the important places in our lives other than home or work where people can go to relax, meet and mingle with people from all walks of life, and feel part of the community. These are the cafes, taverns, public markets, plazas and main streets where people from all walks of life come together in the purest form of social and civic life. Oldenburg’s third place thesis resonates strongly with the Knight Foundation’s Soul of the Community study, which “found that three main qualities attach people to place: social offerings, such as entertainment venues and places to meet, openness (how welcoming a place is) and the area’s aesthetics (its physical beauty and green spaces).”