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    Meet FGO Young Artist resident Adam Lau

    Published March 27, 2014 by

    “The Young Artist program was started at a time when many regional opera companies had decided to offer a training ground for young operatic talent,” said Julie Maykowski, head of the Florida Grand Opera's Young Artist program. “The growth we have seen from the Young Artists this season has been...
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    An 80th birthday that will help illuminate Detroit

    Published March 27, 2014 by

    Happy Birthday Alma Greer via YouTube  For Alma Greer’s 80th birthday, the retired educator didn’t want the typical celebration. “Scarves and perfume are nice,” Greer said. But using the event to raise funds for a project dear to her heart would make her birthday celebration even more special. In fact, her only birthday request was that guests donate from their heart to the Charles H. Wright Museum’s Shine a Light Project funded by the Knight Arts Challenge. The effort, in partnership with the Detroit Elders Project, will illuminate Detroit’s darkest streets with video art installations featuring and highlighting the legacy of the city’s elders. Her gesture was not only generous, but indicative of the importance of Shine a Light and the role of elders in society. Mrs. Alma Greer is one such elder. A retired teacher, principal and 30-year veteran of the Board of Education, she made it a point to bring her elementary classes to visit the International Afro-American Museum when Dr. Charles Wright and partners first opened it in 1965. Photo property of Alma Greer Greer’s 80th birthday celebration raised close to $16,000! It was an amazing kick-off event for Shine a Light organized by the citizenry of Detroit. At one point in the night, Mrs. Greer presented each of her guests with a gift: a miniature LED flashlight. In unison, all attendees flashed their lights onto the glass dome of the museum’s Rotunda to reveal a sublime sight reminiscent of a star-filled galaxy. We have already begun to identify communities without light. We will collaborate with neighborhood associations to talk with community members and collectively decide how best to light up Detroit and watch those stars among us shine their brightest.All donations help The Wright Museum match funds for the Knight’s Art Challenge grant, and this is only the beginning. The museum has commissioned distinguished filmmaker Julie Dash to create four to six large-scale video art installation programs and one mobile installation.  The large-scale video art programs will be designed to rotate between two long term-to-permanent locations in dark communities while the mobile installation will travel to various unlit communities.
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    Ask us anything St. Paul at Knight Arts Challenge Q and As

    Published March 26, 2014 by

    St. Paul Knight Arts Challenge from Knight Foundation on Vimeo. On April 7, we will be launching the St. Paul .Knight Arts Challenge, looking for the best arts ideas that engage and enrich St. Paul. Over the next three years, Knight will be giving away up to $4.5 million in matching grants to innovative ideas. The application, open to everyone, will be available here at KnightArts.org. Applying is designed to be very easy.  In fact, the application is just short two questions, with only 150 words allotted. And there are three rules to follow: The idea must be about arts. The project must take place in or benefit St. Paul. You must find other funding to match the Knight Foundation grant. To help get out the word – and to answer your questions –  Knight will be hosting a series of Community Q&As  the week of April 13. There, Knight Foundation’s Tatiana Hernandez and Polly Talen will talk about how to  craft your application,  discuss the challenge timeline, and answer pretty much any question you throw at them.  (A hint: though you may want to read our list of Frequently Asked Questions first. And for the very motivated, we have a list of all previous winners of the Knight Arts Challenge in the other cities where the contest has taken place.)  
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    Una nueva mezcla para músicos y empresarios en Miami

    Published March 26, 2014 by

    Photo credit: Luis Olazabal. El primer MIA Music Summit, llevado a cabo en el New World Center en Miami Beach este lunes, combinó todo lo que se puede esperar de un evento que involucra música, tecnología y espíritu empresario -- y más. RELATED LINS " "Music and tech: A new beat for Miami" on KnightBlog.org "A new mix for Miami’s musicians and entrepreneurs" on KnightBlog.org Fue inspirador, pero apoyado en cifras y estrategias definidas.  En él se celebró la música y la chispa creadora, pero también la importancia de algoritmos y Big Data. Fue un encuentro que examinó desde nuevos ángulos experiencias pasadas y nuevas oportunidades en un amplio abanico de temas, desde el tema de marcas y los sellos de grabación a modos alternativos de financiación de proyectos. El propósito del encuentro, el cual fue patrocinado por  Knight Foundation, Choose Digital, .CO, SESAC Latina y Mobile Roadie, era establecer puentes entre las culturas del mundo de la música, la tecnología y los startups, como había dicho Matt Haggman, el director de programa de Miami de Knight, “contribuir a hacer de Miami un lugar donde se construyen ideas.” Reflejando ese objetivo, el evento no sólo tuvo charlas, sino también un componente muy práctico, de ‘manos a la obra’. El encuentro comenzó en realidad el sábado a la mañana en lo que fue el primer “hackathon” musical de Miami, celebrado en The LAB Miami en Wynwood. Alrededor de 50 programadores, diseñadores y músicos, la mayoría trabajando en equipos, aceptaron el desafío de crear nuevos productos que quizás podrían ser las semillas de nuevas compañías. El domingo, un jurado evaluó 13 nuevos proyectos que iban desde aplicaciones para encontrar gente con quien tocar o coordinar la música que el usuario escucha con lo que está leyendo a un programa que ajusta la música de acuerdo al lugar geográfico en el que el usuario está en determinado momento. Los cinco proyectos elegidos fueron presentados el lunes a la sala del Summit en pleno y ante un nuevo jurado.
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    Dan Graham and more video at MOCA

    Published March 25, 2014 by

    Dan Graham will talk about his sculpture and video. Dan Graham has worked on the formative edge of Conceptual Art since the 1960s, working with text, performance art, video and likely most familiarly, glass-and mirrored sculpture, which appear in sculpture gardens and outdoor spaces through the...
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    The Clay Studio highlights national work with poise and humor

    Published March 25, 2014 by

    In director Garth Johnson’s own words, although the “Clay Studio National” exhibit does include some more earthy works, “the show as a whole is a little bit pink, fluffy, goopy, colorful and funny.” As a show representing the Clay Studio’s 40th anniversary, the glut of challenging, funky and conceptual content...
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    Plays in Place: Ten Thousand Things and taking theater to everyone

    Published March 24, 2014 by

    By K. Obolensky, Ten Thousand Things Ten Thousand Things performs plays for everyone. The word “everyone” encompasses people in shelters, prisons, chemical dependency centers, immigrant centers, ELL learners, teens in juvenile detention centers, homes for the aged, tribal colleges. adult ed centers, community colleges, detox centers, housing projects, libraries in...