Photo: bluapple Poetry Network by the Jason Taylor Foundation. Credit: Michael Hopkins / Gerlinde Photography. Each year since 2008, Knight Foundation has asked South Florida, “What’s your best idea for the arts?” Looking back on the growth of the arts in our community these past seven years is astounding. Last year, we celebrated the opening of the Peréz Art Museum of Miami, YoungArts’ new home in the Bacardi Building, and exciting new leadership at Miami City Ballet. We have seen scrappy, guerilla-style projects grow into important grassroots anchors of our arts community. And we have seen artists from South Florida and beyond flock to the streets to create the tapestry of our city. Knight can’t take credit for this cultural renaissance, but we are pleased with the small part we play to help seed creative ideas across the community. To date, Knight has received more than 8,000 ideas from across the tri-county area for the challenge, nearly 1,200 this year alone. Over the past 12 months, we have enjoyed experiencing past Arts Challenge winners – The Swamp at the Miami Book Fair, GableStage’s “Antony & Cleopatra,” and Teo Castellanos’ one-man play “Third Trinity,” to name a few. Today, we’re excited to announce this year’s challenge winners, 47 projects that will share in $2.29 million. Our panel of local readers carefully reviewed each submission and finalist proposal and developed a group of recommended winners, which our board approved. Now, we can share that list with you.
