Articles by

Dennis Scholl

  • Article

    Announcing Detroit’s Knight Arts Challenge winners

    Published September 7, 2013 by

    Detroit Knight Arts Challenge Winners from Knight Foundation RELATED LINKS "Detroiters pick community book and record store as winner of Knight Arts Challenge People’s Choice Award" -- 09/10/13 Press Release "Detroit: lifting the soul of a city" on Knight Blog I’m in Detroit this week, and am excited to announce...
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    Tod Machover: Creating a symphony in concert with the community

    Published August 19, 2013 by

    More love from the New York Times this weekend as Knight grantee Tod Machover is the subject of a story about his work developing a new symphony in collaboration with the people of Edinburgh, Scotland.  Fresh off the Toronto Symphony, he is getting ready to debut “Festival City” at the Edinburgh Festival. As the Times’ Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim wrote: “The piece weaves in city sounds and quotations from the classical works most often performed at the Edinburgh International Festival over the years. Playful, inclusive and driven by a delight in the creative possibilities of computers, it well represents Mr. Machover’s work.”
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    Community Supported Art grows, gets New York Times’ notice

    Published August 5, 2013 by

    Above: Community Supported Art from SpringboardArts on Flickr I’ve been collecting contemporary art for over 35 years, and of all the amazing works I’ve come across, one of my favorite pieces sits on my desk at Knight Foundation. It’s a small wooden music box, about the size of a quart of milk. You take the lid off and it begins to play a series of quiet beautiful notes, just like a music box should. Then a chorus comes in and surprises you. Suddenly the hip hop artist Invincible begins to rap on top of the music. In a grand finale, you get a flashing light show out of the music box’s translucent top. It’s a total surprise, and one I never get tired of listening to, watching and showing to guests in my office. But the best part is that the work was produced through a program Knight funds called Community Supported Art, which the New York Times profiled today. 
  • Article

    ArtPlace announces new funding to 44 U.S. communities

    Published May 20, 2013 by

    Miami's O Cinema. Today, ArtPlace America, a nationwide initiative that puts the arts at the heart of community revitalization, announced $15.2 million in funding for new projects in 44 communities across the United States. We're excited to see that arts leaders in seven of the communities...
  • Article

    ArtPlace announces new funding to 44 U.S. communities

    Published May 20, 2013 by

    Above: Miami's O Cinema.  Today, ArtPlace America, a nationwide initiative that puts the arts at the heart of community revitalization, announced $15.2 million in funding for new projects in 44 communities across the United States. We're excited to see that arts leaders in seven of the communities where Knight invests - Miami, Philadelphia, St. Paul, San Jose, Macon, Detroit and Charlotte - are receiving support for their ideas. Knight Foundation is a founding funder of ArtPlace, which is a collaboration of 13 leading foundations and six of the nations largest banks.  Our goal at Knight is to make the arts a part of people’s everyday lives and create the kind of collective experiences that attach people to place. Through our work in the Knight communities, we have seen that artists can be major players in revitalization efforts that contribute to more vibrant, open places. We believe in the power of art to transform and engage communities.  And each of the projects chosen from amongst 1,200 submissions, are driven by teams that are doing just that. We are thrilled to announce this round of funding with ArtPlace and look forward to seeing the work of placemaking leaders unfold— to the benefit of so many communities. ArtsPlace has highlighted all of these important projects on their website, including those in seven of the Knight communities: Charlotte, S.C.:
  • Article

    Announcing 66 finalists in Miami Knight Arts Challenge

    Published May 13, 2013 by

    Photo credit: Terry Lee Today, I’m excited to present the 66 finalists in the Miami Knight Arts Challenge. Our goal is to make it so that everywhere you go in South Florida, you have an encounter with art. In that vein, one of the things that excites us most about this group is their geographic diversity. They don’t just come from our artistic core in Wynwood and Downtown. Instead, they are spread from Fort Lauderdale to South Dade and would drive the arts deep into our many communities. Take a look below. Later this year, you’ll have a chance to vote for one of them to receive $20,000 through the challenge’s People’s Choice Award. Knight Arts Challenge winners, along with the People’s Choice nomination, will be announced in December. Congrats to the finalists, and thanks to everyone who submitted their ideas this year.  
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    The Detroit Symphony Orchestra takes Carnegie Hall

    Published May 10, 2013 by

    The old joke goes like this: A tourist stops a New Yorker on the street and asks "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" The local pauses for a minute and then replies "practice, practice, practice..." Well, the world class Detroit Symphony Orchestra must have been practicing. They were in...
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    The International Noise Conference debuts on WPBT May 7

    Published May 6, 2013 by

    This week, WPBT is showing a Knight Foundation-funded short film by Ronnie Rivera about the International Noise Conference. Founded by Frank Falestra, the conference is three days of experimental music. Ronnie has created an experimental film that he shot at the conference, the likes of which has never been seen...