We’re excited to share big news for the South Florida arts community: Knight Foundation is committing $23 million in new funding for arts and culture. Part of a two-pronged strategy, the funding will go to some of the region’s leading arts institutions and to fund more grassroots projects by continuing the Knight Arts Challenge through […]
Article · December 2, 2012 by Dennis Scholl
My friend Bill Ivey, former chair of the National Endowment for the Arts under President Clinton, has a new book, “Handmaking America.” Last night he was on the PBS show Newshour discussing the book. I had the good fortune to serve with Bill last month as a member of the National Arts Policy Roundtable, hosted by […]
Article · October 30, 2012 by Dennis Scholl
Knight Foundation funds United States Artist Knight Fellows in the 26 Knight communities. The winners get a phone call from United States Artists and are told that they’ve won a $50,000 grant, no strings attached. Many use it to advance their artistic practice, some use it for health care and basic living needs. The Knight Fellows […]
Article · October 30, 2012 by Dennis Scholl
Seven of Detroit’s cultural institutions will receive support from Knight Foundation as part of its newly announced $19.25 investment in the city’s cultural community. READ MORE The Detroit Free Press Crain’s Detroit Business Detroit News CBS News Detroit Metro Times Chronicle of Philanthropy “Bringing new energy to the artists driving the future of Detroit” on Knight […]
Article · October 23, 2012 by Dennis Scholl
Seven of Detroit’s cultural institutions will receive support from Knight Foundation as part of its newly announced $19.25 investment in the city’s cultural community. READ MORE The Detroit Free Press Crain’s Detroit Business Detroit News CBS News Detroit Metro Times Chronicle of Philanthropy I’m in Detroit tonight, […]
Article · October 23, 2012 by Dennis Scholl
Carol Coletta and I were recently invited to speak by the Loeb Fellows to an audience at the Harvard Graduate School of Design on the subject of ” creative placemaking” and it’s role in revitalizing communities. Carol is the CEO of the Knight-funded program ArtPlace, which works with artists to create vibrancy in communities through arts […]
Article · October 17, 2012 by Dennis Scholl
Five years ago, Knight Foundation took a leap of faith and launched the Knight Arts Challenge, a $40 million initiative to accelerate the momentum in South Florida’s cultural community. We called it a leap of faith because the arts challenge was one of Knight Foundation’s first contests. We knew we didn’t have a corner on […]
Article · October 15, 2012 by Dennis Scholl
By Dennis Scholl, Knight Foundation/VP Arts Tom Campbell, the newish director of the Metropolitan is not your father’s museum director. Watch him crack up the crowd in this TED talk. We need more legacy institutions to choose this kind of leadership – go Tom go. Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of the Metropolitan Museum […]
Article · October 13, 2012 by Dennis Scholl
I was recently invited to be a keynote speaker at the International Downtown Association. For the first time in my life I was introduced with a haiku! Sam Grabarski, legendary Minneapolis leader welcomed me with the following: “His thoughts are droplets They combine as torrent To flood with culture” Then in the middle of my speech […]
Article · October 3, 2012 by Dennis Scholl
Knight Foundation believes the arts help build community by binding people to place and to each other. Done with excellence, the arts inspire and connect people. Our grantmaking strategy in the arts has four initiatives: Creative Placemaking Making Art General Institutional Reform Spurring Innovation The strategy is carried across Knight’s eight resident communities but is […]
Article · September 28, 2012 by Dennis Scholl
For the past two years two years, we’ve been hiding baritones in shoe departments, and rolling xylophones down supermarket aisles, surprising people across the country with Random Acts of Culture™. It all started as an experiment. With audiences for traditional performances declining, at Knight Foundation we were looking for a way to remind people of how important the […]
Article · September 14, 2012 by Dennis Scholl