DETROIT – Oct. 6, 2014 – A range of thought-provoking, community-building and uniquely Detroit ideas received $2.48 million today as winners of the Knight Arts Challenge.

A program of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the challenge funds the best ideas for engaging and enriching Detroit through the arts.

The 58 winners, mainly small arts organizations, collectives and individual artists, are from a diverse cross section of the city. Their ideas range from helping students create data murals with neighborhood information and stories, to having performance artist and Cranbrook Academy of Art alum Nick Cave present a series of pop-up performances in the city that will be his largest spectacle to date.

All of the winners answered a question posed by Knight Foundation earlier this year: What’s your best idea for the arts in Detroit?

“For the second time, Detroit has shown the depth of the city’s creative community, and exceeded our expectations with their ideas,” said Dennis Scholl, vice president of arts for Knight Foundation.  “We are thrilled by the quality and engagement opportunities presented by of this year’s Knight Arts Challenge winners.”

With challenge funding, the 2014 winners will:

Enable Detroiters to tell their own stories and preserve local history, by crafting a dance piece focused on the legacy of the city’s former Black Bottom neighborhood, having Latino playwrights work with local youth to create a theatrical piece on life in Southwest Detroit, and by digitizing the works of the Broadside Press, the Detroit-based publisher for many leading African-American writers.

Strengthen the local dance community by using streaming video to enable “real-time freestyling” between urban dancers in Miami and Detroit, teaching Detroiters one of Mexico’s traditional dances la huasteca, and expanding the Detroit Dance City Festival.

Reimagine community spaces, by transforming an abandoned property in the North End into an outdoor theater and cultural hub, engaging Southwest Detroit in designing and creating an art-filled plaza, and creating an arts incubator in Grand River.

The full list of winners and their project ideas is below. More information is available at KnightArts.org.

In addition, the Ballet Folklorico Moyocoyani Izel was named the winner of the Knight Arts Challenge People’s Choice Award, the culmination of a text-to-vote campaign. The Ballet Folklorico was one of five small arts organizations up for the $20,000, which is in addition to their Knight Arts Challenge grant and can be used for the artistic project of their choice. Knight created the People’s Choice Award to bring attention to small and emerging arts groups and their contributions to the city.

Now in its second of three years, the Knight Arts Challenge has only three rules for applying: 1) The idea must be about the arts; 2) The project must take place in or benefit Detroit; 3) The grant recipients must find funds to match Knight’s commitment.

Past winners include Hardcore Detroit, which screened its new documentary on the Detroit dance craze, The Jit, at a community celebration at the Detroit Institute of Arts, Mark Wallace, who is repurposing wood from vacant homes into guitars, the National Arab Orchestra, which launched a free after-school program teaching Arab music, Cinetopia, the international film festival that expanded to become Detroit’s signature film festival, and DLECTRICITY, a two-night outdoor festival of art and light that just took place in the city.

The challenge is part of a $19.25 million investment in the Detroit arts that Knight Foundation announced in the fall of 2012. It includes support for the three-year challenge, which provides $9 million in funding, exposure and momentum to smaller arts efforts, and $10.25 million to some of the region’s premiere cultural institutions: the Arab American National Museum, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit School of Arts, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Michigan Opera Theatre and the Sphinx Organization.

“I am continually impressed by the range of arts groups in the city, by seeing some of the older organizations expand in new and exciting ways, and by the passion of the newer groups as they carve a niche in Detroit’s arts scene,” said Katy Locker, Detroit program director for Knight Foundation. “Together, they embody all that’s good about Detroit’s cultural legacy and continue to build on that to create an even brighter future.”

For more on Knight Foundation’s arts initiative and to view a full list of Knight Arts Challenge winners, visit www.KnightArts.org. Connect on the Knight Arts Challenge Facebook page here and via @knightarts and #knightarts on Twitter.

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. We believe that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.

###

Contact:

Peter Van Dyke, Berg Muirhead and Associates, , [email protected], 313-872-2202

Marika Lynch, Communications Consultant, Knight Foundation, [email protected], 305-908-2677

Detroit 2014 Knight Arts Challenge Winners
 

“Real-Time Free-styling” for Urban Dancers in Miami + Detroit
Recipient: 6th Street Dance Studio/WholeProject
Award: $28,000
To build connections between the urban dance communities in Miami and Detroit through master classes in each city and via video conferencing, anchored by Hardcore Detroit and Miami’s 6th Street Dance Studio/Whole Project

Online Journal Facilitates Critical Discourse on Local Arts and Culture
∞ mile (infinite mile)
Award: $20,000
To foster artistic discourse in Detroit through a monthly, online art journal that produces reviews, interviews, articles and artist projects

Community Gardens Become Theater Stages
Recipient: A Host of People
Award: $20,000
To celebrate the do-it-yourself movement in both food and the arts by creating a site-responsive theater piece performed in community gardens

New Building, Programming for African Bead Museum
Recipient: Dabls MBAD African Bead Museum
Award: $100,000
To enhance an educational center for African culture by creating and renovating an exhibition and programming space for the African Bead Museum

Music Becomes A Focus of Allied Media Conference
Recipient: Allied Media Projects
Award: $40,000
To expand the annual Allied Media Conference to include a full music showcase, further exploring the intersection of art and social change

Japanese-inspired “Kamishibai Man” Will Pedal Theater Around Detroit
Recipient: Andrew Krieger
Award: $30,000
To weave art into people’s everyday lives by creating “Kamishibai Man,” a bicycle-mounted wooden theater — based on a Japanese tradition — where performers use paper art to tell serial stories

Robots Transform Performance of Ancient Hindu Poem
Recipient: ApeTechnology
Award: $15,000
To create a post-industrial homage to the Javanese tradition of shadow puppetry through a modern performance with towering, robotic puppets and gongs

Detroit Dance City Festival Plans Expansion
Recipient: ARTLAB J
Award: $100,000
To support Detroit Dance City Festival, a three-day celebration that provides an opportunity for local and national artists to present their work and strengthen ties in Detroit’s dance community

Detroiters Learn the Art and Culture of Mexico’s La Huasteca
Recipient: Ballet Folklorico Moyocoyani Izel
Award: $35,000
To share the traditional dances of Mexico’s La Huasteca region by partnering with a local dance group and professionals in Mexico to teach the art to Detroiters

Dance and Classic Architecture Meet in Intimate Apartment Performance
Recipient: Biba Bell
Award; $7,000
To invite the public to experience both dance and classic architecture by producing “It Never Really Happened,” an intimate performance inside an apartment in the 1950s Detroit high-rise designed by Mies van der Rohe

Musical Piece Celebrates Legacy of the Black Bottom Neighborhood and Paradise Valley
Recipient: Body Rhythm Dance Theatre
Award: $30,000
To celebrate Detroit’s former Black Bottom and Paradise Valley neighborhoods by creating a musical dedicated to its legacy.

Historic Collection of African-American Authors to be Digitized
Recipient: Broadside Press
Award $20,000
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Broadside Press, a Detroit-based publisher for many leading African-American writers, by helping digitize its works

Drum Summit Will Connect Detroiters of Different Backgrounds
Recipient: Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
Award: $70,000
To showcase how unique and connected global cultures are by hosting Call of the Drum: A Drum Summit, featuring percussionists from around the world

Mosaic Mural Planned for Springswell Viaduct
Recipient: CLAVE
Award: $12,000
To honor the spirit of Southwest Detroit by creating “Inspiración,” a mosaic mural in the Springwells viaduct, one of the area’s main arteries

Living Room Series Showcases Contemporary Puppet Works By and About Detroiters
Recipient: CMAP (Carrie Morris Arts Production)
Award: $35,000
To present the Living Room Series, contemporary puppet performances that challenge the perception that art exists only for specific spaces

Corktown Cinema Aims to be Neighborhood Space
Recipient: Corktown Cinema L3C
Award: $50,000
To expand the Detroit’s cinematic landscape by featuring local and international film and art otherwise not represented in the region

Performance Artist Nick Cave Presents the “Biggest, Baddest Performance of All Time!”
Recipient: Cranbrook Art Museum
Award: $150,000
To mount performance artist Nick Cave’s “Biggest, Baddest Performance of All Time!” a series of spectacles around the city

Detroiters Stories Told in Digital Radio Series
Winner: Detroit Digital Stewards
Recipient: $60,000
To tell the story of Detroit’s neighborhoods through sound by creating “Detroit Music Box,” a suite of digital radio shows produced by the people who live there

Drumline Veterans Give Back to Local Students
Winner: Detroit Drumline Academy
Award: $30,000
To build on a strong history of Detroit percussionists by having former drummers from Detroit-area schools teach and mentor middle and high school students

Fiber Arts Festival Planned for Avenue of Fashion
Recipient: Detroit Fiber Works
Award; $20,000
To promote fiber arts and the Avenue of Fashion by hosting free fiber art workshops for children, teens and adults

Training Targets First-Time Filmmakers
Recipient: Detroit Film Labs
Award: $60,000
To foster storytelling in Detroit by offering a series of workshops to first-time filmmakers in underrepresented communities

“Data Murals” Help Students Visualize Neighborhood Stories
Recipient: Detroit Future Schools
Award: $40,000
To use the arts to help youth tell their neighborhood stories by having them conduct research about their communities and convey their findings through “Data Murals”

Jazz Festival Explores Renewal in New Orleans and Detroit
Recipient: Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Award: $75,000
To explore the role of art in shaping the history, recovery and resurgence of a city through a cultural exchange between Detroit and New Orleans

Video Series Helps Musicians Learn from Music Greats
Recipient: DIRT TECH RECK
Award: $20,000
To continue Detroit’s musical legacy by creating a video series that explores the creative processes that drives Detroit’s musicians

Small Publishing House Expands Mission
Recipient: DittoDitto
Award: $20,000
To foster a dialogue around the arts and arts books by supporting a small publishing house and store focused on literary and visual arts books

Latino Students to Create Original Play
Recipient: Garage Cultural
Award: $20,000
 To engage Latino youth in the theater arts through a bilingual performing arts program in southwest Detroit

“Dancing Through the Night” Pays Homage to Detroit’s Post-Motown Sound
Recipient: InsideOut Literary Arts Project
Award: $100,000
To host a techno-poetry performance, led by poet Nandi Comer, exploring the history of Detroit DJs and their contribution to contemporary music

Vacant Property Becomes Creative Campus for Artists
Recipient: JacobsStreet/The Untitled Bottega
Award: $100,000
To transform an abandoned property near a North End art gallery into an outdoor theater and cultural hub meant to strengthen a neighborhood through the arts  

Committed to Detroit? There’s a Tattoo for That
Recipient: Kremena Todorova and Kurt Gohde
Award: $29,000
To promote civic pride via The Detroit Tattoo Project, where a local poet is commissioned to create a piece about the city which is then divided and drawn for use on free tattoos that, when reassembled, reveal graphic elements containing a secret image

Sundial Will Reinterpret John Cage’s Work
Recipient: Leith Campbell
Award: $6,000
To use the slow cadence of a captured sunbeam to set the pace of an electronic interpretation of composer John Cage’s ‘As Slow aS Possible.’

Series Asks Community to Co-Create Poetry
Recipient: Literary Detroit
Award: $5,000
To further build the literary community via a monthly series where poet and audience co-create works

Sound Series Explores Detroit’s “World Music”
Recipient: Lo & Behold!
Award: $7,000
To explore the array of cultures and music in Hamtramck by conducting “field recordings” of local music — for example, a Bangladeshi street fair or a gospel trio — presented with minimal editing

Theatre Company Tells Detroit Stories Through New Bilingual Production
Recipient: Matrix Theatre Company
Award: $30,000
To commission a well-known bilingual playwright to work with the city’s Latino community in developing a new piece

“Opera House” Engages Community to Blur Art and Building
Recipient: McEwen Studio & HOWDOYOUSAYYAMINAFRICAN?
Award: $10,000
To re-design an existing vacant house as an opera and performance space, in which community members collaborate with visiting artists

“Hope Dies Last” Tells Story of Armenian Genocide
Recipient: Michelle Andonian
Award: $50,000
To mark the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide through a book of photographs and a performance entitled “Hope Dies Last”

Underground Music Gets Public Platform
Recipient Michigan Underground Group
Award: $5,000
To build the city’s underground music scene by documenting Detroit’s unconventional music

Salon-Style Exhibition Debuts at MOCAD
Recipient: Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD)
Award: $30,000
To host international guest curator Jens Hoffmann to create a salon-style exhibition exploring a cross-section of Detroit ‘s visual arts for the past 15 years

“Trip Metal Fest” Showcases Electronic Music
Recipient: Nate Young
Award: $10,000
To bring local and international musicians together by presenting The Trip Metal Fest, a festival featuring electronic music in all its forms

“Strange Beautiful Music” Concert Expands
Recipient: New Music Detroit
Award: $15,000
To spotlight challenging new music from the late 20th century through today during “Strange Beautiful Music,” a daylong marathon concert

Impact of Women in Hip-Hop Explored, Reimagined
Recipient: Piper Carter
Award: $40,000
To explore the role and impact of women in hip-hop through a gathering of leading figures in Detroit’s digital media, art, dance and performance communities

Ponyride Expands Artist-in-Residence Program
Recipient: Ponyride
Award: $20,000
To further Detroit as a center for art and design by expanding a visiting artist-in-residence program dedicated to producing art in and for Detroit

Families Wanted for New “Momm & Popp” Artist Residency Program
Recipient: Popps Packing
Award: $23,000
To support the expansion of Popps Packing’s unique artist residency program, which caters to national and international artists with children, providing a holistic space in which artists with families can create

Banglatown Block Party Celebrates Role of Arts in Neighborhoods
Recipient: Power House Productions
Award: $250,000
To celebrate the role of art in developing and inspiring neighborhoods through a series of programs leading up to a community-wide block party in Banglatown

Blues Jam Session to Find Permanent Home
Recipient: RecoveryPark
Award: $40,000
To support a new home for John’s Carpet House, a weekly blues jam session founded by drummer John Estes

“Whithervanes” Reflect Fear in News Stories
Recipient: rootoftwo
Award: $30,000
To explore how fear is used in contemporary media by creating do-it-yourself kits for making dynamic sculptures to reflect the prevalence of fear-related keywords in news stories

African Culture Explored in Four-Day Conference
Recipient: Rowe Niodior African Dance Company
Award: $20,000
To create community through a four-day festival exploring how West and Central African groups use music and dance to celebrate their culture

Sidewalk Festival Expands to New Locations
Recipient: Sidewalk Festival of Performing Arts
Award: $35,000
To expand an outdoor celebration of performance and installation art to neighborhoods across the city

Performance Series Looks at Detroit’s Radical Past
Recipient: The Hinterlands
Award: $30,000
To explore Detroit’s 20th century history of radical art and politics through The Radicalization Process, a yearlong performance series built on interviews, artifacts and historic footage

Creative Incubator Coming to Grand River
Recipient: The N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art
Award: $60,000
To strengthen creative businesses by creating Quarter Pop on Grand River, an arts incubator that provides access to new skills and storefront spaces

Series Uses Hip-Hop to Spark Conversations
Recipient: The Raiz Up
Award: $25,000
To use hip-hop to spark conversations about the city’s cultural heritage and social issues through Paint my Roots, or Pinta mis Raices, a series of concerts, workshops and collaborative murals

Detroit’s Historic Signs to be Preserved
Recipient: Gratiot & Riopelle
Award: $5,000
To preserve Detroit’s historic signs by documenting the typography around the city via photography and making them into useable, digital typefaces for local business and letterpress use

Commissioning Program Cultivates New Works
Recipient: Trinosophes
Award: $10,000
To create a commissioning program that will fund new works in music and the visual arts and award a prize to an artist for their contribution to Detroit’s culture

Maker Space Coming to Brightmoor
Recipient: Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan
Award: $100,000
To expand Brightmoor’s community of makers by repurposing a building into the Brightmoor Maker Space where neighbors can share and develop creative skills

Pop-Up Storytelling Installations Tell Neighborhood Narratives
Recipient: WDET
Award: $60,000
To bring the stories of Detroit’s ethnic communities to life by partnering with artists and galleries on pop-up installations featuring photography and audio storytelling

Art Book Series Explores Detroit Artists
Recipient: What Pipeline
Award; $15,000
To expand the narrative of the city’s creative talent by publishing a series of art books on Detroit-based artists

“Write a House” Program Offers Homes to Authors
Recipient: Write a House
Award: $100,000
To bring new vitality to the literary arts in Detroit by expanding Write a House, which awards renovated homes to writers based on the quality of their work

Art-Filled Plaza Coming to Southwest Detroit
Recipient: Young Nation
Award: $75,000
To create a neighborhood gathering place by engaging local artists, youth and residents in Southwest Detroit in designing and building an art-filled public plaza

Summer Hip Hop Program Expands
Recipient: YoYo School of Hip Hop
Award: $40,000
To use hip-hop to teach students about technology, physical fitness, career goals and communication skills through a summer camp