MIAMI — Dennis Scholl, Miami program director for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, will take on an additional role as vice president / arts to develop a nationwide cultural arts program for Knight.

Scholl will work with local leaders to identify opportunities for investing in innovative ideas and programs. His efforts will include leading the Knight Arts Challenge, a $40 million initiative to unite South Florida through the arts.

“As a philanthropist, art collector, entrepreneur and lawyer, Dennis combines skills and intelligence uniquely suited to our goal of helping create transformational change in South Florida,” said Knight’s president and CEO, Alberto Ibargüen.

An art collector for more than 30 years, Scholl has lead local and national philanthropic efforts in the visual arts. He served as founding chair of the Guggenheim Photography Committee, of the Tate Modern American Acquisitions Committee and of the Miami Art Museum Collectors Council. He has also served on the boards of the Aspen Art Museum, the North Miami Museum of Contemporary Art and the alternative art space Locust Projects, of which he was chair.

A founder of the international wine venture Betts & Scholl, he previously practiced law and worked as a C.P.A. and real estate investor involved in the rebirth of South Beach. 

Scholl became affiliated with Knight Foundation in 2008 as the volunteer chair of the first round of the Knight Arts Challenge contest, where he helped grant more than $8 million to 31 arts groups. The winners of the contest’s second round will be announced later this year.

“I’m looking forward to engaging our community leaders on innovative approaches, especially in the arts and education,” said Scholl. “It’s the foundation’s openness to big ideas that has brought me to Knight.”

Scholl has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Florida International University and a law degree from the University of Miami.

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of the U.S. communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight Foundation focuses on projects with the potential to create transformational change. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.

Media Contact:

• Marc Fest, Vice President for Communications, (305) 908-2677, fest (at) knightfoundation (dot) org.