Miami – March 27, 2013 – The trustees of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation have elected Carol Coletta as vice president/community and national initiatives. She is a nationally recognized expert on cities and the use of the arts to build communities.
Coletta is the director of ArtPlace, a unique collaboration between private foundations and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) organized to promote creative placemaking. Prior to that assignment, Coletta was president and CEO of CEOs for Cities, a national network of urban leaders. She has written and spoken extensively on how communities develop, attract and retain talent.
Coletta, who starts on May 6, will be a member of the foundation’s Executive Committee and report to Knight Foundation President Alberto Ibargüen.
“Carol is one of the nation’s leading thinkers on the evolution of communities,” Ibargüen said. “Her broad experience and intellectual discipline make her the right person to align Knight’s community and national strategies for greater impact in promoting informed and engaged communities.”
“Knight is a national foundation with deep local roots. What excites me most about this role is the opportunity to leverage that combination, by bringing the best ideas we can find nationwide into the Knight communities and leveraging the experience of Knight communities on the national level,” Coletta said.
In a signal of continuing support for ArtPlace, Knight Foundation also announced that its trustees have approved a $4 million grant to the organization. ArtPlace is a collaboration of 13 foundations, six major banks and various federal agencies, including the National Endowment for the Arts, seeking to animate and restore America’s communities through art and design.
Coletta was executive director of the Mayors’ Institute on City Design, was host and producer of the nationally syndicated radio show, “Smart City”, and was a downtown storeowner in her hometown of Memphis, Tenn. Her work on creative placemaking influenced Knight’s Soul of the Community initiative, which looked at the relationship between people’s passion for their city and economic growth.
Coletta will succeed VP/Strategic Initiatives Paula Ellis, who is retiring, and VP/Communities Trabian Shorters, who has announced he will become the first CEO of BMe, a growing network of black men committed to making communities stronger, which originally started as an initiative within Knight Foundation.
Knight Foundation’s communities and national programs support innovative ideas and projects that help people and communities shape their futures. Through these programs, Knight experiments with new approaches to community engagement, including using technology to connect communities for action, building attachment through the arts, and engaging community foundations nationwide in addressing community information needs.
About 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. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit KnightFoundation.org.
Contacts:
Anusha Alikhan, Communications Director, 305-908-2646, [email protected]