DETROIT – Aug. 13, 2015 – Beginning Aug. 17, four arts organizations from Detroit will vie for a $20,000 prize in the 2015 Knight Arts Challenge People’s Choice Award.
The award, which highlights the work and contributions of the city’s small arts organizations, is part of the Knight Arts Challenge, now in its third year of funding the best ideas for the arts in Detroit. From Aug. 16 to Sept. 14, Detroiters and other supporters will be able to cast a vote via text message for one of the four grassroots cultural organizations. The winner will receive $20,000 in support from Knight Foundation for a project of their choosing.
“These four groups represent the promise and diversity of our city’s small arts organizations, which each day add more fuel to the creative momentum driving our city forward,” said Katy Locker, Detroit program director for Knight Foundation. “I hope you will take a moment to vote for them, to show them your support for their work and your love for Detroit.”
This year’s People’s Choice nominees were chosen from 70 finalists in the 2015 Knight Arts Challenge Detroit. Each group is still eligible for a challenge grant from Knight Foundation. Winners of both the challenge and the People’s Choice Award will be announced on Nov. 9 at a special event at The Fillmore Detroit.
Emerging from more than 1,000 submissions in 2015, the People’s Choice nominees have proposed a wide range of projects – including producing and recording songs combining local hip-hop artists with children playing violin; sending Detroit youth to West Africa to experience local art and traditions; training teens in silk-screen design, production and entrepreneurship; and publishing collections of creative writing from incarcerated men.
To vote, the public can text their preferred nominee’s individual code to 22333 before midnight Monday, Sept. 14. One vote is allowed per phone.
Previous winners of the People’s Choice Award include Hamtramck’s Lo & Behold! Records and Books in 2013 and Southwest Detroit dance group Ballet Folklorico Moyocoyani Izel in 2014.
The 2015 Knight Arts Challenge People’s Choice nominees are:
Detroit Youth Volume: To record an album featuring eastside violin students performing classical pieces with local hip-hop artists’ beats. Text ART1 To 22333.
Hamtramck Free School: To publish a series of poetry, critical writing, visual art chapbooks produced by incarcerated men who meet for a weekly writing workshop in a prison outside of Detroit. Text ART2 to 22333.
Heritage Works: To take a group of kids to West Africa, to learn firsthand about traditions of storytelling and dance that Heritage Works teaches in Detroit. Text ART3 to 22333.
Stitching Up Detroit/Grace in Action: : To launch a youth-led community print space in Southwest Detroit, creating neighborhood access to screen printing while allowing youth to develop creative design, leadership and job skills. Text ART4 to 22333.
To learn more about the projects and view videos of their work, visit knightarts.org/peopleschoice.
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 knightfoundation.org.
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Contacts:
Anusha Alikhan, director of communications, Knight Foundation, 305-908-2677
Peter Van Dyke, partner, Berg Muirhead and Associates, 313-872-2202