Above: Random Acts of Culture at Miami International Airport. Photo: Knight Foundation. Trailer for Random Acts of Culture. Some 1,300 events, almost 9 million YouTube views, and now one regional Emmy: Saturday night, a documentary on Random Acts of Culture, the Knight Foundation program that surprised people across the United States by taking performers out […]
In an era of virtual reality, artificial intelligence and ever-evolving media platforms, the biggest lesson for the future of journalism is that it’s time to get back to basics. Dial up Journalism 101. Ask better questions. Listen—are you ready for this—70 percent of the time. These aren’t the musings of Luddites but strategies for news […]
Perseverance and philanthropy are just two of the topics that will be covered by Beverly Knight Olson–a Knight Foundation trustee and daughter of Knight Foundation co-founder James L. Knight–when she speaks at a Lunch ’n’ Learn event in Macon, Ga., on Thursday, Nov. 19. Both characteristics, she says, define the Knight family and their value system. […]
Photos courtesy Reading Terminal Market. Ann Mintz is the manager of development and special projects for Philadelphia’s Reading Terminal Market, a winner of Knight Arts Challenge Philadelphia to curate a performing arts series at the popular shopping venue. A white-haired woman watches a group of salsa dancers, moving to the music. One of the dancers […]
Chuck Brown, the godfather of Go-Go, Random Acts at NPR. Photo by Keith Jenkins on Flickr. When I applied to work as an intern with Knight Foundation this summer, I wanted to learn how people in the real world were applying the knowledge that I’m learning in college. I hoped my major, urban space and […]
Six years ago, Knight Foundation President Alberto Ibargüen asked me to develop a national arts program for the foundation focused on building community through the arts. Today, I’m excited to share a new report that chronicles our progress and introduces you to the many people and projects that have surprised us with their ideas for […]
[[soundcloud 189455708]] Making art general in cities across America is the charge of Dennis Scholl, vice president for arts at Knight Foundation. Dennis and his colleagues are the brains behind the Knight Arts Challenge (which is currently open for ideas in South Florida), the enormously popular Random Acts of Culture, and Inside|Out, the project that […]
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, one of the treasures of South Florida, is also the setting for one of the area’s most intriguing musical events. Now in its third year, Fairchild’s GardenMusic Festival, a 2012 Knight Arts Challenge winner, offers chamber music—with a twist. The festival, which runs Jan. 9 through 18, includes four concerts with […]
By Laura Bruney and Etain Connor, Arts & Business Council of Miami A true renaissance man, Dennis Scholl is a philanthropist, art collector, and entrepreneur, four-time Emmy winner for his work in cultural documentaries, CPA and lawyer. His out of the box thinking has captured the imagination and interest of business leaders, artists and creative […]
Above: The family lounge area at Pop-Up Pool in Philadelphia, a 2015 Knight Cities Challenge winner. Credit Monica Peters. Civic innovators from across the country submitted more than 4,500 ideas to this year’s Knight Cities Challenge. That’s a lot of ideas. More importantly, that’s a lot of people who care enough about their city to sit down and […]
Last year, Knight and the GAR Foundation released a survey on the arts in Akron that was telling. We found a real hunger for arts and culture in the city. People craved it. But we also found some gaps: African-Americans and young people in particular were having trouble finding programming that spoke to them. Related […]
Like many artistic collaborations, this one began over yoga, solidified over pizza and blossomed over chicken cacciatore. John Jarboe and his Philadelphia cabaret group, The Bearded Ladies, had an idea to create a performance piece on Andy Warhol. The idea intrigued David Devan, who was intent on rethinking the city’s opera company. After running into […]
Libraries are often quite and studious spaces; sometimes they are venues for community engagement, and certainly they are conduits of information. But rarely do they become spaces for the performing arts, and yet this is exactly what Charlotte-Mecklenburg residents have been experiencing this March in their community libraries through the Library Acts of Culture program. […]
Jazz bassist Warren Oree performs a Library Act of Culture If you’ve stepped into your local library recently, you know that it’s a vital community resource and a vibrant hub of creativity – a space that is as much about creation as collection. A recent article in the Pacific Standard touted the importance of libraries […]
Library Acts of Culture from Knight Foundation on Vimeo A few years ago, Knight Foundation set out to bring art and culture into people’s everyday lives by presenting surprise opera and classical ballet performances at markets, parks and airports. More than 1,000 of these Random Acts of Culture took place in eight communities across the […]