Knight Foundation Press Release
South Florida Arts Projects Get $8 Million Boost

Knight Foundation Contest Winners to Help Transform Arts Scene and Touch People Across Age, Race and Class

Nov. 30, 2008

MIAMI — Thirty-one ideas to help transform the South Florida arts scene were awarded $8 million today from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.  The first-year winners of the Knight Arts Partnership include sculptors, musicians, prominent institutions and recently formed galleries — all of whom will raise the standards for arts in South Florida and bring together the region’s diverse population through their work.

“Nothing defines us more — or better — than our diversity. But the challenge of that diversity is to build a sense of community that is inclusive based on experiences and values we share. The arts in South Florida have the power to fuse culture, raise standards and enrich our collective life,” Alberto Ibargüen, president and CEO of Knight Foundation, said. “These 31 winners represent a creative energy that can transform the local landscape.”

The winners include projects to:

Create a two-year, fellow residency program for up-and-coming artists to be taught by prominent international artists. Run by the University of Miami in partnership with developer Craig Robins, it will be headquartered in Miami’s Design District;  Advance Miami’s film industry by forming a non-profit institute to fund and advise local filmmakers; Support Conductor James Judd in bringing classical music to Miami-Dade’s public schools in an intensive way, together with an annual festival featuring student and professional work.

The grants for the first year of the Arts Partnership contest range from $18,000 to $1.8 million and will touch South Floridians across age, race and class. Young, aspiring singers will be able to join a little league-type network of neighborhood choirs.  Movie buffs will watch art films at an independent cinema. And jazz fans will be able to participate in a monthly jam session with professional musicians, and also attend a Haitian/Creole jazz series with artists from around the globe.

Knight Foundation asked the community at large for its best ideas, and received 1,643 applications.
“That’s a testament to this community’s creativity and enthusiasm for the arts,” said Lorenzo Lebrija, Knight’s Miami-Dade and Broward County program director.

Some of the projects, including a collaboration between the Miami City Ballet and the Cleveland Orchestra, will create beautiful works for the public to enjoy. Others, like the University of Miami’s project, will enhance the infrastructure artists need to thrive in South Florida.

“The University of Miami is proud to be a part of this exciting collaboration with the Knight Foundation and our alumnus Craig Robins," said University of Miami President Donna E. Shalala. ”The Knight Foundation’s dramatic investment in South Florida arts forges a new model for contemporary art education that is interdisciplinary and global, and one that capitalizes on Miami's growing prominence in the international arts world.”

The contest is just one part of the five-year, $40 million Knights Arts Partnership. The first phase, announced in February, included $20 million in leadership endowments for the Miami Art Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the New World Symphony. 

The endowments fund an art education program at Miami Art Museum in partnership with Miami-Dade schools that will welcome 40,000 students a year; a series of exhibitions by emerging artists at the Museum of Contemporary Art; and a new media program at New World Symphony that allows performers and audiences to share real-time experiences with other artists around the world through digital technology.

Knight’s grant announcement adds to the momentum building in the South Florida arts scene, with signature performance spaces like the Knight Concert Hall and acclaimed events including Art Basel Miami Beach and the Miami International Book Fair and International Film Festival. The community which a quarter century ago had just 100 arts organizations now boasts more than 1,200.

The Knight Arts Partnership, which is a matching grant program, will accept applications next year for the second round of its community grants challenge. To find out more, or sign up for e-mail updates, visit www.knightarts.org.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation invests in journalism excellence worldwide and in the vitality of 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.