Posted on December 4, 2010

Knight Foundation Awards $3.8 Million in Support of South Florida Arts Scene

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has announced the winners of the 2010 Knights Arts Challenge Miami, a community-wide competition designed to bring South Florida together through the arts.

Now in its third year, the contest awarded $3.8 million to twenty-seven projects. Winners include Miami-Dade County Public Schools, which will receive $1 million to expose 130,000 Miami-Dade students to South Florida's cultural riches through annual field trips in every grade; the University of Miami, which was awarded $500,000 to create a community engagement program featuring the Henry Mancini Institute's multi-genre orchestra; the Borscht Film Festival, which will receive $150,000 to commission original films that tell unique Miami stories; and Homestead-based ArtSouth, which was awarded $50,000 to teach youths recruited from South Florida-based Haitian-American organizations about Haiti's artistic heritage and how to use two- and three-dimensional media, techniques, and tools to create their own art.

Individual artists like William Stewart, a former percussionist for the reggae band Third World; emerging groups like the PlayGround Theatre; and some of the county's largest arts institutions are also among this year's winners.

In the three years since the competition was launched, the Knight Foundation has invested $17.5 million in Arts Challenge projects — an amount that local arts enthusiasts will double with matching funds.

"The arts have always had a transformational impact on our sense of community," said Alberto Ibargüen, the foundation's president and CEO. "They move us, shape us, bring us together and show what we can be — and everyday Knight Arts Challenge winners are adding to that momentum."

To view a complete list of this year's Knights Arts Challenge Miami winners, visit the Knight Foundation Web site.