Knight Foundation Announces 2012 Knight Arts Challenge Philadelphia Winners
Knight Foundation Announces 2012 Knight Arts Challenge Philadelphia Winners
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has announced grants totaling more than $2.7 million to thirty-five winners of the 2012 Knight Arts Challenge Philadelphia.
Now in its second year, the community-wide competition awarded grants ranging from $10,000 to $400,000 to projects that promise to bring art into Philadelphia's neighborhoods, transform communities through public art installations, and use the assets of larger organizations to benefit emerging artists. To date, the foundation has awarded $5.4 million in support of seventy-one arts-related projects in Philadelphia. A third round of the competition will be announced in the fall.
This year's winners include the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation, which was awarded $350,000 to launch, in partnership with the city of Philadelphia and select museums, a series of late-night summer happenings for Philadelphians age 40 and under; Partners for Sacred Places, which will receive $180,000 to provide a new space for theater designers and visual artists at a local church; the University of the Arts, which was awarded $120,000 to help support emerging creative businesses with pre-seed funding, mentorship programs, and workshops; and the Asian Arts Initiative, which will receive $45,000 to invite five teams of artists to create site-specific works of art in non-traditional venues.
"The cities that succeed, that offer the greatest quality of life, view every single person as a creative being," said Dennis Scholl, vice president for arts at the Knight Foundation. "We hope the Knight Arts Challenge and its winners provide an added spark that inspires the community to build a better future together."
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