Latest Knight Foundation grants support ballet, books and accessible art. Value: $2.2M
.jpg "Dancers from Miami City Ballet in ‘George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker in the Park.’")
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is investing $2.2 million to increase diversity and digital innovation at nine Miami cultural organizations.
The grantees were chosen based on demonstrated commitment to support artists and audience connections amid the pandemic, according to a Knight Foundation release.
“With the challenges of the pandemic, we’re seeing that the arts are more essential than ever,” said Victoria Rogers, Knight’s vice president for arts, in a statement. “Knight’s investments in these Miami arts and cultural organizations build on our vision of a Miami where art is inclusive and accessible to all, even amid a pandemic.”
“Arts organizations have not only had to pivot in how they produce and promote their work, but they’ve also incorporated new strategies to increase their reach during a time of physical distancing and beyond,” said Priya Sircar, Knight’s arts program director, via a release. “Our investments recognize the incredible work these organizations do and accelerate their ability to expand programming, incorporate digital strategies, and in some cases hire new personnel to help increase audience engagement.”
The grants follow recent Knight awards to 18 South Florida groups to produce new performance works centered on life during the pandemic. The awards, granted under the Knight New Works program, are for $10,000 each.
This latest round of investments goes to:
▪ Third Horizon ($750,000): To support a five-year plan to boost the film festival and collective to an incubator for Caribbean and Caribbean-American filmmakers.
▪ Miami City Ballet ($250,000): To support the ballet’s outdoor production of George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker,” this December in Doral. An addition grant of $67,500 will be used to commission two new digital dance works.
▪ Bookleggers Library ($250,000): For digital expansion of the donations-based library.
▪ Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami ($250,000): For curatorial and communications staff connecting global art with the surrounding community.
▪ Prizm Projects ($200,000): For year-long arts programming — including exhibitions and public talks — focused on the African diaspora.
▪ Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, Inc. ($150,000): To commission and present digital artworks by Miami artists.
▪ Miami Dade College Foundation ($150,000): To support virtual programming of the Miami Book Fair.
▪ Nite Owl Theater ($124,800): To create a unique, four-week drive-in theater experience in downtown Miami.
▪ Coral Gables Community Foundation ($35,000): For Illuminate Coral Gables, a free tech-enabled public art exhibit in downtown Coral Gables scheduled for February 2021.
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 12:00 AM.
