Knight Foundation and NEA offer up to $100,000 for projects
Akron among eight cities to participate in Challenge
Knight Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) today are launching an eight-city competition seeking new models for local arts journalism in the digital age. The initiative seeks to rethink how traditional media systems function, harnessing the latest tools and technology to make the transition to the new information environment. Akron is among the eight communities able to participate in the Challenge.
Just as cultural institutions are pursuing new ways to engage audiences, information portals are also seeking innovative methods to cover, inspire and engage communities through the arts and to provide platforms for high quality cultural criticism and coverage.
“With the changing media landscape, we have a real opportunity here to find new, engaging and sustainable models,” said Dennis Scholl, vice president/arts for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The best ideas may well be the ones that stretch our thinking.”
NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman said, “The challenges facing arts journalism are well known. However, no clear solutions have yet emerged to sustain locally relevant coverage. We are counting on the bold and innovative thinking in these eight communities to begin showing a path forward.”
Individuals, non-profits and commercial businesses are eligible to apply. Partnerships between traditional and emerging media organizations are encouraged. There is no limit to the number of applications an organization can submit. Up to $100,000 is available per project: first round winners will receive up to $20,000 to create an “action plan” for developing their idea, and will be eligible for up to $80,000 in the Challenge’s second round to implement it. Although the applicant may be from outside Akron, the proposed project must benefit Akron directly.
“Akron has a wonderfully vibrant arts scene and on any given night there are so many events. This challenge is an opportunity for our city to fuse media innovation with our love for the arts,” said Jennifer Thomas, Akron program director for Knight Foundation.
“No idea is too unusual,” Scholl said. “Embedding a nonprofit reporter in a for-profit news organization? Creating a new collective to share professional work? Asking the community to decide which arts stories are best and put up the money to cover those? Have better ideas that never would have occurred to us on our own? Fill out the application form, and send them in.
For application materials and more information, visit www.artsjournalism.org. The application deadline is Thursday, August 18, 2011.
Knight and NEA staff will answer questions about the challenge during a live, online chat at 2 p.m. July 27th at www.ArtsJournalism.org. No registration is required, though you can go to ArtsJournalism.org to sign up for a reminder.
About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation advances journalism in the digital age and invests in the vitality of communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight Foundation focuses on projects that promote informed and engaged communities and lead to transformational change. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.
About the National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts was established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. To date, the NEA has awarded more than $4 billion to support artistic excellence, creativity, and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities. The NEA extends its work through partnerships with state arts agencies, local leaders, other federal agencies, and the philanthropic sector. To join the discussion on how art works, visit the NEA at arts.gov
Media Contacts:
Marc Fest, Vice President of Communications, Knight Foundation,
305-908-2677; fest@knightfoundation.org
Victoria Hutter, Assistant Director, Public Affairs
202-682-5692, hutterv@arts.gov
