Knight Arts Challenge, seeking best ideas for the South Florida arts, opens for applications, January 27 – February 24, 2014.

Application Link

Beginning Jan. 27, South Floridians can apply for the Knight Arts Challenge, which funds the best ideas for bringing South Florida together through the arts. The deadline for the contest, a project of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, is Feb. 24.

The challenge is open to everyone: artists and artist collectives of all types, businesses, established arts institutions, and any individual who has a great idea for the arts. The initial application, which will be available at KnightArts.org consists of just two questions and is deliberately designed to be simple to encourage nontraditional applicants.

There are only three rules for the challenge:
1) The idea must be about the arts.
2) The project must take place in or benefit South Florida
3) The grant recipients must find funds to match Knight’s commitment (within a year).

“This contest is about ideas—big ideas, innovative ideas, authentically Miami ideas,” Scholl said. Knight has received more than 7,500 ideas from the South Florida community since launching the challenge in 2008. In total, 193 projects have received almost $22.1 million in funding.

Since 2006, Knight Foundation has invested $86 million in South Florida’s cultural community. Those funds have launched a new media program that includes the signature “Wallcasts” at the acclaimed New World Symphony campus, helped present Ibero-American films at the Miami International Film Festival, and will bring every Miami-Dade third grader to the new Pérez Art Museum Miami, among other projects.  The approach is two-pronged: Knight Foundation aims to help open up institutions to more South Floridians with large grants, while the Arts Challenge ensures that smaller, grassroots efforts fuel and refresh the arts scene.