Finalists Named in Knight Arts Challenge Philadelphia

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation today announced 69 finalists for the 2013 Knight Arts Challenge, a contest funding the best ideas for engaging and enriching Philadelphia through the arts.

Emerging from a field of more than 1,200 applicants, the finalists include individuals and organizations seeking to provide new resources to artists and emerging leaders, transform neighborhoods through public art and engage communities in citywide celebrations of jazz, film, printmaking and more.

The full list of finalists and their project ideas is included below and available online at KnightArts.org. Knight Foundation will announce the winners in the spring.

"We received great ideas from all corners of Philadelphia, demonstrating once again that the city has a tremendous diversity of engaged and creative thinkers," said Donna Frisby-Greenwood, Philadelphia program director for Knight Foundation.

Winning ideas from the first two years of the challenge have enriched Philadelphia's cultural landscape: Franklin's Paine Skatepark Fund broke ground on Paine's Park to create a mixed-use public space designed with skateboarding at its center; the Association for Public Art involved thousands of residents in creating a world premiere public art event that illuminated Philadelphia's night sky; Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra engaged audiences in classical music through a free series of performances and mini-conducting lessons; and the University of the Arts expanded its Creative Incubator program, promoting economic stability in Philadelphia's cultural sector.

The Knight Arts Challenge, which began in Miami in 2008 and now provides funding in three American cities including Philadelphia and Detroit, asks one simple question: What's your best idea for the arts? Over the challenge's first two years in Philadelphia, Knight Foundation awarded $5.5 million to 71 innovative ideas representing a broad spectrum of the community, from individual artists to some of the city's premier cultural institutions.