Application for $3M Knight Arts Challenge Opens March 16

1444

Detroiters can apply for a portion of $3 million through the Knight Arts Challenge — which funds ideas from organizations or individuals that engage the community through the arts. The application process opens next Monday.

“Whether you are an arts organization or a small collective, a longtime Detroiter or a more recent arrival, we want to hear from you,” says Dennis Scholl, the Knight Foundation’s vice president for arts. “Our goal is to seek out the best grassroots ideas for bringing Detroit together through the arts.”

Ideas must be about the arts, they must take place in Detroit or benefit Detroiters, and winners must find funds to match the Knight Foundation’s commitment.

Since launching two years ago, 114 projects have received funding. Projects include an arts incubator on Grand River created by the N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art, a digitized historical collection of works by African-American artists, and the “Write a House” program, which offers artists and writers renovated homes in Detroit.

The Knight Foundation will host a launch party and a series of community Q&A sessions to answer applicants’ questions 6 p.m. March 23 at the Arab American National Museum; noon March 24 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit and 7 p.m. March 25 at the Mexicantown Mercado. The launch party will be held at Bert’s Marketplace in Eastern Market on March 24.

The application deadline is April 13. To apply, visit knightarts.org.