I am going to post here all of the projects that Life Is Art has submitted to the Knight Arts Challenge. I am doing so for two reasons.
1) I hope it inspires you to submit your own ideas.
2) I want you see a few of the things we are trying to accomplish.
We will probably be submitting more ideas until the deadline of March 15th, but I wanted to go ahead and get these out there. Even if we do not get funded for any of these, we will still continue to pursue them and many more in the eventual goal of raising the south Florida arts scene to the same level of reknown of other great cities.

IDEA #1: South Florida Featured Art Fairs

Life Is Art proposes to produce a series of art fairs throughout the year to promote the arts in south Florida, including a special event during the massive Art Basel week in early December. The reason for the grant is to keep the costs low to participating artists and to attendees. Each fair will take place in a different part of the area.

The arts are growing fast in south Florida, but much of the amazing local talent is being left behind. Also, research shows that the arts provide significant economic impact.

Each show will be significantly promoted through efficient marketing and public relations practices to maximize the exposure of the artists and use of the funds. The use of community resources and in-kind local sponsors will also be utilized to the fullest extent.

Every show will be open-call, juried by a group of experienced jurists and art professionals. Many art forms will be included, e.g. visual, performance, dance, music, film, design, etc.

IDEA #2: South Florida Arts Council

There are many organizations and individuals working towards the betterment of the arts in south Florida. There seems to be a lot of overlap and lack of coordination between these efforts, though. An overarching professionals group could help everyone coordinate activities and share resources. “Got Milk?”

The idea is to create an organization that assists all the organizations in south Florida do what they do better. In addition, resources could be pooled to create larger campaigns.

This would be a membership organization, but the price of membership would be kept as low as possible, and based on a sliding scale based on an individual’s or organization’s ability to pay.

The goal would be to include all the organizations and institutions in south Florida, as well as individual artists, curators, and collectors. Many other areas have on arts council, it is time south Florida did, too.

IDEA #3: South Florida Arts Presentation Venue

ArtCenter South and Bakehouse Arts Center are both great institutions. But, as the south Florida arts scene grows, these two organizations are not enough to serve the needs of a growing number of artists. We propose to open a new space that is not only dedicated to providing low cost studio/gallery space for artists, but also to market those artists, as well as artists from across south Florida.

Included would be a number of personal studio/gallery spaces that artists could lease for low cost, as well as larger gallery/performance spaces wherein big shows would take place to showcase not only the artists in the onsite studios, but artists from all over south Florida.

This space could be used to not only showcase visual artists, but artists of all disciplines, music, dance, performance, fashion, etc. This space would be focused on using all media available to promote participating artists to the greatest extent.

IDEA #4: South Florida Music Showcase

There have been a few abortive attempts to host a music event showcasing the talent in south Florida, but none of them have really gone anywhere. So much amazing music has come out of and into Miami in the past 100 years, that it is a shame we do not respect our local scene more.

There is still a large pool of amazing talent in south Florida. What we really need is a good three-day festival featuring the great bands, musicians, DJs, and performers of our area. Throw in a few big names to get the media on it, and you would have a show.

Funding would be used to subsidize gate prices for the early years in order to generate more interest. Significant effort would be put into marketing and promotion in order to ensure good crowd.

Music of all genres would be included in order to allow as many local musicians to participate as possible. Not only could we have festival style, but we have so many clubs and bars that we can include. So good for the local economy, as well as the arts.

IDEA #5: South Florida Online Arts Wikipedia

Where do you go when you want a comprehensive guide to the arts in south Florida? What does Google love? What is SEO and why does the south Florida arts community need it?

If you want to be seen in the 21st century, you MUST be seen on the web. South Florida needs a website that maximizes our arts exposure on the web. Nothing does that better than a Wikipedia.

By providing a platform where artists, arts business, and arts organizations can manage their own representation in one, comprehensive website, we can provide a one-stop easy-to-use location for people to learn about the south Florida arts scene. It also provides a simple method for the participants to manage entry.

The Wikipedia software is extremely Google-friendly (and other search engines), meaning that our arts people will show up more likely on arts related searches from around the world, improving the visibility of what we have to offer.

The funding provides this free or low-cost to all the arts people in south Florida.

IDEA #6: After school cultural tour youth art program

Appreciation of the arts starts young. This proposal is to create an after school program for area youth to get them interested and excited about the arts. On a regular basis (depending on funding level and availability) we will organize an outing to a local gallery, museum or other cultural institution for young people and their parents. Target would be at least once per week.

At each event there will be interesting interactive activities related to the venue, and a chance to meet and speak with local artists, curators, gallerists, and other art professionals. The work at the institution will presented in a manner to make it interesting and exciting to young minds.

Enrollment will be open to any student, given size limitations of the location. Special effort will be given to promote the program to disadvantaged youth. This will allow the youth to not only learn a love of the arts, but also to be introduced to the cultural diversity of the area.

From the Knight Arts Challenge. Join the conversation and let your voice be heard.

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Have a question about your Knight Community Information Challenge application?
Join us for a live question-and-answer session at 3 p.m. tomorrow on the Knight Community Information Challenge – a matching grant program that helps community and place-based foundations fund local news and information projects. The challenge is accepting applications through March 8 at www.informationneeds.org. Submit your questions via instant message for immediate answers from Knight Foundation staff during this final live chat session.
When: 3 p.m. EDT Friday Feb. 26
Where: Participate at www.informationneeds.org
No registration required.
Sign up for an email reminder by visiting: www.informationneeds.org/webinar

Questions? Email Marika Lynch, lynch@knightfoundation.org

The Knight Community Information Challenge is a project of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

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This is a VERY exciting opportunity for everyone interested in the arts in south Florida. ANYone can apply. And the application process is neither complex nor daunting. The Knight Foundation has done a wonderful job of making it simple. I absolutely encourage everyone to look into this and submit your ideas.

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Knight Arts Challenge Opens Contest

Deadline March 15
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is now accepting applications for the Knight Arts Challenge, a community-wide contest that aims to bring South Florida together through the arts. Have a big idea for the local cultural scene? Submit it through March 15 at KnightArts.org.
It’s your turn to inspire our growing local arts scene.

If you have a great idea in the arts, let us know. Take part in a community rising to new levels of artistic achievement and global recognition. In the last two years, 51 ideas were funded. Is this your year?

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is seeking ideas and innovation in the arts from nonprofits, companies and individuals. There are three simple rules:
1. The idea is about arts.
2. The project takes place in or benefits South Florida.
3. You find other funding to match the Knight Foundation grant.

So far, 51 individual artists, small nonprofits and the area’s largest institutions have won funding from the challenge. The Knight Arts Challenge’s application is designed to be simple to attract a wide range of applicants, including those who are not traditional foundation grant seekers.

Town Hall Meeting with Miami Program Director Dennis Scholl
Artists and art advocates interested in applying for the challenge’s third round also are invited to a town hall meeting at 5:30 p.m. March 9 at the Little Haiti Cultural Center, 260 NE 59th Ter. Miami Program Director Dennis Scholl, who leads the challenge, will answer questions.

A video produced by Soul Of Miami with some of the 2009 winners. Knight Foundation’s Dennis Scholl opens the video with a very good description of the program

Press Release here.
More Information Here.
Apply Here.

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Looks like a nice grant from Broward New Times. Check it out, if you are interested.

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New Times Broward-Palm Beach to Give Away $4,000 to Artists for MasterMind Awards

By Deirdra Funcheon

New Times Broward-Palm Beach is excited to announce our newly-established Amplitude Academy of Musical Arts MasterMind awards! We’re giving away $1,000 to four local artists. Fashion designers, filmmakers, visual artists, performance artists, tattoo artists, and more are invited to apply. Alternately, individuals can nominate an artist whose work they admire.

Are you a longtime fixture in the local art scene? Show us why. An obscure starving artist? Bring it on. Not sure if that stiltwalking dance you invented in your bedroom qualifies as “performance art”? Hey, try us. Applicants must work, reside, or attend school in Broward or Palm Beach counties.

Winners will be chosen by a panel of experts (museum representatives, gallery owners, art critics, etc) and announced on November 14, when New Times Broward-Palm Beach celebrates local innovators with our first annual Artopia event — an eye-popping gala and sensory experience replete with drinks, music, DJs, art, food, and fashion at Fort Lauderdale nightclub Exit 66.

Enter either via snail mail or e-mail — whichever best showcases the applicant’s work.

To apply, please include a statement describing the artist and the work. Also include contact information — phone number, e-mail address, home address. The deadline is 5 p.m. October 28.

Mail submissions to:
New Times
Deirdra Funcheon, Asssociate Editor
16 NE Fourth Street, Suite 200
Fort Lauderdale FL 33301
OR
Submit information, with hyperlinks to websites where the work may be viewed, to Deirdra.Funcheon@browardpalmbeach.com.

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More information about the county’s proposed cuts to the arts budget from the Lowe Art Museum. Some good dates here for meetings.

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Dear Lowe Art Museum Supporters,

I am writing to update our members and supporters about the continuing budget process. As you may have heard the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners recently voted to preserve the maximum flexibility to set a budget for the 2009-2010 year that responds to the current economic environment and invites additional put input into the final budget process.

The vote did NOT raise taxes, eliminate jobs, salaries or programs, but set the stage for an open, vigorous public process over the next 55 days when a final hearing on the 2009-2010 budget at 5:01 p.m., Thursday, September 17, 2009.

The next several weeks are critical if we are to maintain any funding for arts and culture in our community. If you have not already written the members of the Miami-Dade County Commission and specifically your elected commissioner, I urge you to do so now. Tell the Commission what arts and culture mean to you and share with them what the loss will be to this community if they support a more than $11 million reduction in the budget for arts and culture grants for this community. A reduction of this magnitude will, I assure you, be devastating both to the Lowe and many organizations, which will simply cease to exist. If you have already written, please write again. The Commission needs to hear from its constitutents.

List of commissioners.

Please place these two important dates and times on your calendars:
5:01 p.m., Thursday, September 3, 2009-First public hearing on the FY 2009-2010 budget.
5:01 p.m., Thursday, September 17, 2009-Final budget hearing on the FY 2009-2010 budget.

Thank you again for your continuing support of the Lowe Art Museum and other important community cultural institutions.

Sincerely,
Brian A. Dursum
Director and Chief Curator
Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami

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Culture Builds Florida Application now open for 2009-2010 Funding

Last week, the Division announced a revised application schedule for 2009-2010 grants. This funding structure is for the 2009-2010 fiscal year only. In the 2009-2010 fiscal year, the only legislative appropriation for organizations requesting funding is through the Cultural and Museum Grant Program. You may apply for up to $25,000 for seed funding or expansion funding through the Culture Builds Florida (CBF) program. Funding will be top-down at the full request amount until the appropriation is depleted.
All applications previously submitted for 2009-2010, will not be reviewed as appropriations were not provided. Applications to the Florida Arts Recovery, Underserved Arts Communities Assistance (UACAP), and Arts in Education programs will be reviewed as these programs are funded through federal funding.
The revised timeline for 2009-2010 includes these important dates:

May 18 – Guidelines available on the Culture Builds Florida program page. Application available on OASIS.

June 18 – Application Deadline

August 24-28 – Panel Meetings Scheduled

September TBD – Grants recommended at September Florida Arts Council meeting

October 1 – Grant Period Starts

If you submitted a CBF application for the February deadline:
You may revise your application in the OASIS system;
You will have the opportunity to re-use your support materials;
You do not have to revise your application, you may re-submit it in its present form. You must log in to the OASIS system and resubmit your application. Current CBF applicants will receive another email through the OASIS system detailing their options.
If you have not submitted a CBF application:
You may apply for 2009-2010 funds through the CBF program;
You may submit ONE application to the CBF program in either the seed funding OR the expansion funding category;
You will be able to access and revise your other Division grant application(s) should you wish to use any of the information in those applications;
Existing applications, with the exception of UACAP, Arts in Education, and Culture Builds Florida, will not be reviewed. This includes all roll-over applications.
Current Cultural Facilities applicants will hear from program manager Don Blancett regarding the Cultural Facilities Program.
If you have specific questions, please contact your program manager.

Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs
500 South Bronough Street, Tallahassee, Florida, 32399-0250
http://www.florida-arts.org | 850.245.6470

GRANTS FOR ARTS WRITERS
Online application form opens – Monday, April 27, 2009
Application Deadline – Monday, June 8, 2009
http://www.artswriters.org

The Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant Program supports individual writers whose work addresses contemporary visual art through grants ranging from 3,000 to 50,000 USD.

Writers who meet the program’s eligibility requirements are invited to apply in the following categories:
• articles
• blogs
• books
• new and alternative media
• short-form writing

We regret that due to legal constraints we can only fund U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and holders of O-1 visas. For guidelines and additional eligibility requirements, please visit http://www.artswriters.org

ART WRITING WORKSHOP
The Arts Writers Grant Program is pleased to announce a new writing workshop offered in partnership with the International Association of Art Critics/USA Chapter. For more information, please visit http://www.aicausa.org

Well, if you are eligible, get your part of the bailout! This came from “Florida Division of Cultural Affairs” info@florida-arts.org. Note that it has a very shot turnaround time.

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Hello Cultural Organizations,
The Florida Division of Cultural Affairs has drafted a plan for distributing our portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. The plan is still pending approval by the NEA, but we want to share the major details with you.
Please note that the details below are still pending approval and are provided for your information only.
Program Description
Applicants can request up to $25,000 for full or partial salary support of one or more positions. The positions must be critical to the artistic mission of the organization and be in jeopardy of elimination, already eliminated, or vacant as a result of the current economic climate.
Development positions are not eligible for funding under NEA guidelines.
This is a one-time, non-recurring opportunity.
Eligibility
Applicants must be a Florida organization that:
has been awarded a grant from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs in the last 4 years (fiscal year 2005-2006 or later) and
is a public entity or a not-for-profit, tax exempt corporation
public entity
governed by a county, municipality, school district, community college, college, university, or a state government agency.
not-for-profit, tax exempt corporation
incorporated or authorized as a not-for-profit corporation, in good standing, pursuant to Chapter 617, Florida Statutes and designated as a tax-exempt organization as defined in section 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended.
Exception: Zoos and aquariums are not eligible to apply in accordance with section 1604 of Division A of the Recovery Act. Organizations currently in non-compliance with the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs may not apply.
There will be a very short turnaround time on this grant and it will be highly competitive. The full application and guidelines should be available by March 31st on the Division web site http://www.florida-arts.org. The tentative deadline for application submission will be April 13th. We will keep you informed as new information becomes available and guidelines are finalized.
Please plan accordingly.
If you have questions, please contact Dr. Gaylen Phillips, Associate Director of Arts Resources and Services at 850.245.6482 or gphillips@dos.state.fl.us. You may also reply to this email.

Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs
500 South Bronough Street, Tallahassee, Florida, 32399-0250
http://www.florida-arts.org | 850-245-6470