“The Miami-based John S. and James L. Knight Foundation will be making about $20 million in new investments in arts and culture in Detroit,” writes Mark Stryker in Saturday’s (10/20) Detroit Free Press (Michigan). “The windfall, scheduled to be announced Tuesday, represents one of the largest single gifts to Detroit culture in memory. About half the money will be endowment gifts to such groups as the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Michigan Opera Theatre, and Sphinx Organization to support community-engagement programs. The rest of the money is earmarked for other community-based projects…. The broad outlines of the Knight investment were confirmed by two sources with direct knowledge of the gift. Officials at the DIA, DSO, MOT and Sphinx—the latter is devoted to promoting minorities in classical music—all confirmed they were receiving gifts of more than a million dollars but declined further comment pending Tuesday’s announcement…. The foundation has funded a wide range of recent projects devoted to expanding arts audiences, from the DSO’s live webcasts from Orchestra Hall to the DIA’s Inside/Out program that takes high-quality reproductions of the museum’s masterpieces into the suburbs.”
Posted October 22, 2012
