The Knight Foundation will award $1.8 million to forty-four artists and arts organizations who have been selected as winners of the Knight Arts Challenge, which was established to fund arts projects that would enrich the city of Miami and South Florida. The organization will also recognize twenty-one community leaders as champions of the arts during a celebration at the Pérez Art Museum Miami on Monday night and will provide them each with $10,000 to give to local cultural producers and institutions.

“Arts and culture connect people to place and to each other,” said Alberto Ibargüen, Knight Foundation president. “A dozen years ago, we perceived a trend and openness toward the arts in Miami and decided to accelerate and leverage it. We’ve invested $165 million since then.” Victoria Rogers, vice president of arts at the foundation added: “This year’s winners reflect a Miami whose artistic voice continues to mature. The Knight Arts Challenge has spread its influence wider than ever before, elevating individual artists to a greater degree and offering more opportunities for the public to encounter and engage with great art.”

Among the projects that will be realized with the funding are a series of temporary public artworks that will illuminate environmental issues impacting South Florida; an underwater sculpture park comprising artificial reefs; a video installation inspired by Latin American women in the state; a printmaking residency; a film series that pays tribute to Yiddish silent cinema; Miami’s first international queer tango festival; and public art performances exploring the future of the Caribbean.

The 2019 Knight Arts Challenge Miami winners are:

Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County ($30,000)
Adventure Life Productions ($15,000)
Arca Images ($50,000)
Barba-Marcotulli ($18,000)
Barbara Fernandez and Javier Riera ($28,600)
Barron Sherer ($50,000)
Bas Fisher Invitational ($100,000)
BlueLab Preservation Society ($85,000)
Bolivar Phil ($60,000)
Carla Forte ($20,000)
Charo Oquet ($35,000)
Edison Peñafiel ($6,000)
EXILE Books ($50,000)
Florida International University Foundation, Inc. ($70,000)
Fringe Projects ($100,000)
FUNDarte, Inc. ($75,000)
IlluminArts, Inc. ($45,000)
The Institute of Queer Ecology ($35,000)
IS Projects ($15,000)
Katja Esson ($75,000)
Kayla Castellon ($6,000)
Lauren Shapiro ($12,500)
Mark Hedden ($20,000)
Miami Jewish Film Festival (25,000)
Miami Light Project, Inc. ($25,000)
Miami Lyric Opera, Inc. ($45,000)
Michael Marrero ($15,000)
MUCE Educates ($35,000)
Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami ($75,000)
NWD Projects ($28,000)
Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum FIU ($48,250)
Patsy West (60,000)
Portia Dunkley ($58,000)
Radiator Comics LLC ($20,000)
Silvia Ros ($18,000)
South Florida Center for Percussive Arts, Inc. (SFCPA) ($50,000)
Sterling Rook ($15,000)
Susan Caraballo ($70,000)
Sweat Records ($75,000)
Tango Out ($20,000)
Tropic Bound ($50,000)
University of Miami’s Cuban Heritage Collection ($50,000)
Wild Beast Collective ($20,000)
Women Photographers International Archive ($50,000)