Knight Foundation kicks off open call for performing arts
Inspired by “the show must go on” attitude that artists have displayed during the pandemic, the Knight Foundation launched its biennial open call for new performing arts work Monday.
Knight New Work 2020 will award $10,000 prizes to performing artists or arts organizations in Miami. The deadline to apply is Sept. 7. About 15-20 winners will be selected in the first round of the two-part open call. Applications are available on the Knight Foundation website.
A small group of projects from that group will be chosen early next year for further funding that will aid in the production of a piece and, ultimately, a performance by the end of 2021. Winners will develop new performing art works in dance, music and theater. The open call seeks artists and arts organizations based in Miami-Dade County. The foundation is investing up to $500,000 overall.
While works do not have to be pandemic-themed, the foundation is challenging artists to come up with performances that can be presented with physical distancing and health protocols in mind.
“What we want to do is recognize the ingenuity we’re seeing among artists and arts organizations and how they’ve managed to keep in touch with their audiences, to keep making work and to share it with
the public,” said Priya Sircar, director of arts for the Knight Foundation. “We wanted to recognize that and put some money into fueling more of that.”
Winners for the first round will be announced by December. The $10,000 prize is unrestricted, Sircar said, adding that the goal is to put money in artists’ pockets to support them in any way they need.
Knight New Work first debuted in 2018. Half a dozen winners were chosen in the first iteration; some of the those performances were slated to premiere this year but have been put on hold due to the pandemic. Each year the foundation alternates between the New Work open calls and the Knight Arts Challenge grant.
Winners for this year’s open call will have the option of accessing an advisory panel of established practitioners and mentors that will help them develop their work.
Webinars in the coming weeks will provide interested artists with more information on the application process. Date for the webinars are still to be determined.
Sircar said the foundation is open to what artists are envisioning at this time. She pointed to the ascendance of virtual and augmented reality as well as online premieres and performances as examples of the ways the arts have adapted to the times.
Conversations around equity and the role of the arts during troubled times have also played an interesting role in artistic production during the pandemic, she added.
“What we’re excited to see is what production looks like,” Sircar said. “We’re really looking forward to seeing what artists are going to be interested in making and how they’re thinking of getting their work out.”