Knight Foundation seeks to strengthen the digital art world with $435,000 investment

The Knight Foundation wants to make the world a more beautiful place. To do that, it announced today a $435,000 investment in four new arts technology projects to not only doll up this planet of ours, but also help create a strong future for digital arts makers.

Before making their donation, the powers-that-be at the Knight Foundation surveyed the digital art world and found that while it’s full of creative minds ready to hatch genius ideas, the scene as a whole lacks a strong network of support to build sustainable careers. The Knight Foundation chose projects that it hopes will help create a foundation for artists and institutions as they navigate the new digital frontier.

“As technology takes over almost every aspect of our lives, from news and information to the ways in which we interact with each other, we need to create new avenues for artists to permeate these spaces and establish a lasting mark,” Chris Barr, the Knight Foundation director for arts and technology innovation, wrote in a blog post.

The projects receiving support are:

Gray Area Foundation for the Arts ($150,000): To develop a playbook for creating immersive digital art installations in a pop-up museum format.
University of Denver ($150,000): With this grant, the university will establish the Clinic for Open Source Arts, to improve the long-term viability for open-source technology for creative expression by working with experts in the arts, technology, and academic communities.
Processing Foundation ($67,800): The funds will be used to develop an outreach program focused on promoting the use of art and technology tools at a community level through a free and open-source software platform.
School for Poetic Computation ($62,400): Since 2013, the School for Poetic Computation has offered learning opportunities and community for artists exploring the intersection of art and technology in New York City. It is now expanding to Detroit for a 10-day workshop for local artists to learn software, hardware, poetry, and critical theory for artistic expression.