Barry's Blog Interviews Dennis Scholl

I’ve been involved in the arts for decades, but these last three years has been an immersive experience. It’s like drinking from a fire hose every day. I feel that coming from outside the field has allowed me to try some things that might be a little out of the box and to make some grants to artists and organizations that are not necessarily traditional arts grantees. All great arts ideas don’t originate inside the 501(c)(3) structure.

I think that opening the granting process to everyone in a community, in essence crowdsourcing the best ideas has brought many more people under the arts tent in our communities. We’ve received close to 10,000 ideas for the Knight Arts Challenge in Miami and Philadelphia. (I know this to be true because I’ve read each and every one of them over the last four years!) That sense of openness, seeking diverse opinions but still focusing on artistic excellence, is the hallmark of what we try to do at Knight Foundation.