Knight Foundation names 55 finalists to continue in 2012 Knight Arts Challenge Philadelphia

A quick scan of the 55 recently announced Knight Arts Challenge Philadelphia finalists for 2012 (listed below) reveals a rainbow of ideas aiming for the edge of arts and technology in Philadelphia.

As Technically Philly has reported previously, the Knight Arts Challenge Philadelphia is in year two of a three-year, $9 million initiative from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The initiative is designed “to draw the best and most innovative ideas out of local organizations and individuals seeking to transform the community through the arts.“

Grantees are expected to receive matching grants from other funders to impact the arts in Philadelphia. The contest was open to anyone with an answer to the question: “What’s your best idea for the arts in Philadelphia?”

A review panel says these 55 are the strongest from Philadelphia, due to be further slimmed down and finalized before being funded.

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Knight Arts Challenge returns for second year in Philadelphia, submissions until Oct. 31 [VIDEO]

The second year of the Knight Arts Challenge Philadelphia launched last week, kicking off the second round of this $9 million arts funding initiative. Submissions are accepted until Oct. 31.

APPLY HERE.

Organizers will be hosting a town hall next Monday, Oct. 17, which you can RSVP for here.

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Creative Connectors list from Leadership Philadelphia includes technology community members

The 76 Creative Connectors named by Leadership Philadelphia to highlight those who connect the art community together here include a gaggle of technologists. Technically Philly first told you about the project in June.

They include the following:

• Geoff Di Masi: Principal, P’unk Ave
• Barnett, Benjamin: Founder & Digital Media Strategist, Media Bureau, Inc
• Rachel Zimmerman: Executive Director, InLiquid
• David Clayton: Curator, Breadboard at the Science Center
• Hilary Jay: founding director, DesignPhiladelphia
• Neil Kleinman: Professor of Multimedia & Communication, Senior Fellow, Corzo Center for the Creative Economy
• Tayyib Smith: Little Giant Media founder
• Thaddeus Squire: Founder & Managing Director, CultureWorks Greater Philadelphia
• Gary Steuer: Chief Cultural Officer, Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy, City of Philadelphia

Neil Kleinman: What is the Creative Economy asks Empowerment Group [VIDEO]

The creative economy is building ideas, rather than products first, Neil Kleinman tells the Empowerment Group in a recent interview.

Kleinman, a senior fellow of the Corzo Center for the Creative Economy at the University of the Arts and former dean of that school’s College of Liberal Arts, discusses the center, its role, building business around ideas and how that can help Philadelphia.

WeWorkinPhilly directory of creative, technology, business community; launches with ‘word-of-mouth’ growth

The publicly-edited guide to the region’s creative, business and technology community dubbed WeWorkinPhilly.com has surpassed 400 people.

Launched last Wednesday by Indy Hall co-founder Alex Hillman and developer Linus Graybill, the project uses the Citizentry framework, led by Reid Beels for a community guide in Portland.

Today Hillman shared some word-of-mouth growth numbers, including 420 people to date, 117 companies and other groups and projects.

Users can sign up using Twitter or LinkedIn accounts and create profiles for their companies, groups and organizations relevant to the community.

Nominate Philly’s ‘Creative Connectors:’ Leadership Philadelphia, WHYY [AUDIO]

Leadership Philadelphia is a 50-year-old nonprofit charged with finding, training and elevating tomorrow’s leaders.

The group’s executive director Liz Dow has launched the Connectors project, hoping to highlight the trusted, lesser known leaders of the region. Now, in a partnership with WHYY, Leadership and Dow are seeking out Creative Connectors. Ought not the technology community play a role in such a list? The deadline for nominations is this Friday, July 1.

Nominate a Philadelphia Creative Connector.

The nominee can be active in art, music, theater, design, writing, cooking, digital media or any other creative endeavor.

Listen to Dow speak about the project with WHYY’s Dave Heller on NewsWorks Tonight.

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Philly’s creative sector employed 17,699 people in 2008, says report

The creative economies of Philadelphia are still small but jobs in those sectors held relatively stable during the build up to the Great Recession, according to a William Penn Foundation-funded report released last week. The creative economy included jobs like graphic designers and animators and spanned from 2006 to 2008.

Commissioned by the Mayor’s Office of the Arts, Culture and Creative Economy and its chief Gary Steuer, the Nutter administration quickly trumpeted the research as showing a vibrant creative community.

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Knight Arts Challenge Philadelphia 150-word application deadline is TODAY

Updated: Knight tells Technically Philly that an estimated 1,800 ideas were submitted. In January, those who submitted the best ideas will be asked to supply fuller applications.

Tonight at midnight is the extended deadline to submit fewer than 150 words to impact the future of Philadelphia arts.

The Knight Arts Challenge Philadelphia is a new, three-year, $9 million initiative of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation that will be matched by other funders to impact the arts Philadelphia.

“Philadelphia is one of the eight cities where the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation focuses its arts funding,  and it is only the second city in which we are introducing the Knight Arts Challenge,” said Stuart Kennedy, a program associate with Knight helping to coordinate the challenge.  “The Knight Foundation is bringing the Knight Arts Challenge to Philadelphia because of the tremendous momentum of the Philly arts scene. ”

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Friday Q&A: The creators of superfluid, a virtual currency for creative talent

When Technically Philly first met Nathan Solomon in April, it was hard to keep up.

The soft-spoken engineer was talking a mile-a-minute about a new project he was working on: an online barter exchange for creatives with a dailed-in currency system perfect for that online community.

It was evidence of passion that was simultaneously backed by the smarts of his partner, Branimir Vasilic, an engineer with a background in physics. You know, a guy that knows a thing or two about math.

A few weeks ago the pair launched superfluid, a social network that enables folks involved with web development, design, programming, writing, film, photography and other specialties to more easily collaborate with one another.

Say you’re a genius coder and you’ve designed a new app that just isn’t visually exciting. superfluid connects these different creative disciplines with a simple barter system. To pay a designer, a programmer offers ‘Quids’ for the work, and later, a designer can spend those Quids on his or her own projects.

It’s a novel idea based on a growing number of localised currency systems, like Ithaca Hours in New York. With these local systems, currency is kept within a community, beit Ithica or superfluid.

Currently, Solomon and Vasilic are working on the gig full-time, along with three others who are half-time. The team is preparing to announce a “well known” partner in the virtual currency before the end of September. They’ve also recently launched a contest to promote the new virtual currency with the Corzo Center for the Creative Economy.

We caught up with the pair to talk about the idea origins and just how they were able to create a new monetary system online.

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