Time To Vote for Knight Arts Challenge People’s Choice Awards

Make a difference for an arts organization by voting for one of the six nominees in the Knight Arts Challenge People’s Choice Award. That vote could make a very lucky group or individual $20,000 to continue their work and carry on their mission in the arts community. Voting is going on now through Nov. 17.

The text-to-vote campaign is easy — text 22333 followed by the number allocated to your group of choice. Some of the nominees are familiar names while others are newly launched. The goal of the People’s Choice Award is to bring attention to the small and emerging groups in South Florida.

Nominees are:

FATVillage Arts District: A contemporary art exhibition space in Fort Lauderdale, FATVillage showcases large-scale, interactive works. Currently, the space is only open for its monthly art walks. The prize would help FATVillage open more often, with more programming. (Text VOTE1)

HICCUP:  The acronym stands for Hialeah Contemporary Culture Project, and the collective works to take art out of galleries and into the streets of Northwest Dade. With funding, HICCUP wants to open-up a basis of operations in Hialeah to launch its works and make the city “a place for creative action.” (Text VOTE2)

Ife-Ile: The Afro-Cuban dance troupe wants to expand its annual dance festival, and also to create a musical that is based on the lives and influence of Cubans who came to Miami during the Mariel Boatlift.  IFE-ILE provides a place for Cuban-American artists to practice their craft and tell their own stories. (Text VOTE3)

Key West Art and Historical Society: The group wants to take the art and history of Key West into schools. Their first initiative is to take the works of local artist Mario Sanchez, who created scenes of the city, into classrooms as a way to understand the island’s and Monroe County’s history and culture. (Text VOTE4)

Swampspace: This Design District gallery run by artist Oliver Sanchez wants to continue to provide an exhibition space that focuses on artistic values rather than profit. The prize would help Swampspace fund more large-scale exhibitions and allow artists to bring their big ideas to fruition (Text VOTE5)

Mexican American Council: This long-time community group works to reduce the drop-out rate and increase cultural opportunities for Mexican-Americans in South Dade. With funding, they would open a mariachi academy for students where they can learn to play instruments and understand Mexican culture.  (Text VOTE6)

You can watch videos of each at knightarts.org/peopleschoice. Each of the nominees is a finalist in the Knight Arts Challenge. The winners of both the challenge and the People’s Choice Award will be announced Dec. 1.