Artformz Alternative announces the award of a 3-year grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The Foundation reviewed 1,700 submissions and chose 31 winning projects that demonstrated the power to positively impact Miami’s cultural community. The Knight Foundation Arts Partnership is a five-year, $40 million initiative to transform the South Florida arts. The effort includes endowment grants to leading arts institutions, plus a community-wide contest to fund the best arts ideas. The $90,000.00 grant enabled the realization of “Giants in the City” an art exhibit involving 10 artists creating 10 giant inflatable sculptures exhibited to the public during the Art Basel Miami Beach art fair week at Miami’s highly accessible Bayfront Park. The premier of the exhibition met all expectations of attracting international spectators, local art enthusiasts and people who don’t typically visit art exhibits, creating a visual experience while building a sense of community.
The challenge grant was awarded to the art gallery, founded and directed by Miami artist Alette Simmons-Jimenez, to support the production of the gallery’s first art venture developed within the context of “Artformz Projects”, created to aid individual artists in the direction and production of innovative exhibitions and installations of their own design. Artist Alejandro Mendoza first approached Simmons-Jimenez with an invitation to participate in an exhibit he was forming. Shortly after, the inventive idea was entrusted to Artformz Projects and the development of “Giants in the City” began. Soon, what started as a simple grass roots project, catapulted into an event with mass public appeal and remarkable community support.
The curatorial statement for the exhibit highlights its mission of placing art within the city, where artist and community can interact. The over- whelming success of the exhibit, with 97% of surveyed attendees responding with either “good” or “excellent” marks, demonstrates the vast public appeal of such projects. Thousands of people on foot visited the exhibit. Many traveled miles just to walk up close and film video or take photos of the giants. Many thousands more made a dedicated drive by, and many others, tourists and locals, were simply delighted by the surprise presence in their daily routine. In the next two years, this Knight Foundation award will help insure that the “Giants in the City” project has the funds to grow and to increase local and international exposure for Miami Arts.
About Artformz Alternative Artformz, located in Miami’s Wynwood Art District, was founded in 2004. The gallery has won renown as a distinguished alternative space where emerging artists and curators may exhibit, develop, and advance innovative art of diverse media and content. These artists’ projects have become a rich resource for both the private and publicly funded art sectors and contribute to arts policies and the overall vitality of the arts in our communities. For more info, visit www.artformz.net.
