Great art has the power to illuminate our stories, shaping our perception of what is real and giving light to what is possible. The arts create new narratives, whether through the written word, visual languages, music or the language of movement. These narratives provoke us to question our understanding of the world.

We’ve been absolutely blown away by the interest and excitement around our AI and the News Open Challenge. After several months and the efforts of a small army of amazing reviewers to sift through the 500+ applications we received, we’re excited to finally announce the winners of the challenge today. 

We have never had a bigger opportunity – or greater need – to build the future of local news. That was at the heart of discussions at the Knight Media Forum, a gathering of leading journalism funders and practitioners held last week in Miami. 

How can local journalists make the connection between the issues they report on and international events? “You have to find the connection between international affairs and people’s lives and build out from that,” said CNN GPS host and Washington Post columnist Fareed Zakaria.

The warning lights are flashing. The challenges of the digital age are posing fundamental challenges to our democracy. To capture the benefits of digitization, without enduring intolerable costs, we suggest it’s time for a new paradigm—one similar to how we treat other forms of pollution from industrial progress.

In 2011, I came to the stark realization that I was one of the last reporters left in North Carolina focused on covering health care. It shocked me then — and continues to shock me now — that even as our medical system grows more complicated and political, many news outlets have eliminated their health reporters.

As journalists, we understand that robust local journalism requires time and resources. It demands patience and a sense of where to look for a story.

If the decline of trust in news has been a crisis decades in the making – and it has – then rebuilding the informed society will take time as well. Improving the data and the knowledge with which we diagnose the challenges and propose new solutions must be an essential part of that process.

When poet Tom Healy called the Florida Freedom Writers to tell them he was donating $10,000 to the youth creative writing and performance group, he had a little trouble tracking them down. He finally reached the Miami Norwood High classroom of the group’s director, Precious Symonette. But, the student who answered the phone thought it was a prank call.

Olivier Kamanda is director for learning and impact strategy at Knight Foundation. 

High school may be a tumultuous time, but it’s also when many of us first start to define not only who we are but also our beliefs about our community and our country. Understanding high school student views on the First Amendment, and, in particular, the essential freedoms of free press and free expression, is then vital to anticipating how future generations may interpret and support these rights.

As concerns over free speech, declining trust in news and the impact of misinformation surge, a new report explores how high-school students’ attitudes about the First Amendment are evolving and what that means for the future of our democracy.

Arts and culture have been a centerpiece of Miami’s transformation for more than a decade. From the Art Basel art fair—a mecca for international curators and collectors—to several new world-class facilities, Miami has seen an explosion in artistic, creative and cultural activity since 2005.

Miami is a city of stories and storytellers. It always has been: from the oral traditions of the Tequesta and the fanciful myths that attracted faraway explorers, to the tale of Julia Tuttle’s orange blossoms, and the complex social drama that played out in the film “Moonlight.”