Five reasons I love Milwaukee!

McKinley Beach and the skyline of Milwaukee

Nearby nature and the arts combine for a high quality of life

Recently Milwaukee Magazine, for which I write a column called Urban Wilderness, asked contributors to list reasons why we love Milwaukee. My slightly amended answers are listed below. The magazine used one of my own photos to illustrate the first of my answers and then a couple of stock photos after that. I’ve included all of my own photos in this version—as you would expect! 

Warnimont Park, Milwaukee County Parks, Cudahy

1. Lake Michigan. Not only does Milwaukee have public beaches and parkland for a front yard in its downtown but also miles of lakefront parks that stretch the length of Milwaukee County.

Milwaukee River Greenway, view north from Locust St. Bridge

2. Four rivers. All four of Milwaukee’s rivers—the Milwaukee, Menomonee, Kinnickinnic and Root—have been endowed with parkways that enable citizens to hike and bike long distances in natural settings.

The Big Bang over the Calatrava wing of the Milwaukee Art Museum

3. Calatrava. The newly improved Milwaukee Art Museum is the place to go to for outstanding art, and even after 16 years the Calatrava wing with its kinetic roof still seems like a miracle—a very worthy setting for fireworks!

The tropical dome in winter, Mitchell Park Conservatory

4. The Domes. The Mitchell Park Conservatory is the best place to go when the weather is lousy; of course they need to be repaired!

The Marcus Center for the Performing Arts

5. The theater scene. Milwaukee has so many theatrical offerings it’s impossible to keep up with them all: the Milwaukee Rep, Pabst Theater, Renaissance Theater, and Next Act, to name just a few.

Scenic Route: MKE in Riverside Park

In fact, on occasion my favorite things overlap, as in this performance of “Scenic Route: MKE” wherein the dancers used Riverside Park and the Milwaukee River as a stage.

The original version of this story was posted by Milwaukee Magazine on April 12, 2017.

To see more reasons why I love Milwaukee go to my Flickr albums.

Creativity Works! in Milwaukee

The good (and perhaps surprising) news for the arts is…

The “creative industries” in Milwaukee are alive and well.

“Creative industries” employ more people in Southeastern Wisconsin than the much touted water industries and the food/beverage industries combined.

Milwaukee is a national leader in “creative industries.”

What, you may ask, are the “creative industries?”

According to the report unveiled this evening by the Cultural Alliance of Greater Milwaukee at a gala event hosted by the Harley Davidson Museum, they are “those organizations, individuals and companies whose products and services originate in artistic, cultural, creative and/or aesthetic content.” Specific examples include the usual suspects: cultural institutions like museums, architectural and graphic design companies, media and film producers, visual and performing artists and craftspeople, etc. Other examples, perhaps less obvious, include product designers, music publishers, booksellers, technical writers, art supply businesses, and so on.

To make a long story short, it turns out…drum roll…the arts are good for business, an asset to the community, and important to “the vitality and quality of life throughout the region.”

OK, some of us (I think we’re the ones being called “creatives”) believed this all along. But bravo to the Cultural Alliance and the Greater Milwaukee Committee for bringing it front and center. Mayor Barrett was on hand because, he said, he wants to be “out in front of this parade!”

The report, issued by a consulting firm from Massachusetts, identifies four strategic initiatives. They are, in brief (and with brief commentary!):

“1. Grow the creative industries into a signature regional driver.” I like that – the arts as a signature industry, like Milwaukee’s signature Art Museum (aka “the Calatrava”).

“2. Expand the region’s creative talent base.” For me the most important single phrase in the entire report (which, we were told, totals 100 pages) is part of a subheading under this one: “…including reinstating arts as a high school graduation requirement.” A member of the audience added that education – arts education – can’t begin in high school. This received well deserved applause.

“3. Strengthen the sustainability of the creative industries….” The emphasis here was on “industries.” Again, during the question/answer period, someone observed how often artists and musicians are asked to give of their talents free of charge (I can relate to that!) By all means, we should strengthen everyone’s sustainability. It’ll be a great day when painters, actors, and musicians don’t need a day job to support their own creative industry.

“4. Establish segment councils to integrate creative industries.” There would be three overlapping councils: design, film & media, and cultural.

The bad news is that the “creative industries” are “fragmented, siloed and underresourced.” (Yeah, even MS Word underlined some of that jargon – I believe it means bunkered and underfunded.)

Let’s hope that the Cultural Alliance and the Greater Milwaukee Committee will be able to fulfill the promise of their report and implement the initiatives that they insist will overcome these problems. Better yet, let’s not hope, let’s help. I’m doing what I can.

Happy 10th Anniversary MARN!

There was a time in the U.S. when community happened because people lived in proximity to one another. In some cultures, this still is the case. But here and now we are less likely to find a supportive, cohesive community of like-minded folks in a single geographic location, like our neighborhoods, for instance. Community, as often as not, is the result of networking. Sometimes this happens online. In Milwaukee, for those of us in the creative arts, community assumed an identity ten years ago. That identity, of course, is MARN: the Milwaukee Artists Resource Network.

MARN celebrated its anniversary last night with a party that doubled as the crowning event of its first-ever fundraising Treasure Hunt. As a relative newcomer, I can’t comment on the last 10 years, but, hey, last night MARN threw a good party! Many of the artists who had contributed work for the Treasure Hunt were on hand and it was fun to meet some of them. (My one regret is not to have met them all!) It was great to see all the art together and realize the tremendous amount of work that went into this entire project. It was even better to see that some of the art was missing and therefore sold for the benefit of the organization.

The music provided a nice background, the food was delicious, and Shelby Keefe (pictured below) spent the whole time painting!

My thanks go out to Melissa Musante, the board of MARN, and the many volunteers who made this event possible and whose ongoing efforts continue to invigorate the community of artists in Milwaukee.