CREATIVE INDUSTRIES:

A NEW ECONOMIC GROWTH OPPORTUNITY FOR THE GREATER MILWAUKEE REGION

DECEMBER 2010

PREPARED FOR:

Cultural Alliance of Greater Milwaukee

PREPARED BY:

Beth Siegel and Michael Kane, Mt. Auburn Associates Stu Rosenfeld and Jenna Bryant, RTS, Inc. Bill Bulick, Creative Planning, Inc. Surale Phillips, Decision Support Partners, Inc.

Preface

This report provides the analysis and The purpose of this project was to define, strategic plan for Creativity Works!, a joint inventory, and measure the economic project of the Cultural Alliance of Greater contribution of the region's creative Milwaukee and the Greater Milwaukee industries as well as to position the creative Committee. The roots of this creative industries as a cohesive economic cluster. industries project were established in 2008 Also, the goal was to capitalize on the when the Cultural Alliance of Greater region’s highest economic development Milwaukee completed a regional study on potential by elevating the identity, value, the arts and culture sector that was and contribution of the creative industries commissioned by the Greater Milwaukee to help ensure a globally competitive Committee. This Cultural Asset Inventory of regional economy. the seven-county region made clear that the Milwaukee 7 region has outstanding The Mt. Auburn team used several different arts and cultural assets — and a fragile methodologies and approaches to collect infrastructure. The study recommended a and analyze creative industry data and to planning process for the creative get a well-grounded understanding of the community incorporating for-profit region, its creative industries, and the businesses, nonprofit arts and culture, and creative industries support system. Data in individual artists and creatives. this report were primarily derived from Economic Modeling Systems, Inc. This The Greater Milwaukee Committee company provides a complete picture of convened a summit of regional community industry employment. It is done by leaders that was held in February 2009 to combining covered employment data from begin this process, preceded and followed the U.S. Department of Labor’s Quarterly by gatherings across the creative Census of Employment and Wages with community. These meetings resulted in the data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, formation of a Creative Coalition, which was County Business Patterns, and Non- charged with creating a clear vision to employer Statistics from the U.S. Census. support and grow the region’s considerable Mt. Auburn Associates and RTS have a creative assets. It was determined that the proprietary methodology for determining focus would be on a strategic plan to how to allocate certain employment identify and leverage the region’s creative categories across segments. assets. The Cultural Alliance received a $146,250 grant from the U.S. Department In addition to the data sources that were of Commerce’s Economic Development used for this project, the Mt. Auburn team Administration in late 2009 to fund the also held focus groups with creative planning process and, after a national industry stakeholders in each of the search, Mt. Auburn Associates, Inc., with counties and with industry leaders in each RTS, Inc. and Creative Planning, Inc., was of the creative industry segments. hired. The team’s research began in Interviews were held, both in-person and by January 2010, and the project was called phone, with dozens of individuals from Creativity Works! business, economic, and workforce

ii

development organizations, higher Three surveys were conducted during the education, foundations, state government, project: one of individual artists, one of and throughout the creative industries. manufacturers, and one of the organizers Additional research was also undertaken to and sponsors of fairs and festivals. broaden our knowledge base. Extensive databases were created on the Several meetings were held with the enterprises, organizations, and employment Creativity Works! Executive Council and in the creative industries, on the higher Planning Committee, and several education system in the region, and on the presentations were made to the creative galleries and facilities and venues. community and the general public. More than 800 individuals were engaged in this Finally, all of the creative industry assets project in one form or another. were mapped by county and by segment. The location of support system organizations and resources was also included in the mapping.

iii

Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………………………..…….1

CHAPTER 2. THE ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE OF CREATIVE INDUSTRIES and TALENT IN THE MILWAUKEE REGION……………………………………………………………….….5

CHAPTER 3. CREATIVE SEGMENTS……………………………………………………………………..19

CHAPTER 4. MILWAUKEE REGIONAL COUNTY PROFILES…………………………………....53

CHAPTER 5. NURTURING CREATIVE INDUSTRIES – KEY FINDINGS……………………...72

CHAPTER 6. GOALS AND RECOMMENDATIONS………………………………………….………85

iv

Chapter 1. Introduction

Image today is what business climate was THE CULTURAL ROOTS OF yesterday. In the last century, the MILWAUKEE 7’S INDUSTRIAL economic vitality of a region was often STRENGTH determined and measured by the quality of its “business climate.” These ratings, most For much of the last century, southeast prominently the Grant Thornton Index, but Wisconsin was known as the nation’s others as well, presumably determined industrial heartland. Building on its history where companies would choose to locate as a logistics and processing hub and its and remain as they grew their business. influx of skilled German craftsmen, the Costs (labor, taxes, real estate, and region became the nation’s leading beer utilities), natural assets, and the specialized manufacturer. The entrepreneurs that skills of the population, were king. founded Pabst, Schlitz, and Miller were all German immigrants. In 1905, 63 percent of In this century, the economic vitality of a all immigrants to Milwaukee were from region is much more closely aligned with its Germany. quality of life and “coolness” indices. These newer rankings are presumed to predict The region also developed a renowned where young, educated, and mobile talent metalworking cluster that, beginning with chooses to live and work. Lifestyle (i.e., agricultural and transportation equipment, entertainment venues, bike lanes, running such as tractors, silos, and automobiles, paths, etc.) has now assumed the throne became one of, if not the nation’s densest once held by cost, and modern-day concentration of small engine business climate is more closely linked to manufacturers, heavy metal fabricators, amenities. and machine builders. With a base solidly anchored in Milwaukee, Kenosha, and Cities around the world now are seeking Racine, companies like Allis Chalmers, A.O. ways to distinguish and brand themselves. Smith, Chrysler, American Motors, Briggs Once decaying cities such as Bilbao, Spain; and Stratton, and Harley-Davidson Mendoza, Columbia; Riga, Latvia; and South employed tens of thousands of people. Miami, Florida, have been rejuvenated by refurbished or new architecture, new A third industrial activity of significance was design, and the arts, and they have re- in tanneries, founded by German branded themselves with a new image. immigrants Pfister and Vogel, but expanded, with the help of Polish and Jewish immigrants, into a full-blown leather goods cluster. In the early part of the 20th century, the region’s leather goods were exported all over the world.

1

The region’s fourth significant cluster has THE NEW PARADIGM been printing, part of a larger cluster corridor that extends from Minneapolis and In the new economic development southeastern Minnesota across to paradigm, a shift has occurred and a new southeastern Wisconsin. Quad/Graphics set of factors is shaping the way business traces its roots to the Quadraccis, an Italian and economic choices are made. Ease of immigrant family that started printing as a movement, attractiveness of surroundings, hobby in the back of their grocery store in sustainability, and perceptions of safety all Racine in 1930. This ultimately led to its influence the decisions that companies, first printing plant in Pewaukee. With its CEOs, and talented individuals make about acquisition of Canadian company location. And, some parts of the Milwaukee Worldcolor Press this summer, 7 region have been able to successfully Quad/Graphics became the second largest convert the liability of an abandoned printer in the western hemisphere. industrial infrastructure into an asset by finding new tenants able to retain the Although the Milwaukee 7 (M7) region’s historical significance, but make it cool. industrial base included large companies, Milwaukee’s historic Third Ward as an arts those companies were not simple assembly and fashion district exemplifies the operations, they were crafts, and they transition from the old economy into the required highly-skilled — and often new economy. The historic Pfister and innovative — employees. The region’s Vogel Tannery facility, for example, has industrial base had a creative, design- been preserved on its original 15 acres and intensive side that produced high-quality converted to commercial and retail space goods for niche markets — goods that and Tannery Row as living space. While the relied on creative packaging, printing, Santiago Calatrava design of the Quadracci marketing, and advertising. Clifford Brook Pavilion of the Milwaukee Art Museum has Stevens, who founded his design company become a recognized symbol of the new in 1934, was one of the world’s most Milwaukee, it is the integration of the new influential designers. His designs included with the old that creates the brand. the Miller High Life logo, the Oscar Mayer Weinermobile, automobiles for Studebaker, Availability of cultural events and motorcycles for Harley-Davidson, and entertainment is equally important both as engines for Briggs and Stratton. markets for the region’s artists and as amenities for current and prospective The industrial base also created a distinctive citizens. Although Summerfest was architecture to house its corporate offices, conceived as an ethnic-themed festival by sales rooms, and its executives, managers, Mayor Henry Maier in 1962, it was and workers. This architecture was reconfigured in 1966 and is now generally exemplified by Johnson Wax headquarters, acknowledged as the world’s largest music designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, built in the festival, and it is only one of many. Every 1930s, and designated a National Historic ethnic group of any size, product, or Landmark in 1976. industry of any scale or local importance, and holiday has its festival. There are festivals, for example, that celebrate films, wine, NASCAR, motorcycles, sheep, and wool. The Irish, Germans, Polish, Scottish,

2

Mexicans, and Italians all have fairs and learning environment, from cradle to grave, festivals, and celebrations such as Bastille from pre-school though postgraduate Day, Juneteenth Day, Oktoberfest, education. The postsecondary system is Independence Day, and St. Patrick’s Day well on its way to meeting its responsibility, take place throughout the region. shifting gears to respond to the new labor market demands for greater creativity that Finally, the direct jobs associated with the are embodied in occupations such as production and distribution of creative architecture, advertising, film/video editing, content through creative industries, and the and fashion design. It is also helping to economic value that design and creativity develop the skills for new occupations such bring to other key sectors of the Milwaukee as animation, web design, solar panel regional economy, represent a critical factor design, and gaming. in the future economic vitality of the region. A 2010 report on the global creative The region’s colleges and universities are economy by the United Nations Conference experimenting with the integration of arts of Trade and Development concludes, “In with sciences to balance left and right brain 2008, despite the 12 percent decline in thinking skills of their graduates. The global trade, world trade of creative goods technical colleges, led by Milwaukee Area and services continued its expansion, Technical College (MATC), are expanding reaching $592 billion and reflecting an their offerings in creative fields, and the annual growth rate of 14 percent during the Milwaukee Institute for Art and Design period 2002-2008. This reconfirms that the (MIAD) and the University of Wisconsin- creative industries have been one of the Milwaukee (UWM) Peck School of the Arts most dynamic sectors of the world economy remain national leaders in those fields. throughout this decade.”1 Together, these schools are delivering a steady stream of new talent, many of whom In short, southeast Wisconsin’s economy remain in the region and add to the local and prosperity will depend less on how wealth of skilled and creative people. The much it produces and more on what it K-12 systems are still lagging in targeting produces, less on its cost of living and more creative skills, however. Too few resources on quality of living, less on its workers’ skills are available for the arts as schools struggle and more on its people’s talents, less on to meet completion and standardized test corporate identities and more on requirements. entrepreneurial energies. EMBRACING CREATIVE ASSETS AND Thus, prosperity will result from creativity INDUSTRIES that, directly and indirectly, produces employment, makes other sectors more The winners in the current globalized competitive, contributes to making the economic environment are going to be the region more desirable, makes people more individuals, businesses, organizations, and innovative, and recognizes and rewards the governments that can grow and capitalize talent that may lie outside the mainstream on their creative assets and act on their career pathways. creative impulses in productive ways. The creative industries that are defined and Much of the responsibility for creating and quantified in this report represent the core maintaining this new economy rests with of the region’s creativity. the region’s educational system and life-

3

Creative industries are typically classified by This report disaggregates the creative applying certain classifications and industries of the Milwaukee 7 region into economic rules, but creative enterprises five discrete and coherent segments then exist in almost every sector of the economy, examines each to estimate its absolute and and creativity is important in some way to relative (compared to the U.S.) scale, all but purely routine work. And, creative diversity, and value chains based on industries intersect with and influence employment. It analyzes the support every sector of the economy at some point. structure for the creative industries, including their business, technical, That is why taking advantage of the region’s entrepreneurial, and financial resources; creative assets will require a concerted their facilities, venues and events; and effort across organizations that typically do sources of talent and educational programs not interact, e.g., artists, engineers, that produce them. It identifies strengths musicians, chefs, designers, planners, and challenges associated with each business executives, and workers. The segment and each resource based on concept of a creative industry is still quite information and feedback acquired in new to many development agencies in the surveys, focus groups, interviews, and region. None of the various cluster studies meetings. Based on those same sources carried out in or for the state of Wisconsin and knowledge of other places, the report in the last decade mentioned any creative provides goals and recommendations that industries, with the exception of printing, we believe will strengthen the creative which was treated purely as a production industries and will greatly strengthen the process, and tourism, which was described regional economy. as a hospitality industry. Manufacturing was still focused on technology to gain competitive advantage. THE M

4

Chapter 2. The Economic Significance of Creative Industries and Talent in the Milwaukee Region

DEFINING THE MILWAUKEE REGION can, in many CREATIVE ECONOMY cases, serve as a THE MILWAUKEE CREATIVE catalyst for INDUSTRIES ARE DEFINED AS: This Creativity Works! project aims to change and define and understand the Milwaukee Organizations, individuals, and growth, companies whose products region’s creative industries — the contributing to and services originate in individuals, organizations, and businesses the identity of a artistic, cultural, creative, whose products and services originate in place, leveraging and/or aesthetic content. artistic, cultural, creative, and/or aesthetic a competitive content. advantage, creating new employment opportunities, and, in turn, impacting the This project is not about how we engage in overall economic well-being of entire the creative process or creative thinking, neighborhoods, cities, and regions. but about understanding the role and quantifying the impact of creative goods As a result, many cities have begun crafting and services on the regional economy. incentives, policies, and programs to allocate resources through business and Creative work is often viewed as distinct workforce development, leadership, and from the recognized trades and professions entrepreneurship programs, toward the classified as “blue collar” or “white collar,” identification, understanding, cultivation, and at times little attention has been paid and growth of creative industries and the to the work and contributions of individuals goods and services they produce. operating outside of these traditionally defined categories. Thus, the labors of This report concerns itself both with painters, designers, writers, and singers are creative enterprises (business, firms, and rarely equated to that of lawyers, bankers, institutional entities) and creative construction, and factory workers. While occupations (individuals) in the Milwaukee few would deny the importance throughout region. In these terms, the creative history of the works of great artisans, industries represent an integration of designers, writers, and composers, whose nonprofit arts organizations, self-employed creativity has undoubtedly impacted and artists and creative freelancers, and defined much of the world we live in today, commercial businesses engaged in creative their contributions to society were rarely work. valued in terms of economy. Creative industries and occupations have However, in recent years, economic been identified based on a comprehensive development researchers, practitioners, review of global practices used in defining and policymakers have come to identify and the creative sector. These definitions were recognize the crucial role of creative then further refined and customized for the enterprises and creative workers as purpose of this study based on additional significant to local and regional economic research and focus groups conducted strength. These enterprises and individuals

5

throughout the Milwaukee region. The In addition to defining creative industry resulting five industry categories include: categories, research and focus groups were directed toward the identification of Design (Built Environment, categories that define creative occupations Communications, and Product) in the Milwaukee region. These include: Performing Arts Artists Visual Arts and Crafts Cultural Media and Film Designers Culture and Heritage Media These five industry categories encompass Table 2 (following page) provides examples the characteristics described above — of creative occupations comprising each engaged in the production of artistic, category. The artists category represents cultural, creative, and/or aesthetic content. those individuals working across the Table 1, below, provides an overview of the performing arts and visual arts and crafts industry breakouts. These categories industry categories, including professions include entities commonly perceived as such as actors, dancers, photographers, creative: cultural institutions (museums writers, and musicians. The cultural and libraries); the performing arts (dance category captures those individuals working companies, music groups, and artists); and within or associated with cultural- and visual arts and crafts (including heritage-oriented institutions, including photography studios and jewelers). archivists, librarians, and curators. However, the creative enterprise industry Designers include a variety of design- categories are also representative of oriented workers, both technical and non- creative work that is more technical in technical, from architects to florists. Finally, nature. Among these are business the media category encompasses those enterprises involved in media and film; occupations related to media, sound and video production; graphic design communications, and journalism, such as and architecture; printers and publishers, video editors, news analysts, and sound including magazine, book, and newspaper engineers. production; and other firms involved in communications, such as advertising agencies.

6

With respect to creative occupations, it is important to understand the interconnectedne ss of the creative sector across the defined industry categories. Creative workers operate both includes creative occupations (as within and beyond creative enterprises. For defined in this study) and occupations example, a graphic designer employed at a that do not fit the definition of creative publishing company is a creative occupation as used in this study (i.e., architects within a creative enterprise. However, a working in architectural firms as well as graphic designer may also work for the the clerical and management staff in public relations department of a large these firms). It also includes jobs investment banking firm. While investment associated with freelance work and self- banking in itself does not fall within the employment. A large number of identified creative industry categories, it is individuals in creative occupations and an industry that may employ creative industries earn their living not as workers. Similarly, a creative enterprise, “employees,” but as sole proprietors, such as a recording studio, may employ contractors, or freelancers working on workers who do not fit the definition of their own. In the Milwaukee region creative as used in this study, a legal advisor there are 49,146 jobs within the or accountant, for example. While such creative industries enterprises. (See roles are not recognized as creative occupations, they are sustained through the presence of a creative enterprise. In addition, a substantial proportion of creative workers are self-employed, such as writers and musicians, individuals who may earn a living by piecing together several independent contracts and freelance gigs.

CREATIVE JOBS IN THE MILWAUKEE REGION

A comprehensive assessment of the creative sector must take into account the following: Figure 1.) . ALL JOBS IN COMMERCIAL AND NONPROFIT ENTERPRISES IN THE DEFINED CREATIVE INDUSTRY . JOBS IN CREATIVE OCCUPATIONS THAT SEGMENTS. In keeping with all FALL OUTSIDE THE CREATIVE standard economic analyses, this INDUSTRY SEGMENTS. Many other

7

industries depend upon employees in Creative Enterprises creative occupations for their success. Examples include graphic artists In 2009, creative industry enterprises working for financial service firms or directly employed 49,146 individuals, industrial designers working for including both creative and other workers. manufacturers. In the Milwaukee These jobs together contribute about $2 region, there are 17,561 jobs associated billion in wages in the Milwaukee regional with creative occupations (as defined economy. above) in industries that are not defined A sizable proportion of the creative as creative in this report. This would enterprises are very small businesses. In include, for example, designers working fact, many creative enterprises are sole in the financial services industries, or proprietors, partnerships, and, in some manufacturers and musicians who are cases, corporations, which do not have employed by religious institutions. employees. Despite the importance of Looked at comprehensively, including all of these “nonemployer” firms in the creative the categories above, the creative sector, these numbers are typically left out industries and occupations account for of most labor market information studies. about 66,707 jobs. (See Figure 1.) This In fact, the creative industries have a larger figure is based on all employees in the percentage of self-employed individuals creative industries enterprises (49,146) as than most sectors of the economy. These well as the creative talent that is embedded include the thousands of freelance in other industries (17,561). Figure 1 musicians, designers, actors, artists, and provides an overview of the employment in craftspeople who earn their income these different categories. through their own entrepreneurial activities. In effect, each of these The following section looks first at the freelancers or self-employed individuals in 49,146 direct jobs in the creative the creative industries can be thought of as enterprises and then examines the region’s a small enterprise. The exclusion of this creative talent, both those who work within group, which we estimate comprises close the creative industries (15,827) and those to 30 percent of the employment in the who are embedded in other industries creative industries, has greatly impacted (17,561). (See Figure 2.) previous assessments of the size and importance of the creative sector.

The 49,146 jobs in the creative industries enterprises represent just over 4 percent of the region’s total economy, a greater proportion than the creative workforce statewide (3.6 percent of the total statewide workforce) and in the nation (3.7 percent). (See Figure 3 on following page.)

8

cable networks, has the largest proportion (nearly 6 percent) of jobs in creative enterprises.

The Milwaukee region’s creative industries account for as many jobs as some of the region’s other core industries. (See Figure 5.) For example, creative sector employment (49,146) exceeds total employment of both the transportation and warehousing sector (42,304) and educational services (36,451).

An inventory of the creative industries in the seven-county region found a total of approximately 4,100 creative enterprises, Employment in creative industries in the the vast majority of which were commercial Milwaukee region also compares favorably enterprises (3,508 or 85 percent). In to other metropolitan regions. Figure 4 addition, there were 440 nonprofit shows creative enterprise employment as a organizations, 127 governmental entities, percentage of total industry employment in and another 51 creative enterprises that the Milwaukee region and other were “embedded” in other organizations. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). This would include entities such as the Milwaukee rates about average, with 4.2 Harley-Davidson Museum, which is part of percent of the total workforce employed in the Harley-Davidson Corporation, and creative enterprises. Comparatively, the museums and venues that are part of city of Nashville, a major hub in the music institutions of higher education. The 4,100 industry and home to several country music creative enterprises are distributed widely

9

throughout the seven-county region, jobs in 2002. though most highly concentrated in Milwaukee County. (See Map.) These employment losses are not unique to the creative sector as the economy While over the past decade the growth in nationwide experienced significant declines employment in the creative industries has in employment across sectors due to the exceeded the overall growth of the economic recession that reached its peak in Milwaukee regional economy, a number of 2008. Furthermore, from 2002 to 2007, the creative segments were particularly employment growth in creative industries hard hit by the recent, profound economic was higher than overall job growth in the downturn. From 2002 to 2007, region. employment in creative industries showed positive growth of 7 percent, from 49,200 jobs in 2002 to 52,608 in 2007. (See Figures 6 and 7 on the following page.) By 2009, these employment gains reversed as total creative enterprise employment dropped to 49,146, slightly below the total number of

10

Despite the 2009 drop in total terms of employment is found within the employment, jobs in creative enterprises design segment, which has a total of 22,967 maintained and actually increased in jobs and comprises approximately 46 concentration when compared to the percent of all employment in the creative overall regional economy. Employment industries. (See Table 3.) Within design, concentration is measured through a the vast majority of employment is found comparison of (1) the ratio of creative within design-communications, which is sector employment to all employment in made up of printing, advertising, and the Milwaukee region and (2) the ratio of graphic design enterprises. sector employment in the nation to all employment in the nation. This ratio of Media and film, (comprised of companies in employment concentration is referred to as television and radio broadcasting, the location quotient (LQ). Location newspaper and magazine publishing, film quotients greater than 1.0 indicate a higher and video, and software publication), is also concentration of local industry when a significant segment with a total of about compared to the national average. In 2002, 14,000 jobs, accounting for about 29 the location quotient of the Milwaukee percent of creative industry employment. region creative sector was 1.09 and, in The more traditional arts and cultural 2009, the location quotient rose to 1.14, segments — performing arts (12 percent), meaning that the Milwaukee region has visual arts and crafts (5,321), and cultural consistently maintained a concentration of and heritage (903) — are smaller creative sector employment above the components of the creative industries in national average and that this terms of employment. (See Table 3 and concentration was even higher in 2009 than Figure 8.) However, it is important to note in 2002. that a lot of employment in these three segments is difficult to capture in the As noted, the Milwaukee creative industries governmental secondary data. For were further divided into five distinct example, it is likely that the number of industry segments. The largest segment in individual artists and performers is

11

undercounted. Moreover, there is category grew significantly between 2002 additonal employment in these segments and 2005, employment has declined since that is counted in other industries. For 2005, largely as a result of job losses in example, jobs in museums that are newspaper and periodical publishing. By operated by the public sector are counted 2009, job totals in this segment had as government jobs, and jobs in museums returned to its 2002 levels. Meanwhile, the and venues operated by colleges and design-communications category, though universities are counted as education jobs continuing to dominate creative sector in secondary data. employment, saw minor drops in total employment from 2002 and 2007, and The economic performance of the five experienced a substantial drop in total creative industry segments differed employment between 2007 and 2009. This significantly over the past eight years. The employment decline has been largely due design-built environment, culture and to job losses in printing and advertising. heritage, visual arts and crafts, and performing arts categories all experienced consistent growth in employment from 2002 to 2007, and in 2009 remained stable or experienced only slight declines in employment. On the other hand, the two largest industry categories, design- communications and media and film, experienced relatively large employment losses in the recent economic downturn. (See Figure 9 on following page.) While employment in the media and film industry

12

Creative Talent Creative occupations represent a diverse set of jobs in the regional economy, ranging The Milwaukee region is home to 33,388 from arts-related occupations such as jobs that fall within the identified creative photographers and musicians, to technical occupation categories. This figure includes occupations such as architects and graphic workers in both creative enterprises or industrial designers. (15,827 or 47 percent) and enterprises and workers in enterprises that do not fit the Each of the creative occupation categories definition of “creative” as used in this study demonstrates overall growth between (17,561 or 53 percent). (See Figure 10.) 2002 and 2009, with the exception of designers, which has dropped in total one percent. (See Table 4.) The artists’ occupational employment saw the greatest increase between 2002 and 2005,

13

demonstrating a 15 percent increase of seen in Figure 11, certain creative 1,449 additional jobs. Job growth in the occupations earn far more than this figure. media occupational category, a moderate Workers in media and designer increase of 5 percent, signals the addition of occupations, for example, earn more than more than 600 jobs by 2009. $20 per hour, compared to artists, who earn just over $12 per hour. The Milwaukee region has a large number of individuals employed in specific creative The Total Direct Employment Impacts: occupations. For example, the region has a Enterprises and Occupations large number of photographers, writers, and graphic designers. (See Table 5.) Across the seven counties that define the However, it is important to consider if these Milwaukee region, the creative sector numbers are higher than one would expect workforce includes a total of 66,707 in the region. To understand the relative workers. This number represents all strengths of a particular creative occupation workers in creative enterprises (49,146) and one has to compare the proportion of total creative workers operating outside the jobs in that occupation in the region with defined creative segments (17,561). Thus, the comparable proportion in the U.S. (the of the total workforce related to creative location quotient). Looked at this way, one activities, 74 percent are employed by sees a slightly different picture, with the creative enterprises and 26 percent by region having particularly high relative other enterprises. concentrations of talent in design- and The high prevalence of independent media-related occupations. (See Table 6.) creative workers who contribute to the creative sector through freelance and contract work, are an additional strength to the region’s creative sector. These individuals, largely independent artists, are also those who are well poised to make substantial contributions to the region’s strongest creative industry clusters.

While one often thinks about the “starving artist,” in fact, there are many creative occupations that pay a family wage. Creative occupations in the Milwaukee region earn an average hourly wage of $18.81, well above the statewide creative sector average hourly wage of $17.96. As

14

The creative industries operate as The strength of information technologies, food systems, “keystone species,” a term biologists these industries is transportation equipment, household use to describe something whose evident in their size goods, and apparel. impact on its environment is greatly and concentration Some of the overlap is captured by the disproportionate to its scale. throughout the region, despite definition of the creative industries — recent job losses. Within these industry encompassing creative workers in other categories, some creative sector enterprises industries. This was captured in the demonstrate notable economic resilience, previous section that looked at the total maintaining or even strengthening their number of creative workers in both creative presence, while, nationwide, these same enterprises and other industries. But, some sectors have experienced substantial of this overlap is more subtle and influences decline during the current economic the Milwaukee regional economy beyond recession. just the creative talent and creative industries. Creativity is a key to innovation BEYOND THE DIRECT JOBS — and the ability to work across multiple CLUSTER CONVERGENCE disciplines, e.g., bringing together artists with scientists and designers with Groups of creative enterprises are defined politicians, can lead to more innovative as industry clusters because the source of outcomes. In lieu of this understanding, the companies’ interdependence and their some of the region’s colleges and ability to achieve the synergy of a cluster universities are taking steps toward rest upon a common reliance on the multidisciplinary learning that integrates creative content of goods or services for the arts with the sciences. competitive advantage. However, having improved our understanding of the size, Manufacturing scale, and composition of the Wisconsin Milwaukee 7 region’s creative sector, it is Many of the region’s manufacturers imperative to next understand how those contract with creative enterprises for clusters interact with other sectors of the product and interior design, advertising, regional economy. Creativity is by no architecture, and landscaping Even though means limited to designated industry these firms may be classified in other sectors; the impacts of creative industries clusters — Harley-Davidson in and creative people are far greater than transportation equipment, Wisconsin what can be captured with currently Wilderness and Bolzano Artisan Meats in available data. food processing, Milwaukee Leather in apparel and accessories, Fashion Angels in The cluster formed by the region’s creative toys, or Stonefly Brewing Company in enterprises causes convergence as it beverages — their applications of design overlaps and influences a large number of and connections to culture also connect other clusters. Creative enterprises are also them to creative enterprises. part of many other more conventional clusters important to the region, such as tourism, healthcare, home building,

15

Large, locally-headquartered companies like Harley-Davidson (see sidebar) and Johnson Controls and smaller companies like HARLEY-DAVIDSON Mitchell Leather Factory and European The company, which began in 1903 in an old wooden shed, Touch all depend heavily on design. Allen- manufactures motorcycles that are crafted with the latest Edmonds Shoes in Port Washington, technology without compromising style and function. As the website boasts, “Making a motorcycle is like sculpting a founded in 1922, and one of America’s last masterpiece.” Willie Davidson, chief styling officer of the remaining shoe manufacturers, competes Harley-Davidson Product Development Center in Milwaukee, by designing high-end products based on leads a small design team of highly talented and diverse style and comfort, by tailoring design to individuals. The creation of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle is a technical, yet very creative, process. Details are what different cultures for export markets, and separate the Harley-Davidson motorcycle from its by adding high-end accessories. Threyda competitors. The company’s design department has an Art and Apparel in Waukesha was founded extremely artistic element; pencil sketches and digital drawings are the first step to the creation of a motorcycle. by a graphic designer to make something The designers then sculpt the bike with digital clay to bigger than what he could produce alone. understand surface area and ensure coordination with the fuel His company networks with designers all tank shape and size of the engine. over the world to produce limited runs of t- Harley-Davidson focuses on development of accessories and shirts, each hand numbered, that he sells in detailing, such as painting techniques and leather valences boutiques from Orlando to San Diego. But, and stitching. Paint is a very important ingredient in the final the founder noted, “It’s strange that buyers stages of the creation of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. on the coast are looking to Wisconsin for Tooled leather and detailing ensure saddlebags and seats do more than just properly function. The detailed leatherwork inspiration, yet local retailers are not adds beauty in normally overlooked areas of the design. recognizing it.”2 Harley-Davidson motorcycles are a work of art as much as they are functional machines. From the stitching and paint to the beautification of the radiator and flow lines, these motorcycles truly stand out from the competition. With a century of design experience, Harley-Davidson crafts masterpieces and, fortunately for the enthusiast, the structural integrity of the motorcycles is emphasized as much as the creative elements. As Mr. Davidson says, “Form follows function but they both report to emotion…we marry function and dramatic visuals.”

16

A survey of manufacturers that was historic architecture, railings, and fountains. undertaken for this project provides an Its work can be found at the Detroit increased understanding of how they use Symphony Hall, throughout Chicago, and value design. (See sidebar.) including the celebrated Palmer House, and in Madison’s historic buildings. Tourism

One of the more obvious overlaps of creative industries pertains to tourism, MANUFACTURERS AND DESIGN: SURVEY RESULTS since much of what comprises tourist To learn how the region’s manufacturers use and value design, the activity involves local arts and culture — at Cultural Alliance of Greater Milwaukee asked manufacturing companies festivals, museums, theaters, and arts to complete an online survey for this project. The 120 completed surveys represented firms of varying sizes making a wide range of districts. These attractions, steeped in the products, with the largest number in fabricated metals, printing and creative sector, are what draw many visitors publishing, and electrical equipment and appliances. Approximately to the region and, in turn, generate demand two-thirds of respondents completed the survey in its entirety. for other services such as hospitality- and Overall, the survey found that manufacturers in the region believe that travel-related industries. Moreover, a design is important to the competitiveness of the region’s growing number of hotels and eating manufacturers and that investments in design are likely to increase. On establishments serving tourists and the other hand, most of the companies still think about design in terms of engineering and functionality, not aesthetics; only about one-third residents now double as artistic and have an in-house design department with professional designers; and performance venues, displaying and selling the cost of investing in design is seen as the most critical factor limiting art and hosting literary readings by writers increased usage. and poets to attract customers. The Pfister Specifically, the survey responses showed that: Hotel, for instance, has an artist in residence program through which it . Among the 83 companies responding to the question about encourages guests to visit the artists or importance of design, a little more than half use it primarily for functions carried out by engineers, about one-sixth for its aesthetic purchase their works. appeal, another one-sixth integrate it throughout the business, and almost one-fifth said it was an integral part of their operations. Construction and Community Development . More than 70 percent of those answering the question said that design played a significant or integral role in competitiveness, with companies of fewer than 20 employees ranking it much higher than Many other creative sector industries are companies with more than 100 employees. integral to other core industries in the . Fifty-five percent of those responding to the question report that region. For example, architectural services, design had an impact on how they weathered the economic landscaping, and interior design — all downturn. creative sector activities — are also key . Use of design has grown in the past three years in 46 percent of the parts of construction, housing 80 companies responding to the question, and about 50 percent development, and real estate. expect their investments in design to grow over the next three years. Building and landscape architects and . About 43 percent of the 63 firms answering this question rely on interior designers are central components staff who are not trained designers to do their design, while one- to these industries; they help communities third contract out with design firms, 32 percent have design departments, 29 percent have designers on staff, and 22 percent define and brand themselves through their use freelance designers. Of those that contract out, 70 percent stay physical environments. For example, VE within the Milwaukee region. Castings and Services in Grafton designs . The major constraint to using design is cost (60 percent). and makes cast metal fixtures and . The majority of companies have no relationship to design programs components that preserve and enhance in the region’s higher educational institutions.

17

Retail and use design in branding and packaging their products. The sale of creative goods is critically important to the retail sector. For example, a sizable portion of Kohl’s, Target’s, and Best Buy’s sales are products of creative industries. According to an estimate SPRECHER BREWING COMPANY, MILWAUKEE provided by a Walmart executive, 10 Randall Sprecher, former supervisor for Pabst, founded percent of the chain’s sales are attributed Sprecher Brewing Company in 1985 to resurrect the to creative goods, such as books, music, distinctive qualities of traditional regional brews. In the video and sound systems, and even musical 1880s, Milwaukee had more than 80 breweries, but during instruments. Downtown retailers and other the Depression it shifted to mass produced beer of lesser stores in key commercial districts depend quality to reduce prices. Sprecher and other area brewers on the lure of creative and artistic exteriors are reviving those old world brewing methods to and interiors to attract the more discerning reproduce the distinctive quality of regional beer to reach customer. Even department store retailers a new compete with mass marketed brews. Using are reorganizing their product mix to distinctive flavors, such as coffee, caramel, chocolate, include designer collections in order to licorice, raspberry, banana, and citrus, Sprecher Brewery appeal to customers wanting a more crafts beer with unique combinations, sure to personalized shopping experience. accommodate every palate. The brewery produces year Food round, seasonal, limited release, and premium reserve beers, as well as offers two gluten-free varieties, Mbege Creativity is an important, if not vital, aspect and Shakparo, traditional African style beers made with of regional food systems. This applies sorghum and millet, instead of wheat or barley. Sprecher particularly to urbanized regions that can Brewery also offers custom, private-labeled beer and benefit from small-scale, but high value- sodas as a unique way to personalize a special event. added and artisanal food production that Randall Sprecher’s dedication to crafting distinctive, gets its value from its branding and specialty beers has earned the company numerous marketing. These niche products, many of awards, including the 2004 Wisconsin Manufacturer of the which depend on the region’s ethnic and Year Special Award for Quality and Tradition, 2000 Ernst & cultural history, range from craft beers such Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and Milwaukee as Sprecher, Stonefly, Lakefront, Water Press Club’s award for “Pioneering work in building Street, or Harbor City, to Piacentine’s Milwaukee’s micro brewing industry and outstanding Artisan Bread and Usinger’s Famous concern for the community.” Sausage. Even the region’s burgeoning water cluster has members that rely on the http://www.sprecherbrewery.com/ experience of consumers, such as Sweet Water Organics, which uses aquaponics in empty industrial facilities to produce niche branded urban foods. Once up and running, it expects to attract tourists, give tours, and conduct training programs while producing fresh organic fish at low cost. Many area food and beverage manufacturers produce artisan products

18

Chapter 3. Creative Segments

DESIGN Design, Overview of the Segment 46%

The design segment is the largest and most influential of the region’s creative industries. Design is the activity that translates a creative idea into a blueprint for something useful. The important part is the translation of that idea into an economic good, whether it is a car or a the creative industries in the Milwaukee toothbrush, a building or an interior, a region. corporate website, advertisement, or newsletter. This segment is comprised of Product design is comprised of just two three types of design-related activity. industries — industrial design services and other specialized design services. Communication design is the largest of the Combined, these industries account for less segments in the region. The cluster than 200 jobs in the Milwaukee regional accounts for around 19,800 jobs, which economy and one of the smallest amounts to 40 percent of the regional employment concentrations. The average creative sector. Communication design annual earnings for workers in this cluster includes a range of industries such as are just above $44,000. graphic design firms, advertising firms, and printing firms. More than half of the In the design segment, however, direct employment in the communications design employment in design companies only segment comes from the commercial represents a small part of the regional printing industries. Printing companies design segment because so many of the dominate the employment, with 40 percent region’s designers are independent of the jobs in commercial lithographic freelance designers. The Milwaukee and printing businesses. The printing industries Racine metro area alone has more than have very high employment concentrations 1,000 self-employed designers. According — two to five times the national average. to the designers’ focus group, with large companies downsizing and eliminating Built environment design is made up of designers, many are becoming freelancers. enterprises involved in designing the built Moreover, much of the region’s design environment, including architecture, talent in employed in other industries in the interior design, and landscape design. The region. Occupational data analyzed by the region accounts for a total of 2,970 jobs and U.S. Economic Research Service based on an employment concentration less than the last census showed that the region’s that of the nation. Workers in metro counties employed 2,960 designers environmental design earn an average of working in manufacturing in 2000, of which $62,000 a year, which is $12,000 more than just under half were in manufacturing and the average annual earnings per worker for just over half in specialized services. The

19

ratio of the working population classified as COMMUNICATIONS ARTS: THE CONVERGENCE OF industrial designers and as graphic PRINT, GRAPHICS, DIGITAL, AND MARKETING designers is about 25 percent above the national average using occupational data. The Hoppmann Group, which began 85 years ago as a The ratio of people employed in graphic printing company, is a 21-employee firm that now calls itself “Your Single Source Marketing Partner,” offering design companies also is about 25 percent creative, printing, and specialty services. Among the above the U.S. average. creative services offered are: ID and brand development, strategic marketing programs, design and execution, In short, design differs from the other photography, copywriting, website and multimedia segments of the creative industries because projects, and advertising. design talent increasingly drives a region’s economy. It is the impact of design on other Central Printing’s design group is “an advanced team of designers whose goal is to provide in-house solutions for sectors and on a sense of place in the region our clients.” that is perhaps its greatest economic significance.3 In addition to its printing facilities, ColorInk has a 2,000- square-foot digital photography studio, which allows for “shooting, proofing, and printing all under one purple roof.” COMMUNICATION DESIGN Suttle-Straus won the state’s Graphic Excellence Award. It Communication design, which includes also recently received a “Printer of the Year” award for a commercial printing, graphic design, and case bound book for the Harley-Davidson Museum. advertising, is the largest in terms of employment and the most concentrated of the creative industries in the region. Its Milwaukee region, in particular, is significance in the region is largely tied to considered a printing and publishing center, the relative importance and concentration housing more than 11 percent of the top 70 of printing in the region, concentrated printing companies in North America. primarily in Milwaukee, Waukesha, and Publicly-held Quad/Graphics, Washington counties. With the emergence headquartered in the region, is the western of digital technology, many graphic design hemisphere’s second largest printer of firms also are doing branding and marketing magazines, catalogs, and other commercial work, resulting in increasing convergence products. The company has over 11,600 with advertising and web design. employees worldwide and over 6,000 Companies are increasingly seen as employees in five facilities in the Milwaukee communications companies that are region. While the company has had some involved along the full spectrum of the recent competitive challenges, its media. Printing, one of the oldest international consolidation efforts will industries in existence, also has had to actually lead to the potential of over 1,000 reinvent itself by combining print media additional jobs in the Milwaukee region. with visual communication, thus expanding into new business territories that fit better With the decline of ink-on-paper printing, under the umbrella of “graphic printing companies have needed to reassess communications,” “graphics arts industry,” their business model. Rather than or the “printing and graphic arts industry.” competing on price, companies are looking for new ways to add value to their products. Wisconsin has a large printing industry The result is that printing companies are clustered in a reverse L-shape from now engaged in a range of activities, Madison to Milwaukee to Green Bay. The including multimedia production, graphic

20

design, webpage creation, branding, close to 1,000 jobs over the time period, strategic marketing, and logo design. They roughly an 11 percent decline in jobs. advertise themselves as “one-stop shops” and have in-house graphic designers, PRODUCT DESIGN product designers, and marketing Product design is perhaps where the specialists. For example, Quad/ Graphics’ Milwaukee 7 region has its greatest creative department is made up of opportunity because of its value to “marketing communications strategists, manufacturing. More than 70 percent of account managers, writers, graphic those responding to the survey about designers, new-media specialists, and design said it was significant or integral to photographers.” their competitiveness. While the region has Beyond, the printing industry, the few commercial design companies, it has a Milwaukee region has a number of growing large number of freelance designers as well and entrepreneurial companies in the as designers who work directly for other graphic design, marketing, and advertising manufacturers. fields. The largest advertising firm in the Milwaukee region, Cramer-Krasselt, (the KOHL’S AND DESIGN firm is headquartered in Chicago) calls itself the second-largest independent marketing While Kohl's Corporation is primarily known as a department store chain that operates 1,067 stores in 49 states, it is headquartered and communications agency in the U.S. The in Menomonee Falls and is an important part of the region’s rest of the larger advertising firms are design cluster. While it has a large, separate design office in New headquartered in the region and largely York City, it also has important design functions in the Milwaukee serve a Milwaukee regional and Wisconsin region and plays a role in building the design cluster in the region: market. . Its product development division in the Milwaukee region is involved in all aspects of Kohl’s private brand development. Beyond the larger companies, the region According to the company, “This division is developing has a number of small, innovative products for some of the most innovative and exclusive brand partnerships in retail, including Simply Vera Wang, Food companies in the communications design Network, ELLE, and Tony Hawk.” Its product designers in field that are involved in both traditional Milwaukee design all aspects of these brands and help tie in graphic arts as well as web and digital strong in-store presentations and marketing plans. design, branding, and increasingly in social . In 2008, Kohl’s opened a 105,000-square-foot photo studio in media. the city of Milwaukee. This studio turns out 115,000 photos a year, and employs 125 people, including photographers, Many of the design-communications- stylists, and art directors. The studio has been called the related industries had large declines in largest green photo studio in the U.S. employment since 2002. Unfortunately, the . Kohl’s is helping to enhance the creativity of the next recession affected advertising agencies and generation in Milwaukee. In 2010, Kohl’s provided a $2 million public relations agencies. Since 2002, 369 grant to Discovery World to create Kohl’s Design It. This jobs were lost within the advertising program will allow children to experience product design firsthand. And, in 2010, Kohl’s also announced a more than agencies industry and another 182 were $2.7 million donation over three years to the Milwaukee Art lost within the public relations agencies Museum for the continuation of the successful Kohl’s Art industry. The printing industries were the Generation program as well as new programs for kids and most unfortunate of the segment as many families. This grant further strengthens the museum’s role in providing innovative creative education for the region’s of these industries lost more than half of children and families. their total employment in the last several years. Commercial lithographic printing lost

21

Though less a force in the regional economy DESIGNING THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT than it once was, manufacturing still drives the economy. Its best chance for its Although the area has prominent employers to withstand the global cost- architectural/design firms with national based competition will be to be more reputations such as Kahler Slater (see creative, to use design in ways that sidebar) and La Dallman, the concentrations distinguish and differentiate its products, of such employment in architecture, and to make them more desirable because landscape architecture, and interior design they appeal to customers in ways that mass in the Milwaukee region rank below the produced goods cannot — something the concentrations found for the U.S. as a region’s most successful companies have whole. And, Milwaukee often reaches far been doing for decades. This is a form of outside, as it did to Santiago Calatrava from innovation not adequately captured by the Spain, and earlier to Eero Saarinen from standard policy measure of innovation — Finland, for its architectural inspiration. patents per capita. KAHLER SLATER Even though Milwaukee is best known for its metal fabrication and machinery sectors, Kahler Slater is a firm of integrated creative problem solvers. The a large number of companies make firm works with clients who want better experiences and environments for themselves and the people they serve. Begun as an extensive use of design. Large, locally- architecture firm 102 years ago with the design of a single dress shop headquartered companies like Harley- on National Avenue, the firm’s local presence grew over the decades Davidson and Johnson Controls, and smaller as its work began to shape the Milwaukee skyline. This included companies like Mitchell Leather Factory, notable buildings such as the Allen Bradley (now Rockwell Automation) campus and clock tower and the Milwaukee Art European Touch, and Grotta and Company, Museum and its Calatrava addition, for which the firm served as all depend heavily on design. architect of record.

Milwaukee 7’s industrial economy has had a Today, Kahler Slater has offices in Milwaukee, Madison, and Singapore, and works nationally and internationally delivering national reputation for creative design, with “experience design,” which is the integrated delivery of design. It companies like Harley-Davidson, Briggs and encompasses all realms of the human experience, including the place Stratton, Allen-Edmonds Shoe Corporation, in which an experience occurs. The long-term success and reputation Hannah’s Furniture, and its breweries of Kahler Slater is a reflection of this integrated approach. leading the way. Many of Milwaukee’s Kahler Slater recently received national Best Place to Work honors larger companies have large design from the Great Place to Work® Institute and the Society for Human departments continually working on new Resource Management for the seventh straight year, one of only two firms to be recognized every year since the award’s inception. ideas that can be turned into products. Some new companies have been established by individuals to take products The focus group with area architects and based on new designs to market. interior designers noted that the industry in Nonetheless, too many other companies the region is in transition. Most notably, are still trying to compete on the basis of the innovative design and attention cost and/or quality, which makes them very associated with the Milwaukee Art Museum susceptible to competition, especially in changed the overall attitude toward quickly developing and rapidly growing architecture and design in the region. In Asian industrial economies. effect, the region was able to break through its image of conservative and Midwestern in

22

style and become more open to modern . Mount Mary College has bachelor and contemporary design. The result is that degree programs in graphic design, architecture that is more interesting is interior design, and two majors in being commissioned and local architectural fashion design, plus postgraduate firms have become open to new thinking. certificates in apparel product Many of the region’s architectural firms are development, graphic design, and increasingly getting projects not just outside illustration design. of Milwaukee, but also nationally and globally. . Alverno College offers a major in interactive media design, Cardinal EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Stritch University in both graphic and interactive media design, and Wisconsin The region’s universities and community Lutheran College in media design. colleges have a wide array of design programs already, particularly in graphic There are also a number of programs in the and multimedia design. field with programs in interior design, notably at Mount Mary, Concordia, MIAD, . University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee has MATC, Gateway Technical, and Waukesha bachelor and master degree programs County Technical. in architecture and graphic design, certificates in web design and digital All four technical colleges that serve the arts, and a minor in community design region (Milwaukee Area, Gateway, solutions. Waukesha County, and Lakeshore technical colleges) offer applied science (AAS) . University of Wisconsin-Parkside has degrees in graphic and web design, some majors in digital arts, concentrations in type of architectural technology, and two graphic design, minors in digital arts have programs in interior design. Most and web development. offer apprenticeships or short non-credit programs in floral design, decorating, . University of Wisconsin-Whitewater has graphic design, and web design. In a bachelor degree program in graphic addition, the region is home to specialized design and multimedia design plus a and for-profit schools including Fashion minor in the latter. Ninja, Web Etcetera, and the Milwaukee . Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design School of Flower Design, the nation’s only has bachelor of fine arts programs in such school. interior architecture and design and SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS industrial design. The latter was just th ranked 10 in the U.S. and is one of Many design organizations have state or only two such programs in Wisconsin. local chapters in the Milwaukee region. These include: the American Institute of . Milwaukee School of Engineering has a Graphic Design, founded in 1914, which has degree program in architectural an office in Milwaukee; the American engineering and a certificate in web Society of Interior Decorators with its design. Wisconsin chapter headquarters in . Marquette University offers a bachelor Milwaukee; the Interior Design Coalition of degree in advertising. Wisconsin; the International Interior Design Association with chapters at Mary Mount

23

College, MIAD, and Gateway, Milwaukee scientists and engineers. UWM’s former Area, and Waukesha technical colleges; the Dean of Engineering, Mike Lovell, initiated a American Society of Landscape Architects; program called “Product Realizations” in the American Institute of Architects – which teams of engineering and art Milwaukee Chapter; and the Wisconsin students tackle problems for business chapter of the Industrial Design Society of clients. At Mount Mary College, Arts and America. Design Division Chair Pam Steffen is working to integrate right with left brain Challenges and Opportunities thinking across the curricula by integrating art and design with other programs Milwaukee has a growing design district including business. Kevin Craig, who holds with some concentration in its Third Ward Marquette’s Robert C. Greenheck Chair in that is gaining national recognition. Engineering Design, is a regular contributor Design firms or consortia like the Design to Design News and writes regularly about Consortium, Brooke Stevens, LJB Product design thinking and creativity in Solutions, Becker Design, Milwaukee engineering. Alverno College has a strategy Graphic Design, ocreative design studio, for “aesthetic engagement” for all students and Mindspike Design all serve local and so that everyone will “develop the capacity national markets. to engage with the arts and learn processes associated with creative endeavors.” The region is developing a new signature reputation in fashion design and has The region does not have a good system in produced a number of outstanding fashion place for connecting companies to the region’s design talent. designers. The city’s annual Fashion Revolution is Links between users and producers of becoming a showcase for the Midwest’s design are weak, and there are no services fashion designers. Many fashion designers to help companies better understand the come though Mount Mary College’s fashion value and applications of design. Resources design programs. About 80 percent of the that are available to manufacturers or other college’s graduates remain in the area; small businesses lack specific competencies however, because the major design houses in design, and the state has no incentives are still elsewhere, many move into fashion for design to match those that exist for merchandising. There has also been the research and development and development of local fashion designers technological innovation. Much of the working and selling in Milwaukee’s Third resources for design in the region that are Ward. available appear to be housed within higher education, often by faculty and students The region’s postsecondary institutions are developing personal relationships with in the process of developing innovative larger companies. However, there are and collaborative efforts to teach and freelance and self-employed designers and encourage design thinking. architects that lack such networking opportunities The engineering programs at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Marquette are each working to raise the level of awareness of design and creativity among

24

Designers, like many artists, lack Efforts to address some of the printing entrepreneurial skills. workforce issues will need to respond to some of the challenges that caused this One weakness mentioned by participants initiative to fail. was a lack of business and entrepreneurial skills. Educational programs offer some Proximity to Chicago is particularly business courses but, for the most part, important in the design industry. assume they are preparing students for employment, not self-employment. Chicago is both an extremely large market and a major international center of the Even businesses that recognize the value advertising and communication arts of design are often reluctant to pay for it, industry. A number of firms in the causing a weak local demand. Milwaukee design sector are either part of or affiliated with a larger Chicago firm. Focus group members voiced concern There are many examples of small firms about the influx of templates and cookie with two offices, one in Chicago and one in cutter designs that are attractive and Milwaukee. Moreover, many of the relatively cheap — but firms who recognize freelance designers living in the Milwaukee the need for higher-level design do not region provide services to advertising and want to pay for it.” Design, they worried, is design firms in the Chicago metropolitan being “pushed out a bit by ready-made area. stuff.” The long-term view for architecture is The labor force of the printing industry is mixed. Architects voiced concern that the aging, creating concern about its source of loss of the architecture critic at the future talent. Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has reduced overall discussion and interest in design. In Printers in the region expressed their addition, local architects report that there is concern that with the aging of their a need to retain more young architects in workforce and the lack of enrollments in the region — too many are choosing to technical training programs, they will face leave. labor shortages. Milwaukee has tried to organize its printing and publishing industry to address this issue in the past, and some $3 million in taxpayer-backed bonds were used to pay for the construction of the 19,000-square-foot Harry V. Quadracci Printing Education and Technology Center to house the Institute for Graphics and Imaging (IGI) on the Waukesha County Technical College campus. However, IGI, which opened in July 2007, closed in December 2009 due to low enrollments.

25

26

PERFORMING ARTS

Overview of the Segment

Performing arts in the Milwaukee region encompasses the major disciplines of music, theater, and dance, as well as spoken word. It also includes the performance venues where the public enjoys them, including many fairs, festivals, and outdoor concert series. Nonprofit performing arts but the number of jobs declined organizations and venues are a major substantially in 2007. Much of the presence. There are approximately 130 in employment declines were felt in the retail the region, with revenues totaling at least and manufacturing sectors of the cluster; $116 million per year, and assets totaling musical instrument manufacturing, musical over $200 million. instrument and supplies stores, and other performing arts companies all saw declines HARMONY INITIATIVE in employment between 2002 and 2009. Job gains occurred in the performance- There has been considerable excitement about the based industries; theater companies and newly-proposed Harmony Initiative. The Initiative is a new collaboration that involves the Milwaukee dinner theaters, dance companies, and Ballet, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Peck musical groups and artists all saw modest School of the Arts, and the Medical College of gains over the seven-year period. The Wisconsin. The partners are looking for a location in the downtown that will provide space for dance average annual earnings for the entire performances and instruction as well as sports and sector are about $23,000. wellness programs. This unique effort will help the ballet develop an innovative business model, and it The region’s performing arts organizations will give the three partners an opportunity to work and venues are concentrated in the city of together in ways that were not possible in the past. The Herzfeld Foundation has committed $1 million Milwaukee. The premier performing arts to help the project through the planning stages. venue in the region is the publicly-owned and operated Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, home to the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Ballet, the Florentine Opera Company, First Stage The main for-profit performing arts entities Children’s Theatre, Broadway touring are within the sheet music, retail shows, and many other performing arts instrument, live/popular music, and events. There are major venues and commercial dance studio subsectors. Many programs in the other six counties as well, participants in key interviews and focus including the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center in groups also noted the large amount of Brookfield, Schauer Arts Center, Cedarburg performing arts activity associated with Performing Arts Center, Kenosha churches and the faith-based community, Symphony, Racine Orchestra, Young which is more difficult to track. Auditorium at University of Wisconsin- Performing arts employed 5,750 people in Whitewater, and Waukesha Symphony. 2009. Overall, the cluster grew since 2002,

27

MUSIC Four radio stations have been notable for their support of the Milwaukee live music The Milwaukee region has an exceptionally scene: 91.7 WMSE-FM, a nonprofit, strong music industry with strengths in listener-supported radio service almost all genres, from classical to indie educationally licensed to the Milwaukee rock. The industry in the region involves School of Engineering; WMSE-FM 91.7, a large and significant nonprofit nonprofit, rock-oriented radio station; the organizations, such as the Milwaukee University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee station, Symphony Orchestra, numerous small WUWM-FM 89.7 - Milwaukee Public Radio; commercial venues, and a large number of and 88Nine Radio Milwaukee. individual freelance musicians. In addition, the industry in the region includes two internationally known commercial AFRICAN-AMERICAN MUSICAL HERITAGE companies, the Hal Leonard Corporation IN MILWAUKEE and Casio Interstate Music Company, whereas part of the media segment is also The African-Americans who came to Milwaukee from the music-related enterprises. (See sidebar on early 1900s through the 1960s in search of employment and better living conditions created a city within a city in page 41.) Bronzeville, bordered by State Street, North Avenue, and 3rd and 12th streets. Eventually, it became a vibrant In terms of classical music, the Milwaukee African-American neighborhood, enlivened by nightclubs, Symphony Orchestra is the largest restaurants, and social centers focused on family and performing arts group in the region, with a community building in a starkly segregated city. Nightclubs such as Metropole Club and the Moon Glow budget of over $16 million. The Milwaukee featured performances by the great African-American region is also home to three opera entertainers of the day — Billie Holliday, Duke Ellington, companies, a number of chamber music Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, and Nat “King” Cole. Bronzeville’s heyday lasted until the 1950s and 1960s, groups, and a strong choral music tradition. when city plans to rid urban blight cleared many buildings for revitalization and the construction of the freeway I-43 Beyond classical music, the region has a cut directly across the neighborhood, eliminating vibrant history of rock, jazz, soul, blues, thousands of homes and destroying the heart of the punk, ska, industrial music, goth, hip hop, community. Now there is a plan to revive Bronzeville with a redevelopment plan to create economic development in electronica, and pop music bands. Some the predominantly African-American neighborhood. musicians who have risen out of the Milwaukee scene to regional and national prominence are Coo Coo Cal, Rico Love, In addition to the hundreds of clubs and Jerry Harrison, Woody Herman, Liberace, other live music venues that contribute to saxophonist Warren Wiegratz, blues giant the Milwaukee region’s creative industries, Hubert Sumlin, the BoDeans, Maritime, there are supporting businesses such as Violent Femmes, Little Blue Crunchy Things, sound, lighting, and production companies; Eric Benét, and Al Jarreau. Milwaukee’s booking agencies; recording studios; and rock scene has been nationally recognized music and record stores. as one of the most dynamic and growing in DANCE America. Milwaukee’s jazz scene has produced many nationally recognized Dance takes many forms in the Milwaukee artists including Al Jarreau, Brian Lynch, Jon region, fostered by major cultural Weber, Carl Allen, Eddie Allen, Lynne institutions, small dance companies, Arriale, Billy and Mark Johnson, Russ independent choreographers and dancers, Johnson, John Sullivan, and Juli Wood. commercial dance studios, colleges and

28

universities, and myriad informal entities and associations that organize social and MILWAUKEE — A CITY OF FESTIVALS folk dancing. The nonprofit dance sector is anchored by Milwaukee Ballet, the largest Milwaukee is a region of festivals, especially during the summer when dance organization in the state. In addition, the waterfront is filled with all manner of performing arts, but the region is host to a number of innovative especially music. Summerfest, running 11 days on 11 stages in July, bills itself as the largest music festival in the world and attracts dance companies and activities that involve audiences of over 850,000. Both attendance and revenues were up extensive outreach to youth. These include for 2010, despite the down economy. Milwaukee World Festival, Inc., Danceworks, which integrates dance and producer of the festival, is the largest performing arts organization in the Milwaukee region, with a budget of $32.7 million per year, over other art forms through performances and twice the budget of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. A study classes; Wild Space Dance Company, known commissioned by the festival estimates a direct and indirect for site-specific works and artistic economic impact of $180 million. collaborations, merging contemporary The Milwaukee region is also host to many festivals reflecting strong dance with text, architecture, and visual art ethnic heritages, including Polish Fest, German Fest, Irish Fest, a to develop innovative performances; Juneteenth Celebration, Gathering on the Green, Festa Italiana, and Theatre Gigante (former Milwaukee Dance Mexican Fiesta. The African World Festival has celebrated African Theatre), a performing arts organization heritage and culture since 1982 with a yearly showcase on the waterfront. Dia de los Muertos, the Mexican celebration of Day of dedicated to the creation and presentation the Dead, in November, is becoming an increasingly vibrant and of hybrid performance work that integrates community-encompassing event in Milwaukee. This year, the theater, dance, text, and music; and Ballet Milwaukee Mijas, UCC Latino Arts, Walkers Point Center for the Arts, Folklórico Nacional of Milwaukee, an Milwaukee Art Museum, Bruce Guadalupe Art Club, and Ballet Folklorico came together to organize and present the celebration and innovative, theatrical body of dancers parade. Other ethnic celebrations featuring all manner of performing committed to the preservation of one of arts occur throughout the year, often in church and community the richest artistic manifestations of center settings. tradition and culture in Mexico, “El Hundreds of concerts occur each year at parks throughout the Folklore.” Milwaukee region, featuring local talent and touring ensembles in all musical genres. Many of these are free. Milwaukee County’s The Milwaukee region is home to many “Summer’s Best Parks Concerts” schedule lists dozens of concerts in commercial dance studios that offer a wide 16 parks. variety of training and performance opportunities for youth and adults in all at least 30 theater organizations in the manner of dance forms from ballet, to folk Milwaukee region listed in the Info USA and ethnic dance, tap, contemporary, salsa, database. Of the Business Journal’s list of tango, jazz, and ballroom. Of interesting the 25 largest performing arts groups in the note, with Milwaukee’s large Irish region, eight are theater companies and population, there is particular interest in four are multipurpose venues that present Irish step dancing. Studios such as some theater. McMenamin Irish Dance Academy and the Trinity Academy train dancers who compete Milwaukee Repertory Theater is the largest successfully worldwide. theater in the region, with yearly revenues over $9 million, a season encompassing THEATRE works presented on three stages to national Cultural and community leaders alike acclaim, and a robust education and lauded the breadth, depth, and quality of outreach program. Other major Milwaukee the Milwaukee region’s theater during our regional theaters include Milwaukee key interviews and focus groups. There are Chamber Theatre, Next Act Theatre, the

29

Racine Theatre Guild, and Milwaukee Public colleges — attract talent to the region, offer Theater. The region is also home to high-quality degree and training programs, Renaissance Theaterworks, Milwaukee’s engage in collaborations with the area only women-founded, women-run theatre performing artists and companies, house company; two theaters, UPROOTED Theater major venues, and sponsor presenting and the African-American Children’s series bringing artists of international Theater, which produce works deeply caliber via residencies, commissioning rooted in the traditions, history, and projects, and performances. experience of the African-American culture; and First Stage Children’s Theater, devoted Most Milwaukee region universities and to providing theater experiences for colleges offer instruction and degree families as well as theater training for programs in music performance, music youth. UPROOTED and Youngblood theater education, and/or music therapy, including group founders were all graduates of the University of Wisconsin campuses in UWM Theater Program, a key resource for Milwaukee, Parkside, and Whitewater; attracting, training, and retaining creative Marquette University; Concordia University; talent in the region. Mount Mary College; Alverno College; Cardinal Stritch University; Wisconsin POETRY AND SPOKEN WORD Lutheran College; Carroll University; and Carthage College. The spoken word scene in Milwaukee is robust and includes poetry readings, open mic readings at clubs such as Mecca LATINO ARTS STRINGS PROGRAM Nightclub and Lounge, the Coffee House, Woodland Pattern Book Center, Y-Not II, Latino Arts Strings Program is an outstanding in- and the Eighth Note Coffee House, and school and after-school music education and competitions for the national poetry slam performance program operated by the multidisciplinary cultural organization, Latino Arts, team. The Still Waters Collective offers Inc. The Strings Program has performed in mariachi programs of spoken word, open mics, bands, youth orchestras, and guitar ensembles at poetry slams, and writing workshops. over 300 concerts since the program’s inception in 2002. In 2008, it was recognized by the President’s EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES Committee on the Arts and Humanities as a recipient of a Coming up Taller Award at a reception in Washington, DC. The Mariachi Juvenil is There is a symbiotic relationship between composed of members of the Latino Arts Strings the creative community and higher Program and is in demand for performances education. Area colleges and universities throughout the region. offer high-quality degree and training programs, house major venues, sponsor presenting series, and engage in collaborations with the area performing The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee artists and companies. Peck School of the Arts offers a bachelor of arts and a bachelor of fine arts in dance, Area colleges and universities — the presents at least five performances per University of Wisconsin campuses in year, brings in guest artists for residencies Milwaukee, Parkside, and Whitewater; and commissioning, and partners with area Marquette University; Concordia University; dance companies frequently. Alverno Cardinal Stritch University; Alverno College; College offers an undergraduate minor in Mount Mary College; and area technical

30

dance and sponsors a major presenting Milwaukee Public Theater, and ArtWorks series featuring contemporary dance. for Milwaukee. The Milwaukee Symphony University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and Orchestra (MSO) also provides robust Carthage College offer minors in dance. education and outreach programs, including the nationally acclaimed Arts and Colleges and universities are a crucial part Community Education (ACE) Program. The of the theater ecosystem by bringing talent Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra into the region and providing training, (MYSO), with a budget of over $1.1 million, employment, and performance series. offers high-level training in ensemble Bachelor of arts and/or bachelor of fine arts musicianship to over 850 youth in are offered by the Peck School of the Arts at southeastern Wisconsin. Founded in 1956, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, the MYSO moved into the acclaimed University of Wisconsin-Parkside, University Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, a of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Marquette collaborative initiative of MYSO and First University, Carroll University, Cardinal Stage Children’s Theater. Stritch University, and Wisconsin Lutheran College. These universities also house Challenges and Opportunities major venues for theater. Milwaukee High School of the Arts also has a major theater Participants in key interviews and focus training program. Theater Wisconsin is the groups repeatedly expressed that alliance of nonprofit professional theatres Milwaukee has a significant breath, depth, in Wisconsin. The alliance seeks to promote and quality of performing arts for a city of the growth and stability of its members and its size. to create a greater public awareness, Creative talent is attracted by Milwaukee’s appreciation, and support of theatre in friendly, creative vibe, affordability, quality Wisconsin through such marketing of life, and increasing creative programs as Now Playing, and Hot Tickets. opportunities. Financial support, venues, There is also a very strong infrastructure of and artistic ambition have all contributed to youth, education, and outreach programs the development of the region’s wealth of related to the region’s performing arts. For performing arts assets over the last several example, the Marcus Center for the decades. Performing Arts views outreach as a core Milwaukee is particularly strong in theater part of its mission and maintains a full-time and has a symbiotic relationship with position of director of diversity and nearby Chicago and Minneapolis. audience development dedicated to this purpose. Most performing arts The theater scene is rich and vital, organizations operate arts education increasingly garnering national attention. programs either in their own facilities or in There is a diversity of styles/approaches area K-12 schools. A number of and enough opportunities with performing multidisciplinary organizations play an and teaching to provide a living for working intermediary role in K-12 school and artists. Theater professionals can commute community settings, providing among the three cities for a sustainable opportunities for youth to develop and combination of employment opportunities. express talent in the performing and visual Many choose to live in affordable arts. These include Arts @ Large, Artists Milwaukee where, as one focus group Working in Education, Latino Arts, participant put it, “Many theater

31

professionals have come back — you can $22,760 for the Milwaukee Children’s Choir have a mortgage and a dog and enough to almost $2.5 million to the Milwaukee work to support them.” There seems to be Symphony Orchestra. For each of the 15 strong collaboration among theater groups, member performing arts groups, the UPAF professionals, and university departments. allocation is still their largest single There is cross-pollination from people contribution. working from theater to theater, companies sharing talent, mailing lists, and box offices. Milwaukee has a vibrant live music scene, Meanwhile, the colleges and universities particularly in the commercial popular provide opportunities and a steady supply music genres. of interns. Bands, clubs, and recording studios are There are concerns about the sustainability gaining national attention and creating of the nonprofit performing arts sector, its private sector employment. There is an organizations, and activity. opportunity to increase visibility further and to elevate the sector’s economic impact Many cultural leaders lament that through stronger promotions and audiences and patrons fail to appreciate the marketing. Austin and its “Live Music top tier talent and programs in the Capital of the World” branding is a model. Milwaukee region. Community leaders wonder if there is sufficient support to Many marketing challenges were sustain these programs. mentioned by participants in focus groups, key interviews, and surveys. Public funding is relatively low in comparison to other states and regions. There is a concern that audiences, The Wisconsin Arts Board ranks 40th in per volunteers, and cultural leadership are all capita public funding for state arts councils aging. Marketing challenges that and the Milwaukee Arts Board is near the performing arts institutions face include bottom in comparison to the 50 largest attracting diverse audiences and younger cities in per capita funding support. participants amidst changing patterns — there is less subscription revenue, people There is a strong tradition of private want “entertainment on demand,” and philanthropy for the performing arts in the competition with electronic media is Milwaukee region. Since 1967, the United increasing. Performing Arts Fund (UPAF), a nonprofit organization based in Milwaukee, has raised There is also a fear that declining over $217 million in support of the opportunities for cultural education, performing arts. In 2010, UPAF’s annual especially in the region’s public schools, will community-wide fundraising campaign negatively impact the development of the allocated over $7.25 million to 34 member talent, audiences, and patrons of the future. and affiliate performing arts organizations throughout southeastern Wisconsin, down from a high of $8.3 million in 2008. The decline is due to tough economic conditions and increasing competition with social service causes. 2010 allocations for the 15 member performing arts groups range from

32

In order to thrive and survive, performing In facing these challenges, there is strong artists and organizations in the Milwaukee interest amongst funders in management region need greater access to information, efficiencies, consolidations, new technical assistance, resources, and collaborations, and innovative marketing networking. approaches. The institutions themselves see the need for business management Performing artists responding to the assistance. Creativity Works! survey of artists ranked the following needs as high priorities: There is a spirit of collaboration among access to grants, information about performing arts organizations. They trade resources, affordable healthcare, marketing contact lists and share talent and services, assistance and networking opportunities such as box office functions. Innovative with other artists, greater media coverage, shared space models such as the Milwaukee shared services and space, information Youth Arts Center and Broadway Theatre about employment opportunities, business Center have already emerged. African- and tax assistance, and increased education American participants in focus groups and training. expressed the need and opportunity for a multi-arts center for their community, with space for offices, performances, and exhibits that could promote networking, information sharing, and shared services.

33

VISUAL ARTS AND CRAFTS

Overview of Segment

The term “visual arts and crafts” encompasses a number of different elements: painting, printmaking, illustration, photography, sculpture, and a variety of crafts made from fiber, wood, glass, ceramics, porcelain, and metal. It also includes the galleries, support organizations, studios, and educational the entire region. Four components of programs in visual arts that are critical for visual arts merit special attention: painting sustaining this community of artists and and illustration, sculpture, photography, craftspeople. and crafts. The visual arts and crafts cluster employed more than 5,300 individuals in 2009, AFRICAN-AMERICAN VISUAL ARTS comprising 11 percent of total creative sector employment in the Milwaukee In the context of this history, it is important to note the role region. The majority of jobs in the sector and contribution of African-American artists. An unpublished manuscript by Milwaukee artist Evelyn Terry exists in photography studios, providing Permission to Paint, Please! 150 year documentation of more than half (1,248) of the industry’s African American Art in Wisconsin provides a good jobs. The cluster grew substantially historical overview of many African-American men and women who were noted for their artwork as painters, between 2002 and 2007 (adding 575 jobs), printmakers, illustrators, muralists, and sculptors. but witnessed a sharp decline in total Throughout the early- and mid-part of the 19th century, employment, losing nearly half of that artists like Prophet Blackmon, Edgar Jeter, Harold Scott, growth (276 jobs) in 2009. Warrington Colescott, and Sylvester Sims were among the more noted artists.

VISUAL ARTS Several key organizations in the city and region have supported the work of these and other African-American Museum of Wisconsin Art Executive artists: the African-American World Cultural Center, the Director Thomas D. Lidtke’s manuscript, African-American Arts Alliance, and African-American Artists Beginning to Educate Americans About African- Wisconsin Art from Euro-American American Art. In recent years, there have been special Settlement to 1950, provides a good exhibits that feature the artwork of African-American overview of the region’s early arts history artists, e.g., Varied Voices, Black Artists and Images, and and traditions. He highlights the work of Artists of Color. the German panoramic painters in the late- to mid-1800s and the artwork of Carl Von Marr as pivotal. The Society of Milwaukee Although most artists in the region work in Artists and the Layton School for the Arts, several different media, painting and which was founded in 1902, were also illustration is a strong component of the influential in keeping the visual arts alive. visual arts. There are a number of artists Today, visual arts are vibrant and diverse, who contribute to the region’s strength in and visual artists who work in all the this medium. Among them are artists like different media can be found throughout David Lenz, Matt Cipov, Michael Davidson, Zeph Farmby, and Fred Stonehouse, Evelyn

34

Terry, Della Welles, Mutope Johnson, Fo a career that influenced a generation of Wilson, Cynthia Henry, Freida Tesfagiorgis, photographers throughout the world. and Reggie Baylor. Latino painters and illustrators include artists such as Luis Today, photographers in the region include Machare, Frank Juarez, Rafael Francisco everyone from hobbyists to those who work Salas, Jose A. Chavez, Dara Larson, professionally. Many of the professionals Francisco Mora, Gianfranco Tessara, and work from their studios and they shoot Ximena Soza. The works of these artists are portraits for family and school events, and found in the region’s many art galleries and find the wedding market to be very in art galleries throughout the world. lucrative. Others do contract work for companies and organizations as well as Sculpture in the region can be traced, at high-end magazines like National least in part, to the region’s metal Geographic, and some have their work manufacturing industries and the exhibited in galleries throughout the prevalence of industrial foundries. Today, country. sculpture can be seen on downtown streets, in public parks and buildings, along Crafts had a small but important role early th Milwaukee’s Riverwalk, and in places like in the 19 century. The Wisconsin Designer the Lynden Sculpture Garden and at the Crafts Council, initially the Society of Rooftop Sculpture Garden at MSOE. There Applied Arts, was founded in 1916. In some are a few foundries in the region — Wanner ways, the Council has been a focal point for Sculpture Studios and Vanguard Sculpture nurturing, sustaining, and growing a vibrant Services among them. Vanguard, a 22,000- community of craftspeople who work with a square-foot foundry in Milwaukee’s variety of media, e.g., textiles, wood, Industrial Corridor, describes itself as “a full leather, ceramics, porcelain, glass, and service art foundry…we do it all, mold jewelry. In a September 1916 article in the making from your original art, enlarging of Milwaukee Sentinel, this new organization your scale model, bronze casting, “would raise the standards of beauty in fabrication, installation, restoration, repair, objects of common sense.” That tradition and original art and design.” Small of fine craftwork can be found in each of organizations like West Bend Friends of the seven counties in the region. Sculpture exhibit and support the work of Additionally, the region has some significant individual sculptors. assets that are related to crafts: Photography also has a strong presence in . The Racine Art Museum is one of the the region. The data collected for this most significant contemporary craft project show that there are more than museums in the United States. 4,000 people employed in the region as photographers, and there are more than . The Villa Terrace Decorative Arts 200 photography studios and galleries in Museum specializes in artisan produced the region. Looking back, the most famous furniture and decorative arts. photographer to have lived and worked in the area is Edward Steichen. He found his . Faythe Levine, a nationally known interest and inspiration in photography leader in the Indie Craft and do-it- while attending college near Milwaukee in yourself (DIY) movement, is from the late 1880s, and three years later started Milwaukee. She produced a film entitled Handmade Nation: The Rise of

35

DIY, Art, Craft, and Design. The film and also exhibit the works in their offices or makes it clear that the new movement in stand-alone galleries — Northwestern is a “synthesis of historical technique, Mutual, the Bader Foundation, the Greater punk culture, and the DIY ethos.” She Milwaukee Foundation, and the Nohl also holds an annual “Arts and Crafts Foundation (now part of the Greater Show” in November for local holiday Milwaukee Foundation) are just a few purchasing. examples.

GALLERIES AND FAIRS SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS

Art galleries play a critical role in the visual There are a number of organizations that arts. While no listing is completely accurate are essential to visual arts and crafts in the and up-to-date, there are at least 120 region. These organizations make it galleries scattered throughout the possible for visual artists to enhance the Milwaukee 7 region. The heaviest quality of their artwork and techniques, find concentrations are found in a variety of space and facilities to produce their work, cities and communities: Milwaukee, learn about the “business of art,” network Cedarburg, Racine, Waukesha, Kenosha, with other visual artists, exhibit their work, Whitewater, Lake Geneva, and West Bend. promote it to the public, find employment Many of the galleries feature the work of opportunities and sources of funding, and, local and regional artists, but a number of most importantly, to sell their work in the them carry the works of national and marketplace. international artists. . The Milwaukee Artist Resource The galleries are part of an extensive Network (MARN) is perhaps the largest network and system for organizing special support organization in the region. events where artwork is exhibited and sold MARN has a multitude of programs and — gallery nights, arts festivals, open artist services that help artists refine their studios, and art crawls are held throughout skills and techniques, market and the region, and these events are a good exhibit their work, price their work, and market for artwork. Examples of these locate funding sources. events include the South Shore Frolic Arts Festival, Arts Weekend in Cedarburg, . The Wisconsin Designer Crafts Council Second Saturdays in Kenosha, Lake County still functions as an important Art Festival, Gallery Night and Day, the component of the crafts industry in the Annual Waukesha Art Fest, Morning Glory state and in the region. Today, its Summer Crafts Show, Hidden River Arts membership numbers about 200 artists, Festival, Art Milwaukee, and No Coast Craft- but 75 percent of the membership is O-Rama. Milwaukee is also home to the based in greater Milwaukee. The Bead and Button Show — the largest event Council runs the Morning Glory Gallery of its kind in the country. at the Marcus Center and organizes a major summer crafts show each year in It is important to note that in addition to August. Marketing workshops and local galleries, many local artists sell their networking sessions are services that works to corporations and private the Council offers. Another important collectors. Several of the foundations in the organization for craftspeople is the region purchase the work of local artists Wisconsin Alliance of Artists and

36

Craftspeople. The Alliance was founded master of fine arts degree as well. These in 1982 as a result of the success of the degree programs in the visual arts and Art Fair Off the Square. The Alliance crafts include printing, ceramics, sells members’ artwork in the Gallery photography, sculpture, printmaking, and and at the Fair. It also offers metalsmithing. In addition to the University workshops, and its newsletter has a of Wisconsin campuses, Concordia wealth of information on the industry. University, Marquette University, Mount Mary College, Alverno College, Cardinal . The Coalition of Photographic Arts Stritch University, Wisconsin Lutheran (CoPA) supports the work of College, Carthage College, Carroll professional and fine art University, and the Art Institute of photographers. Currently, there are Wisconsin all have major or minor programs about 200 members in the region. in the visual arts. On the two-year level, MATC, Gateway Technical College, . Wisconsin Visual Artists is a nonprofit Waukesha County Technical College, and group that serves as a key resource for Moraine Park Technical College have artists to connect with patrons and programs in visual arts. engaged citizens as well as offer classes and publicize arts events. In addition to the institutional and educational programs in the visual arts and . Sculpture also had a strong support crafts, these higher education institutions system through the work of Wisconsin also exhibit the artwork of students, faculty, Painters and Sculptors, which was and community members in the art created in 1900 and just recently museums and galleries that are located on changed its name to Wisconsin Visual campuses. As such, they help local and Artists. regional artists increase the visibility of their work. The Peck School of the Arts’ Institute EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES of Visual Arts (Inova), for example, has a nationally recognized gallery of art. The higher education institutions in the Whitewater’s Crossman Gallery, Mount region play an important role in the visual Mary’s Marian Gallery, Wisconsin Lutheran arts and crafts cluster. College’s Schlueter Gallery, and MIAD’s Today, the only school entirely devoted to Frederick Layton Gallery are all exhibit Visual Arts training is the Milwaukee spaces for visual artwork. Institute of Art and Design, which offers a bachelor of fine arts degree for 11 different majors. As a professional four-year college, it has only existed since 1974, but its precursor, the Layton School of Art, was founded in 1920.

Each of the campuses in the University of Wisconsin system in the region has undergraduate major and minor programs in the visual arts, and the Milwaukee campus’ Peck School of the Arts offers a

37

Challenges and Opportunities Of particular interest was cooperative space that would provide access to services that Artists believe there is still a substantial artists need to sell and distribute their need for more opportunities to network work. with fellow artists as well as with other creatives in the region. The diversity of the visual arts and crafts in the region is a strength, but it also While support organizations are essential, presents a challenge — there is no clear artists in the focus groups, in interviews, brand or identity. and in the results of the Artists Survey note that there are not sufficient opportunities The region’s artwork is viewed by people for networking and collaboration. The outside of the region as “Midwestern and networking that does occur is somewhat conservative” in spite of the edgy, cutting- limited to relatively small groups of artists edge, and very competitive nature of the and not across disciplines and does not art that is being created. Also, there is no include the business and economic unified effort among those who market the development community. Of particular art within the region to create a brand or note was the lack of networking between clear image. older, more established artists and those who are younger and part of the DIY culture. Also, artists indicated that there EXAMPLES OF ARTIST LIVE, WORK, AND PRESENTING SPACE were not adequate opportunities for Bucketworks in Milwaukee is a space where creatives can launch their collaborating on artwork and developing business, share ideas, collaborate on projects, and network with others in the creative industries. The facility has three buildings, 20 rooms, and creative ways to market and sell products. 20,000 square feet of space. Rental costs vary, but there is shared office and work space, meeting rooms, and computer workstations. While there are many galleries, exhibition spaces, fairs and festivals, and other work RedLine in Milwaukee is an “urban laboratory…for emerging and mid- career visual artists.” RedLine has a print shop, production space for nine spaces and venues for artists and artists, classrooms, and a gallery. craftspeople, artists in the region see a Murray Hill Pottery is a 2,000-square-foot facility with three kilns, a small need for more places to sell their work and gallery, and classrooms for instruction. assistance with marketing of their The Kunzelmann-Esser Lofts is a multi-story building that has live/work products. space for artists. The building has apartments, meeting rooms, a kiln, a potter’s wheel, and two art galleries. Throughout the greater Milwaukee region, The Mitchell Wagon Factory Lofts in Racine were designed for the there are a number of spaces and facilities “working artist.” The building is a live/work space for artists, and it has a designed and targeted to visual artists. number of features that make it attractive: art gallery space, a ceramics Several of these spaces provide the full studio and kiln, a potter’s wheel, a woodworking shop, and a photography spectrum of services and some provide darkroom. limited services. While this breadth of The Terri McCarthy Studio in Grafton, Wisconsin, is a production and opportunities for exhibiting artwork is instruction facility for artists who produce jewelry and metal sculpture. All of the tools and equipment for soldering and metal fabrication are positive, artists would like to see more available. exhibition opportunities within the BYO Studio is located in Milwaukee. The space is designed for visual hospitality industry, in healthcare facilities, artists. Artists can exhibit and sell their work in the gallery, take classes on in governmental offices, and in institutions painting and sculpture, and take classes like “The Business of Art 100.” like banks. The need for affordable space, In Whitewater, there are several places and spaces that allow for the in proximity with other artists, surfaced in production, exhibition, and sale of artwork, e.g., Studio 84, Guild on the the focus groups and in the survey results. Triangle, the Northshore Pavilion in Lake Geneva, and the Whitewater Cultural Arts Center.

38

Reaching markets beyond local galleries Moreover, artists feel that there are more and beyond Milwaukee is an area of opportunities for selling art to businesses opportunity for the region’s artists and and corporations in the region, but there is craftspeople. no central coordinating entity that can act as a broker/intermediary. In general, artists The survey of artists and craftspeople found believe that the local market undervalues that only a relatively modest number of the artwork that is being produced in the respondents to the Artist Survey sell online region and it is necessary for artists to have — for some, the hurdles of setting up the sales beyond greater Milwaukee. The appropriate systems and protocols are too current recession is putting further onerous. downward pressure on the price of artwork.

39

MEDIA AND FILM SEGMENT

Overview of the Segment

Film and media in the Milwaukee 7 region is a segment that consists of a strong media component and a promising, but still small, film component. Its strength lies less in its numbers than in its creativity and ability to reach niche markets. Some of the most exciting growth prospects emerging from web-based publishing and independent film making, particularly in documentary and newspaper publishing and cable and other avant-garde films, are all undergirded by a program distribution businesses. solid base of radio and television stations. Newspaper publishing holds 21 percent of There is increasing overlap within this cluster employment, despite a sharp segment as media companies merge and industry-wide decline in enterprise print media seek to diversify their activities employment since 2002 (a loss of 980 jobs). as well as convergence with other creative Notably, cluster employment has grown segments. For example, one of the largest substantially between 2002 and 2009, employers in this segment, Journal having added a combined total of 1,513 Communications, which publishes the jobs in this time period. Journal Sentinel, owns and operates 33 Within the cluster, motion picture theaters radio stations and 13 television stations in (excluding drive-ins) and software Wisconsin and other states, and it also publishers each account for another 1,000 owns Milwaukee’s WTMJ radio and TV to 1,100 jobs, respectively; however, stations. In addition, the company has neither industry has a significant several community newspapers and concentration in the region. Music shoppers in Wisconsin and Florida and owns publishers, however, are very highly its own printing company. concentrated in the Milwaukee region, due The media and film industry cluster to the location of Hal Leonard. (See sidebar comprises nearly one-third (29 percent or on following page). 14,200) of the Milwaukee region’s creative sector employment. Average earnings for NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS the sector are approximately $47,150 a The largest part of the segment’s year. This sector is the most diversified of employment is in its most traditional sector, the Milwaukee region’s creative sectors, newspaper and periodical publishing. The comprised of 28 industry types, including Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is the largest businesses affiliated with the distribution paper, but there are many other and production of motion pictures, music, publications including: the free Shepherd radio, print, and cable and television Express, which covers entertainment, food, programming. local politics, and opinion; many Of the 28 industry types within the media ethnic/religious media such as the Jewish and film enterprise cluster, the largest are Chronicle; Catholic Herald; Irish American Post; and Spanish Journal. The region is

40

INTERNATIONAL CREATIVE BUSINESSES BeadStyle and Bead&Button, and two IN MILWAUKEE railroading magazines, Model Railroader and Trains. The company also hosts the The Hal Leonard Corporation, the world’s largest sheet music publisher, is headquartered in Milwaukee. The largest consumer bead show in the country, company manages over 500,000 copyrights generating over the annual Bead&Button Show. Reiman $1 million in royalties per year, and has 142 full-time Publications (see sidebar), recently employees and 50 to 60 freelancers. The company invests heavily in training to maintain its workforce and also purchased by Readers Digest Association, provides philanthropic support via the Hal Leonard Jazz located in Greendale, employs over 500 Series and support for programs at the Pabst Theatre and people in full-time and part-time positions. Milwaukee Youth Arts Center. Despite its prominence, as one Hal Leonard VP pointed out, “We’re all frustrated musicians happy to have day jobs!” Reiman Publications (now RDA Milwaukee) Casio Interstate Music Company, founded in Milwaukee in publishes 13 national magazines, many of which 1946, grew to encompass several retail outlets selling have a rural audience, plus a variety of cookbooks instruments, lessons, and sheet music, evolved towards and “coffee table” books. Its publications have a mail-order marketing and e-commerce, and is now the 14th combined circulation of over 13 million with six largest musical instrument dealer in the United States. The ranked among the top 100 in national circulation, company sponsors a stage at Summerfest and supports including Taste of Home, the largest food Where’s The Red Bird, a foundation begun to shore up magazine in the world. Its Country Store mail declining music education in the Milwaukee area. order division, founded in 1975, stocks a wide variety of country-oriented items from cookware to clothing, plus many “exclusives,” including cookbooks, calendars, scenic photo books, and also home to the Milwaukee Courier, which nostalgia books. World Wide Country Tours, LLC covers the African-American community, offers domestic and foreign tours, most with a and the Wisconsin Gazette, the region’s unique rural focus. Homemaker Schools, LGBT publication. In addition, there are the acquired in 1995, hosts locally-sponsored Taste of Home Cooking Schools coast to coast, presenting educational institution-based newspapers cooking demonstrations to over 250,000 including the MATC Times and MATC Key, attendees annually. Marquette MU Tribune and MU Warrior, In 2002, Reiman Publications was acquired by the UWM Leader and UW Post, UW-Whitewater Readers Digest Association. Royal Purple, and Gateway Gazette, and a large number of specialty papers that cover business news, entertainment, lifestyle, While there are still a significant number of politics, health, neighborhood or employees in this segment, in general, print community news, or specific age groups. media sectors are in decline, as they are across the nation, while the broadcasting The region is home to such regionally- sectors are growing. While most focused periodicals as Milwaukee Magazine publications are still printed, the growth in as well as nationally distributed publications the media is online reporting. Most such as the business-to-business trade successful print media are also available magazines published by Trade Press Media online, supplemented by new entries that Group. There is also a handful of larger, are entirely online, such as MKE Wired, national periodical publishers. For example, OnMilwaukee, Milwaukee World, Greater Kalmbach Publishing, a privately-held Milwaukee Today, and Third Coast Digest. publishing company in Waukesha, Wisconsin, publishes the world’s best- selling astronomy magazine, Astronomy, two best-selling beading magazines,

41

TV AND RADIO BROADCASTING station is broadcast from Milwaukee Area Technical College, and more than 60 MATC The region’s three largest cities are home to degree program students gain real-life TV 38 FCC-licensed radio and 12 broadcast TV industry experience by working with MPTV stations. Employment in cable television facilities, staff mentors, and local distribution has grown by 298 percent over production settings. The general manager the past seven years and now is 88 percent of the station is the dean of the college’s higher than the national average. Although Television and Video Production Division. software and Internet publishing represent The station serves 2.1 million potential only about 8 percent of the segment’s viewers with public and educational employment, it is the fastest growing television programming and produces a sector. number of programs locally, including Black Nouveau, an award-winning program about Many of the region’s educational African-American life in Milwaukee. institutions operate radio stations both as a Recently, the station started production of public service and to give their students a series that explores “the broad spectrum hands-on experience. The University of of arts and culture in SE Wisconsin.” This Wisconsin-Milwaukee is home to WUWM new series is an important potential Milwaukee Public Media, which broadcasts contributor to the region’s creative NPR and Wisconsin Public Radio. The industries. Milwaukee School of Engineering, Gateway Technical College, Burlington High School, and Milwaukee Public Schools all have radio FILM AND VIDEO stations. Film, the most high-visibility sector The region has locally-produced radio associated with the cluster, is one that shows and formats for every interest and while prominent in the region, does not every taste — smooth jazz, pure country, possess a high concentration. Motion easy listening, gospel, polkas, Christian picture theaters, with 1,100 employees, gospel, pure rock, and rhythm and blues. match the concentration in the nation as a Two stations broadcast in Spanish and two whole, but employment in motion picture specifically target African-American production is only at 38 percent of the audiences. Radio Milwaukee 88Nine is a national average, despite some very strong particularly interesting station, which is programs in higher education. The region is “hand-built, designed for Milwaukee.” The home to many stars of stage and screen station created a special series called Make who left to build their careers, including Milwaukee about the region’s creative Don Ameche, Fredrick March, Pat O’Brien, industries. The producer “recruited a dozen Orson Wells, Gene Wilder, Spencer Tracy, ‘art-loving agents’ and asked them to show and Alfred Lunt. him the people and places that ‘prove The region has its share of film festivals, the Milwaukee is a creative city’.” The 40 largest being the Milwaukee Film Festival. segments showcased the region’s creative While it fell on hard times for a period, it talent. has revived and last year screened 162 films The region’s public television station, MPTV, and drew more than 20,000 viewers in its is a public service outreach venture for the 11-day run. The festival included 26 Milwaukee Area Technical College. The Milwaukee area filmmakers. With films

42

shown all over the city, according to its discuss films and encourage filmmakers to director, “It rivals any film festival in the help each other. Co-founder Shawn U.S. in terms of quality.” The Milwaukee Monaghan believes, “It’s incredibly Film Festival, with an annual budget of $1.8 important that Milwaukee’s filmmakers million, is one of the largest festivals in the collaborate, and in the process improve country. For school-age young people, everybody’s game by offering objective Milwaukee Film provides outreach to the feedback.”4 The region also has a half local high schools, and Collaborative dozen film editing companies. Cinema provides training to aspiring filmmakers to encourage local talent. In Among the newest and fastest growing 2010, 41 high school students were chosen media applications are smart phone from 100 applicants to participate in a film applications and gaming, both very workshop led by successful producers and competitive, high growth, and highly directors. Film talent is also fostered at sought. The region is not yet a major UWM’s Milwaukee’s Peck School of the player, but there are some freelance Arts. Its documentary center provides entrepreneurs creating apps and games. opportunities for local talent to produce Given the high growth in these fields, MATC films. now offers an AAS program in computer simulation and gaming, and Herzing What has lagged significantly in the area is University, a private for-profit college in large studio productions. Local filmmakers Kenosha, is offering a BS degree in game and industry experts point to the state of development. Wisconsin’s lack of filmmaking incentives as the major reason why the region does not UW-Whitewater recently launched a Media attract major productions. In recent years, Arts and Game Development (MAGD) states such as Louisiana have offered program and hosts the Engender Games Hollywood millions of dollars in tax breaks Group (EGG) lab, focused on developing making it difficult for regions without these innovative interactive media projects. incentives to compete for big studio Raven Software, located in Madison and a productions. Part of the reluctance to significant player in the gaming industry, compete with subsidies is that so much of has developed relationships with both UW- the production is imported and recruiting Whitewater and MATC. big film production has not produced enough jobs and local spending to warrant EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES AND the investment. SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS

Film is not just a medium for the big screen, There are a number of very good programs however. There are other companies and in higher education for both film and media. web-based firms that make shorter films for The region has a number of educational commercial purposes — about 20 such institutions that target certain niches, e.g., companies, one expert estimates. An documentaries, avant-garde films, example is Purple Onion Film, which has advertising films, and animation, in the film, created short films for companies such as video, and media segment. This attracts Firestone, Ford Motor Company, and Turner artistic and independent filmmakers, and Classic Movies. Firestarter Films is a these targeted areas may hold the key to company that supports locally-produced the segment’s future in the region. films and holds regular events to view and

43

. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Peck Challenges and Opportunities School of the Arts offers a BFA and MFA in film studies, minors in film studies for In the long-term, there will be a need to students pursuing other majors, and a develop a large market for filming if the MA in media studies. region wants to attract and keep the talent to support it. . University of Wisconsin-Parkside has a certificate program in film studies. In the film sector, stakeholders are concerned about the limited opportunities . University of Wisconsin-Whitewater has for training and employment of “mid- BA and BS degree programs in career” talent needed for large projects. journalism, with specialization in Producers have to seek talent elsewhere. It electronic media plus a major in game also is difficult to maintain financing for film development. over the long-term.

. The communications arts program at Demand for print media and publishing is Cardinal Stritch University has experiencing some decline. specialization in broadcast media. As the traditional market for print media . MIAD has a program in electronic and ages, the demand will shift even more interactive media that includes towards web-based media. More and more animation and film artistry and a people log on to get the news, sports program in time-based media that scores, recipes, and items for sale — once includes video and animation. some of the reasons people bought newspapers, magazines, and books. There . At the two-year college level, MATC has will still be consumers of print media, but a strong program in television and video they may be more in niche markets. With production and certificate programs in lower circulation, the industry will have to animation, advanced television go through more cost-cutting to survive, postproduction, and multimedia. MATC pushing the writers to find more clients. has relationships with UWM and MIAD for these programs. Culturally, the community tends to want safe media, not the “edgy” material that . UW-Whitewater has the largest interests some in the field. communications program in the UW system and recently launched a gaming The consensus in the focus group was that and interactive media undergraduate the region is too conservative in its tastes to major in its new Media Arts and Game support a really creative and edgy media Development program. sector. This may mean seeking smaller niche markets or looking farther outside the region to support a sector that strives to be “out on the edge.”

44

The public television and radio stations in Entrepreneurial opportunities in the web- the region are critical and stable based media and gaming depend on high- components of the region’s creative level connections. economy — keeping them strong in the long-term is essential. Although the economic impact is still small, web-based media and gaming ought to Public radio and TV, which rely increasingly grow exponentially, and the region has a on listener support, are part of the base of freelancers and entrepreneurs with backbone of the area’s creative economy as the potential to help grow it. However, a creative enterprise, as a source of creative their success may depend on how well they ideas, and as a way to disseminate are connected to the global markets and information about the creative economy. multinationals that reach the consumers, The private stations are important, but like Google and Apple. most have more targeted audiences and interests. The radio partnership with UWM Minority populations need to be and the TV partnership with MATC also link aggressively recruited for work in this field. them into the region’s educational system. The entry is often through the educational The region has a pool of young, talented system, where the skills are acquired and filmmakers and graduates of film programs the contacts developed. It may require who are willing to work locally, despite the heavy recruitment and a continual support to ensure diversity in these new fields. lack of employment opportunities. The region has a number of nascent filmmakers who compete and exhibit in the 48-Hour Film Festival, the 24-Hour Film Festival, the LGBT Film Festival, the Milwaukee Underground Film Festival, and Firestarter Films’ (a local creative film company) quarterly open screening. Delving into deeper niches, UWM has a student-run international Underground Film Festival, Racine has a Snowdance Film Festival at the Sixth Street Theatre, and Milwaukee has a Bicycle Film Festival.

45

46

CULTURE AND HERITAGE

Overview of the Segment

The culture and heritage segment includes the museums and historical sites and institutions, the region’s libraries, and zoos and horticultural and botanical facilities. This segment of the creative industries is one of the smallest with just over 900 jobs. Earnings per worker for the sector are around $30,200. museums, the employees “embedded” in The industries in the culture and heritage higher education and other sectors, and the segment are some of the hardest to “contract” employees, the actual number of quantify as many of the jobs fall in the individuals working in this sector is government sector. For example, all considerably higher. employees of the region’s public libraries are considered local government MUSEUMS employees. In addition, many of the There are more than 50 museums located museums are either government entities, throughout the greater Milwaukee region part of higher education institutions, or that collectively attract more than one embedded in larger corporate entities. The million visitors annually. The people who Haggerty Museum of Art is part of work in these museums can be found in a Marquette University; the Grohmann variety of occupations: museum directors, Museum is located at the Milwaukee School curators, program and gift shop managers, of Engineering; the Harley-Davidson directors of sales and marketing, financial Museum is part of the Harley-Davidson officers, handlers, security, maintenance, Corporation; and the Milwaukee Public and food service. Museum, Milwaukee Zoo, and Kenosha Public Museum are public entities. This In addition to three major museums (see sector also depends heavily on volunteers sidebar on following page), the region has a to staff smaller museums and heritage sites, number of museums with special which adds to the difficulty of quantifying collections that reflect the interests of employment in the industry. founders, individual donors, or the assets of a given community. These museums are Finally, some of the museums outsource eclectic in nature, but add to the breadth of their food, maintenance, and/or security museums in the region. They include, for services and, therefore, provide indirect example: Betty Brinn Children’s Museum, employment for local residents and income the East Troy Electric Railroad Museum, the for other small businesses and Logic Puzzle Museum, the Wisconsin entrepreneurs. Automotive Museum, the Englander Dental Thus, while available secondary data show Museum, and the Museum of Beer and only about 900 jobs, in fact, once one adds Brewing. the employees of public libraries and

47

The greater Milwaukee region is MAJOR ART MUSEUMS IN THE MILWAUKEE REGION also home to several important museums and collections that MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM were founded by so-called captains of industry, i.e., business The design of Santiago Calatrava thrust the Milwaukee Art Museum into the national and international limelight. Photos of the extended wings against the owners who had a strong interest backdrop of Lake Michigan have made the museum a symbol of cutting-edge in art and were committed to museum design and perhaps forever changed the image of Milwaukee. From a sharing their collections with the distance, the museum has a futuristic look, but its beginnings date back to 1888. The museum is a very formidable space — 341,000 square feet with four floors and community. These include the more than 40 galleries that house permanent and changing exhibits. This includes Charles Allis Art Museum; the Villa European art from the 15th to 20th centuries; American art from the 17th to 20th Terrace Decorative Arts Museum, centuries; and a combination of paintings, sculpture, prints, photography, and folk which was originally the residence art. In addition to the most notable collections of decorative art, the museum also has one of the largest collections of the work of Georgia O’Keefe, a native of of Lloyd Smith, past president of Wisconsin. Other important collections are the Flagg Collection of Historical Art, the A.O. Smith; and the Captain Segel Collection of Photography, the Layton Art Collection, and the Michael and Julie Frederick Pabst Mansion. Hall Collection.

A number of museums have a The museum has more than 300,000 visitors a year, has extensive programs for school-age children, a series of multidisciplinary tours, scholastic art awards, art special focus on products and the classes for adults, programs for teachers, and collaborations with a broad range of designs that contributed to the businesses, educational institutions, community organizations, and stakeholders region’s commercial and industrial from throughout the arts community. competitiveness. Examples include the following: RACINE ART MUSEUM The Racine Art Museum got its start in 1941 as a gift to the city from Jennie and . The Harley-Davidson Museum Charles Wustum. The original collection was from artworks collected from the opened in 2008 to give visitors Works Progress Administration, and it has grown into one of the largest collections a sense of craftsmanship and of contemporary crafts in North America. The museum houses more than 5,000 craft items — crafts made of ceramic, fiber, glass, metal, and wood. The teapot excitement in a Harley. collection is one of the largest of its kind. In addition to its craft collection, the museum has a sculpture garden, an art library, and a research facility. One of the . The Eisner Museum of museum’s most distinguishing features is its architecture. The design firm of Advertising and Design (which Brininstool + Lynch used a combination of materials, environmental sensitivities, is closed but in transition) and extensive use of natural light to make the museum a defining structure of downtown Racine. highlights the role that design and advertising have played in MUSEUM OF WISCONSIN ART our culture and in our economy. The Museum of Wisconsin Art got its start in 1961 as the West Bend Galley for Fine Art to house the work of artist Carl von Marr. Over time, the work of other local and Finally, a few museums in the regional artists and the Early Wisconsin Collection were added and the museum grew in size and importance. That growth in size and stature required another region focus on the natural world, name change — now known as the Museum of Wisconsin Art, it has the largest contemporary and historical. The collection of Wisconsin artists, files on more than 8,000 artists from the 1800s to the emphasis here is helping visitors present, and 2,000 works of art by Wisconsin artists. Among the collection of the gain a better appreciation for the museum are works of fiber artists Jean Stamsta, photographs of A.J. Mueller, a number of pieces by contemporary Wisconsin glass artists, and the stainless steel evaluation and survival of natural sculpture of Bruce Niemi. In addition to the archives and collections, the museum species. Examples include the has several art education programs, including “Moments” and “Catch Art in Action.” following: A major change for the museum will occur in 2011 when a new 32,000-square-foot facility will be completed. Milwaukee-based architect James Shield designed the . The Milwaukee Public Museum, building. The museum’s current base of 10,000 visitors is expected to increase with the new facility. a natural and human history museum located in downtown

48

Milwaukee has a collection of more than quality and specialized focus of the work four million artifacts. Permanent and collections help make the region a exhibits are the core collection, but the distinctive museum destination. museum also oversees large-scale exhibits including the recent Mummies of the World exhibit, the largest Ten Chimneys is a museum of sorts, but it is so collection of mummies and related much more. The estate was the summer retreat of artifacts ever assembled. Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, two of the most notable actors in the history of American theater. . Discovery World is a 120,000-square- The estate was a special place for many of the foot facility that opened at its current greatest playwrights, actors, performers, and artists throughout the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s to meet, location on the Milwaukee lakefront in test out new creative ideas, and refine their crafts. 2006. The museum features interactive The Ten Chimneys Foundation has carefully restored and passive exhibits on science, the buildings and the grounds and opened it to the public in 2003. It is a national historic landmark, a technology, and the freshwater project site of “Save America’s Treasures,” and is on ecosystem. It also includes learning labs, the National Register of Historic Places. Workshops, theaters, audio studios, and fresh and lectures, performances, and master classes are held saltwater aquariums. throughout the year.

. The Dinosaur Discovery Museum in Kenosha is “the only museum to HERITAGE exclusively focus on the link between birds and meat-eating dinosaurs.” The The Milwaukee region’s heritage builds Carthage Institute of Paleontology is also upon a strong German influence, a long part of the museum. history of immigrants from Europe who worked in manufacturing, and a vibrant . The Kenosha Public Museum has a African-American and Latino community. broader focus than nature and natural Throughout the region are a number of history, but its permanent collection tells historical societies and centers that keep the story of the natural history of the the history and the heritage very much state of Wisconsin. alive. These institutions are the preservers and protectors of the region’s heritage, but The impact of the museums on the region they are also important components within goes well beyond their direct employment. the region’s tourism industry. Examples For example, the relationships that many of include the Jewish Museum Milwaukee, the museums have at the higher education Waukesha County Historical Society, Irish and K-12 public school systems are strong Cultural and Heritage Center, German- and they provide an excellent opportunity American Cultural Center, Old World for the next generation of art producers and Wisconsin, Kenosha Civil War Museum, Bay consumers to learn about art and culture in View Historical Society, Cedarburg Cultural all of its dimensions. Many of the museums Center, Racine Heritage Museum, the Green feature the work of local and area artists Lake Museum, Washington County and, in so doing, provide important visibility Historical Society, the Polish Center of and recognition and, in some cases, income Wisconsin, America’s Black Holocaust for the artists. Some of the museums make Museum (temporarily closed), the their facilities available for fundraising Milwaukee County Historical Society, and events and special programs. Finally, the the Richfield Historical Society. In addition,

49

the region’s fairs and festivals, food museums that keep the history and the products, and artisanal products are a heritage very much alive. reflection of its cultural diversity. LIBRARIES The region’s deep and historic cultural diversity enriches the region’s economy: There are a little more than 100 libraries . Virtually all of the immigrant population found throughout the greater Milwaukee groups have organized fairs and festivals region. Most of them are part of local and throughout the region. The fairs and county governments, but there are a few, festivals are an affirmation and like the Golda Meir Library, that are celebration of the region’s ethnic nonprofit institutions with a specialized heritage. Collectively, they bring tens of focus. The libraries are an important thousands of visitors to the region. A component of the creative industries. Even few of the fairs and festivals are among though many operate on very small the largest ethnic celebrations in the budgets, they offer an impressive menu of country. The Polish Fest, German Fest, services and programs for their and the Festa Italiana are a few communities and neighborhoods. In examples. Other fairs and festivals also addition to collections of print and online bring visitors and revenue into the books, they offer classes in different art region — for example, the African World forms (e.g., music, painting, pottery), they Festival, the Arab World Fest, the Irish sponsor book clubs, they exhibit the work Fest, and the Mexican Fiesta. of local and regional artists, they organize film discussion groups, and they host talks . The breadth and depth of the region’s and lectures by writers and poets. Many of food and restaurant industry to some the libraries also have historical archives degree is rooted in the ingredients, and a few, like the Milwaukee Public recipes, and heritage of the immigrant Library, are listed in the National Register of population. Food items like tamales, Historic Places because of the architectural kielbasa, pirogues, and schnitzel came integrity and design of the building. from immigrant traditions, and restaurants like Polomez, La Fuenta, EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES AND County Clare, Chez Jacques, and SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS Neader’s are all grounded in the region’s ethnic heritage. Although German beer- There are selected programs among the making has clearly declined in the city higher education institutions that are and in the region, it helped foster a more relevant to the culture and heritage localized, but nationally-noted, brewing segment. For example, most of the industry. institutions have undergraduate majors or minors in fine art and art history — these . Some of the artwork of visual artists, programs are critically important for people sculptors, craftsmen, musicians, and who work for art museums. Also, the Peck clothing designers are part of the fabric School of the Arts has a certificate program of the region’s ethnic heritage and in museum studies and a graduate cultures. Throughout the region are a certificate program in preservation studies. number of historical societies and Two institutions offer programs that have relevance to the region’s libraries: one is a

50

minor in library media and the other is a The region has not fully leveraged the master of information/library science. assets of the museums and heritage sites and centers. Challenges and Opportunities There are significant museums and The museums in the region are facing a historical and heritage sites throughout the number of challenges as they seek to region, but the connections and remain sustainable and strong. collaborations among them are tenuous. As one participant in a heritage focus group The ongoing recession has seriously hurt indicated, “The individual parts don’t the revenue-generating capabilities of many always add up to the whole.” of the museums. This economic crunch, as one museum director noted, “Affects our For example, the convention industry does fundraising, ability to secure artwork, the not do an aggressive job of promoting and quality of our programming, and our ability marketing the museums to businesspeople to enhance our marketing.” In addition, all who come to the region for conventions or of the museums face pressure to keep the business meetings. And, while there is “museum experience fresh” so that visitors some joint programming and marketing will come more frequently. among some of the museums, there is a recognition that more collaborations and The region’s residents and business strategic partnerships could lead to even community do not fully appreciate the stronger programs and innovative potential value of the region’s museums experiences for the visitor. Finally, the lack and heritage. of funding and coordination around a well- Several museum leaders believe that the designed marketing campaign to promote region’s business community often the museums and heritage-related assets undervalues the contribution the museums has limited their potential. make to the economy and the region’s Efforts by the larger museums to change attractiveness as a business location. In their approach offer potential addition, operators of some of the historical opportunities for the region. sites and heritage institutions feel that the local population has only a cursory Several of the larger museums have made understanding of the region’s heritage and or are planning to make significant changes resources. They believe the public and in their programs and facilities to make the outside visitors see the history and heritage museum experience richer and deeper and as “static” and only worth one visit, when, more experiential. Some of these changes in reality, many of the institutions change will have a profound impact on the visitor. their exhibits and displays and make every effort to make the heritage experience interactive and engaging.

51

52

Chapter 4: Milwaukee Regional County Profiles

The Milwaukee region is comprised of When compared to their proportion of total seven counties, each with its own unique employment in the region, Milwaukee, creative strengths and challenges. While Waukesha, and Washington counties all most of the creative industries are found in have a higher proportion of creative each of the counties, they differ in terms of industry jobs than the other counties and the concentration of activity and the types the region overall, indicating high relative of assets. concentration. (See Figure 13.) Looked at in terms of proportion of total jobs, Milwaukee and Waukesha counties are the Waukesha and Washington counties have most populous, and the major employment the highest percentage of creative industry centers in the region. Milwaukee County jobs. This is due to the high concentration alone is responsible for 50 percent of of design-communication firms in these creative enterprise employment in the counties — particularly printing companies. region, and Waukesha County 28 percent. The remaining five counties each comprise The counties also have had different levels between 3 percent and 7 percent of total of growth in their creative industries over creative sector employment. (See Figure the past seven years. Kenosha, Racine, and Walworth counties have all seen relatively steep drops in their creative industry employment, while Milwaukee and Ozaukee counties have seen some increases. (See Figure 14 on next page.)

Figure 13. Creative Jobs as Percent of Total Employment 12.)

Waukesha

Walworth

Ozaukee

Kenosha

0.0% 1.0% 2.0% 3.0% 4.0% 5.0% 6.0%

53

Figure 14. Creative Jobs Growth 2002 -2009 Kenosha County’s most important geographic feature is 20% Ozaukee, 18% the vast Lake Michigan frontage,

15% dotted with parks and open space. The largest municipalities 10% are Kenosha (population 96,950), 5% Milw aukee, 4% Pleasant Prairie (19,847), and

0% Twin Lakes (5,752). Kenosha was Washington, -2% Waukesha, -2% ranked as one of the “hottest” -5% mid-size urban areas in the -10% nation by Inc. magazine for its Walw orth, -12% -15% Kenosha, -14% affordability, high quality of life, and proximity to two major -20% Racine, -18% metropolitan areas. According to the 2008 U.S. Census, median The following county profiles were household income is $55,726, compiled based upon the focus groups held the fourth highest in the region. in each county to discuss creative assets, challenges, and opportunities. Additional Major industries are manufacturing, sources were key interviews with distribution and logistics, healthcare, and stakeholders, proceedings of advisory group education, although there is a growing high- meetings, the spreadsheet of regional tech sector. The largest employers are cultural venues and organizations, web United Hospital System, Inc., Chrysler LLC, research, and various background studies Aurora Health Care, Carthage College, and and materials. Snap-On, Inc. Kenosha County creative enterprises KENOSHA COUNTY contribute 1,754 jobs to the seven-county region. The majority of these jobs fall Kenosha County fronts Lake Michigan as the within design-communications and media southeasternmost county in the region, and film industry categories, representing closest to Chicago, with a population of 27 percent and 28 percent, respectively, of 164,465. There has been a steady influx of total creative enterprise employment in the suburban Chicago transplants and Kenosha county. Despite this contribution, County is considered a part of the U.S. concentrations of creative clusters in Census Bureau’s Chicago metropolitan area. Kenosha County are all below the national The city of Kenosha is often thought of as a average. bedroom community; 49 percent of its workforce commutes outside the county, For the most part, Kenosha County’s mostly towards Chicago or Milwaukee. In creative enterprise employment dropped addition, the residents of northern Illinois between 2002 and 2009, with a total loss of are an important market for the county’s 281 jobs during this time period. The cultural institutions and creative businesses. greatest number of jobs lost between 2002 Kenosha is served by the Metro rail system and 2009 occurred within performing arts of northern Illinois.

54

creative enterprises, where employment fountains, and sculptures that is attracting dropped by 295 jobs. creative individuals and enterprises. Harbor Market is a European-style market with Kenosha County’s largest creative food, shopping, live music, entertainment, enterprise industry, media and film, is fine art, and handmade crafts. The Kemper largely comprised of newspaper publishers. Center, home to the Anderson Arts Center, These enterprises provide half of all media is a 17.5-acre county park on Lake Michigan and film industry employment. The second with historic buildings that hosts tours, largest creative enterprise industry, design- exhibits, concerts, classes, and many other communications, is comprised of graphic events. design services and commercial printing enterprises. PERFORMING ARTS IN KENOSHA COUNTY Of over 230 creative enterprises identified in Kenosha County, approximately 200 are Since 1940, the Kenosha Symphony Orchestra has been a commercial entities, including design cultural cornerstone of southeastern Wisconsin, and has studios, architects, photographers, galleries, entertained and educated thousands of music enthusiasts and local schoolchildren. Other nonprofit performing arts dance studios, production companies, groups include the Lakeside Players, Inc. at the Rhode music stores, and printing companies. One Center for the Arts; Actor’s Craft, which provides notable creative enterprise is Stunts Are Us, professional acting classes; Kenosha Theater; Lakeshore which provides high-level training for film Youth Philharmonic; Kenosha Writers Guild; and Southeast Wisconsin Performing Arts (SEWPA), which and TV that dovetails with theater training. provides instruction, audience outreach, and performance It is listed as an attraction on the Explore in the disciplines of opera, dance, choral, and instrumental Wisconsin website. music.

Creative Assets Numerous performing arts events occur throughout the summer along the lakefront, including the Peanut Butter Much of the county’s creative enterprise and Jam Concert Series at Veterans Memorial Park, Lincoln Park Live! near the Warren Taylor Memorial Gardens, free and cultural activity is centered in the city concerts provided by the Kenosha Pops Band at the of Kenosha. Kenosha boasts major Poynoer Band Shell, weekly jazz series at Kemper’s museums, including the Kenosha Public Anderson Arts Center, and the Mahone Foundation Jazzfest held in August. There is also a vital and growing Museum, Dinosaur Discovery Museum, and live music scene, fueled by the influx of new residents from Civil War Museum, all Smithsonian the Chicago and Milwaukee areas who bring their interest Institution affiliates. There is also a good in entertainment and cultural activities. public library system. The Kenosha History Center is within the 1917 city water treatment plant on Simmons Island and There are many galleries in the city and showcases the history of Kenosha from the county. Notable are the Niemi Sculpture Native Americans and the first settlements Garden and Gallery, KAAleidoscope Art to the present day. There are sites for two Gallery, Pollard Gallery, Seebeck Gallery in future museums nearby. Adjacent to the Pleasant Prairie, and the online Kenosha Art museum campus is HarborPark, a neo- Association. Lemon Street Gallery & traditional neighborhood along the Artspace, Inc. is a nonprofit visual arts lakefront with parks, gardens, trails, organization that provides a professional beaches, public fishing piers, festival places, venue for artists to exhibit and sell their

55

work, along with collaborations with UW System.” After the new $30 million schools and social service agencies. There Fine Arts Center addition is completed in are nearly 70 artist-members of Lemon 2011, UW-Parkside’s theatre facilities will Street Gallery who are admitted through a include three flexible theatres, two large juried process. The gallery has also been a rehearsal halls, cutting-edge design and sponsor of the Kenosha Union Park Project construction laboratories, and a new recital (KUPP), Kenosha's emerging arts district hall. development. Second Saturday gallery openings have become huge events. Participants in the focus group expressed that county school districts have had The design, architecture, and advertising historically strong arts education programs. sectors include many small companies and 4-H and county fairs have also been self-employed individuals. They are supportive of cultural development through suffering with the economic downturn, training and showcases. outsourcing, and competition from e- businesses. So far, economic development There are important cultural support and seems to have been focused on industrial networking organizations in Kenosha and commercial development, not the County. The Arts and Humanities Alliance creative economy. of Kenosha works to build awareness and support of the arts through cooperative The higher education system in Kenosha planning as well as networking, fostering County is critically important to the creative collaborations, providing technical economy. The University of Wisconsin- assistance, and sponsoring events. The Parkside, Carthage College, Concordia Kenosha Racine Arts Network is a website College, Cardinal Stritch University, and for visual artists, musicians, writers, Gateway Technical College are a well-spring dancers, actors, and all creative people to for talent. They provide training; offer connect, exchange ideas, and market their associate, bachelor, and master’s degrees; work. Expose Kenosha is an online operate venues; sponsor exhibit and magazine, like Art Beat Milwaukee, for performance series; and partner with information, networking, events, and community-based organizations to further marketing. It helps to organize Art Matters creative and cultural development. In meetings, and to gather artists and addition, UW-Parkside has the Capacity supporters of the arts from southeastern Building Assistance for Nonprofits (CAN) Wisconsin and northern Illinois. program and a Small Business Development Center that offer entrepreneurship and Challenges and Opportunities program management certificates. The . A conundrum that was voiced during university offers coursework and/or the focus group was that there are degrees in digital media, graphic design, many artists in Kenosha County who are architecture, film, communications, visual attracted by its affordability, quality-of- arts, museum studies, music, and theater. life, and creative buzz, but not many UW-Parkside Theatre was the recipient of make a good living. They need more the 2009 University of Wisconsin Board of ways and places to sell their work. Regents Teaching Excellence Award Marketing is expensive. “Outstanding Academic Department in the

56

. While Kenosha County is within the M7 Health Care, Northwestern Mutual, Medical region, it is almost as close to Chicago College of Wisconsin, Children’s Health as Milwaukee and, thus, less involved Systems Group, Columbia/St. Mary’s Health and engaged in Milwaukee regional Care, and Roundy’s, Inc. activities. It is pulled in both directions. Milwaukee County accounts for half of all . The quality of life and low cost of living creative industry employment in the seven- relative to Chicago has helped to attract county region. The majority of these jobs creatives to the county. On the other are found in the design-communications (30 hand, keeping the young people who percent), media and film (37 percent), and grow up in the county is seen as a major performing arts (13 percent) industries. challenge in the community. Overall, the county has seen an increase in creative industries employment of about . Developing increased linkages between 840 since 2002, or 4 percent. This job the creative economy and downtown growth was in performing arts, media and Kenosha revitalization is an area of film, and the design-built environment. opportunity. There are still vacant storefronts and empty buildings that Of over 2,000 creative enterprises identified could accommodate arts businesses in Milwaukee County, almost 230 are and artists. The Racine Business Center nonprofit, about 30 are government has art studios on its top floor and is a entities, and approximately 1,740 are model. commercial businesses and entrepreneurs, including landscape design, interior design MILWAUKEE COUNTY and architecture firms, design studios, marketing and advertising agencies, Milwaukee County is the most populous illustrators, display firms, publishers, and diverse of the M7 counties, with almost embroiderers, printers, film and video half of the region’s two million people. The companies, production companies, city of Milwaukee, with slightly over recording studios, bookstores, media 600,000, is the nation’s 23rd largest city, and companies, comic book publishers and is the economic and cultural hub for the M7 stores, movie theaters, music academies, region. The county has a large minority record stores, entertainment companies, population with 26 percent of the residents booking agents, DJs, bands, events Black/African-American and 12 percent production companies, dance studios and Hispanic/Latino. Median household academies, music stores, conservators, income, according to the 2008 U.S. Census, photographers, videographers, crafts is $45,902, the lowest in the region. studios, and galleries. The presence of Harley-Davidson, Johnson Controls, Briggs Milwaukee County is home to 10 Fortune and Stratton, and others has created 1000 companies, including Bucyrus significant creative employment International, Harley-Davidson, Joy Global, opportunities in product design. Marshall & Ilsley Corp., MGIC Investment, Northwestern Mutual, Rexnord, Rockwell Creative Assets Automation, A.O. Smith, and Wisconsin Energy. The largest employers are Aurora Participants in key interviews and focus

57

groups repeatedly expressed that local and internationally famous African- Milwaukee has extraordinary breath, depth, American artists and entertainers. The and quality of arts and culture for a city of continued vibrancy of African-American its size. American Style magazine has culture in Milwaukee is represented by Ko- confirmed this by naming Milwaukee as one Thi Dance Company, UPROOTED Theater, of the top 25 arts destinations in the United the African-American Children’s Theater, States for four years in a row. Choose the annual Juneteenth, African World Milwaukee.org ranks the region fifth in Festival and Martin Luther King Day performing arts groups per capita, behind celebrations, the many African-American Nashville, Orlando, Minneapolis-St. Paul, visual artists, and the vibrant jazz, blues, and Chicago. and popular music sector.

Major cultural venues are concentrated in Milwaukee is a city of architecture, from the downtown and include the Milwaukee gracious old buildings such as the Pfister Art Museum; Marcus Center for the Hotel, City Hall, and many others downtown Performing Arts, which is home to the and in the historic Third Ward, to the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, stunningly modern addition to the Milwaukee Ballet, the Florentine Opera Milwaukee Art Museum, designed by Company, First Stage Children’s Theater, Santiago Calatrava. The building is the and many theater and Broadway touring iconic identification for the city’s creativity. shows; the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre; There are many visible pieces of public art, Broadway Theatre Center; and Milwaukee and much of it is made with industrial Public Museum. There are strong cultural materials, reflecting the region’s organizations, large and small, in all creative manufacturing heritage. disciplines. These cultural organizations are also key regional assets — they attract over A constant parade of festivals along the 50 percent of their patrons from outside lakefront and in ethnic neighborhoods and the county. Most cultural organizations in churches fills the cultural calendar. Milwaukee County have youth, education, Summerfest bills itself as “the world’s and outreach programs and there are a largest music festival,” attracting 850,000 number of multidisciplinary organizations people and generating a direct and indirect that play an intermediary role in K-12 economic impact of $180 million, according school and community settings. to a study commissioned by the festival. Other festivals include the African World Milwaukee County has the region’s highest Festival, German Fest, Irish Fest, Polish Fest, concentration of African-American and a Juneteenth Celebration, Festa Italiana, Latino residents and, hence, is rich with the and Mexican Fiesta. cultural contribution of these communities. From the early 1900s through the 1960s, Milwaukee boasts a vibrant live music scene Bronzeville, bordered by State Street, North including rock, jazz, soul, blues, punk, hip- Avenue, and 3rd and 12th streets, became a hop, and electronica. The Shepherd Express haven for African-Americans in a city weekly lists over 70 live music clubs in gripped by segregation. The vibrant downtown Milwaukee and in neighborhood was home to nightclubs, neighborhoods like Bay View, a hotbed of social centers, and cultural events featuring clubs and home recording studios.

58

collectives, such as the White Box Painters LATINO ARTS IN MILWAUKEE COUNTY and Still Waters Collective. These The migration of the Latino population to Milwaukee after organizations and others are converting World War II and in recent decades has resulted in a vibrant some of Milwaukee’s trove of industrial and community in the city. Although the size of the population is still relatively small, the creative activities of the Mexican, warehouse space into creative spaces, Central, and South American residents are substantial. studios, workshops, and galleries.

One of the early Latino artists in the region was Carlos Cortez, Flux Design is an industrial and interior who worked with wood and linoleum-cut graphics. His work design firm that is creating a local and can be found at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and national “buzz” with its work for many the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago. His contribution to visual arts in the region continues. Other Latino Milwaukee “hot spot” restaurants and bars artists who have made a significant contribution to the region’s as well as projects in Chicago, New York, artistic vitality include illustrator Luis Machare, sculptor Chris and Florida. Midwest Airlines Magazine Davis-Benavides, painter Frank Juarez, painter and illustrator Rafael Francisco Salas, folk life artist Jose A. Chavez, and visual recently profiled 10 of Milwaukee’s up and artists Dara Larson, Francisco Mora, Gianfranco Tessara, and coming artists, musicians, and designers Ximena Soza. These individuals are part of a cohort of Latino who are helping to shape the region’s visual artists who, in addition to their artwork, are curators, art creative future. jurors, teachers, and organizers of arts-related events. Milwaukee County colleges and universities Two organizations in the community that serve as a focal point for Latino artists and artwork are the Walker’s Point Center for — the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the Arts and Latino Arts, Inc. These organizations exhibit the Alverno College, Cardinal Stritch University, work of Latino artists and help organize events like the Mexican Marquette University, Milwaukee Area Fiesta and the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Latino Arts operates a gallery, an auditorium where it presents local Technical College, Milwaukee Institute of and international acts, and education programs, including a Art and Design, Milwaukee School of nationally recognized strings program. Other Latino cultural Engineering, Mount Mary College, and organizations include Ballet Folklórico Nacional of Milwaukee, Wisconsin Lutheran College — are critical to and the Latino Community Center. its creative economy and cultural vitality. These higher education institutions help to Milwaukee’s rock scene is gaining national attract and retain the talent needed for the and international attention. regional economy to thrive. They offer training and degree programs – AAS’s, BA’s, Focus group participants reported a robust BFA’s, BS’s, MFA’s, MS’s, Ph.D.s, and contemporary art scene encompassing certificates in design, architecture, film,

visual arts, new music, design, fashion, media, an array of artistic disciplines, and writing and spoken word, choreography, other specialties — that prepare workers film, theater, and new media. Apparently and fuel the development and growth of many artists and creators are returning to creative businesses, cultural organizations, Milwaukee for its livability, affordability, and individual artistic production. and creative buzz. Their DIY sensibility is University and college venues such as Bader fueling the creation of new organizations Hall, the Inova Institute, Pitman Theatre, and creative hubs such as Bucketworks, a and Nancy Kendall Theater host co-working, meet-up, and practice space for performance and exhibit series that creative professionals; RedLine, which showcase student and local talent and bring offers space, tools, resources, and in top artists from around the world. networking to artists; and artists’

59

There is strong private sector support for more awareness and enthusiasm for the arts, particularly through the United the quality of Milwaukee’s creative Performing Arts Fund, the second largest output, more pride and boasting, more united arts fund in the country. self-esteem.

Challenges and Opportunities . There is a fear that Milwaukee remains in Chicago’s shadow as a cultural and . Focus group and key interview creative center. The conservative participants voiced a fear that the image of Milwaukee is a detractor for depth and breadth of cultural attracting young talent. institutions, programs, and venues cannot be sustained. . Artists and creative businesses have helped revitalize neighborhoods like the . Access to integrated creative education Third Ward, but there is a fear that in K-12 appears to be mixed. lower-income residents could be Milwaukee has a much-lauded subsequently priced out of the Milwaukee High School of the Arts, but neighborhood as real estate values the perception is that access to quality increase. arts education is declining precipitously with funding cuts and an extensive focus on testing and test results. OZAUKEE COUNTY

. In focus groups, African-American Situated in the far northeast corner of the artists and cultural leaders expressed M7 region, Ozaukee County is the smallest the fear that African-American art is in land area and population, with 85,874 marginalized and lamented the demise people. Ozaukee County offers the rural of the Inner-City Arts Council, a city- charm of Fredonia and Waubeka, 25 miles sponsored organization that supported of Lake Michigan shoreline, and two of the African-American arts. There are oldest and most charming communities in significant challenges for the cultural the region — Port Washington and sector in expanding access, creating Cedarburg. Both attract thousands of opportunities for ethnic artists, building tourists every year — Port Washington for more diverse audiences, and increasing its Fish Day celebration of the city’s the diversity of creative talent and maritime history and Cedarburg for its expression. annual Strawberry Festival and other cultural events. . Audiences for cultural activity are reported to have been stagnant or Access to the I-43 corridor has sparked declining, and also are aging. There is a commercial and industrial development in challenge attracting diverse audiences Mequon (population 25,584) and Grafton (11,613), the county’s two largest cities, as and younger participants. well as in Saukville and Belgium. The . Focus group participants reported a county‘s largest employers are Columbia-St. perception that contemporary art is not Mary’s Hospital, Rockwell Automation, appreciated or understood in this Concordia University, Charter working-class city. There is a desire for

60

Manufacturing Company, Inc., and Legett & Creative Assets Platt, Inc. Cedarburg is a cultural center for Ozaukee According to the 2008 U.S. Census, median County, both because of its historic household income in Ozaukee County is downtown and rich heritage and because of $70,568. Forbes Magazine ranked Ozaukee its present day cultural venues, galleries, County number two on its list of “America's and events. Cedarburg Cultural Center Best Places To Raise A Family” in June 2008. features cultural and historic preservation exhibits, performances, community events, Ozaukee Country contributes 1,934 jobs to and classes throughout the year. The the seven-county region creative sector Cedarburg Performing Arts Center (PAC), (roughly 4 percent). These jobs are mostly Inc. was developed in collaboration with the concentrated in the design-communications Cedarburg School District. The intent was (36 percent), visual arts and crafts (22 to bring the finest performing artists to the percent), and media and film (19 percent) community, to expose students to guest industry clusters. Ozaukee County’s artists through master classes, workshops, creative sector employment increased by and on-stage collaborations, and also 18 percent from 2002 to 2009, an addition provide student internship experiences in of 296 jobs across sectors. In that seven- conjunction with the Cedarburg PAC’s year period, both the design- marketing, design, and marketing/business communications and visual arts and crafts functions. The Wisconsin Museum of Quilts industry clusters experienced substantial and Fiber Arts is located in Cedarburg. growth, with an increase of jobs totaling 30 percent and 23 percent, respectively. While There are numerous summer concerts and not the largest industry in terms of total festivals along the entire lakefront of creative sector employment, visual arts and Ozaukee County. In Mequon, Gathering on crafts is the most concentrated industry in the Green presents a summer performing Ozaukee County, a concentration that is arts festival featuring performances such as also well above the national average. the Gathering on the Green Festival Orchestra, Florentine Opera Company, Of over 260 creative enterprises identified Milwaukee Ballet, jazz concerts, and in Ozaukee County, almost 30 are nonprofit, educational programs. There are many about five are government entities, and festivals and celebrations in Cedarburg. approximately 225 are commercial businesses, including interior design firms, Focus group participants stated that K-12 architecture and landscape architecture arts education is strong in Ozaukee County firms, design studios, advertising and schools. Art is a required subject through marketing agencies, printing firms, eighth grade. The county is home to publishers, media companies, production Concordia University, which offers degrees companies, dance and music academies, in art, illustration, photography, music, music and crafts studios, photographers, communications, multimedia, public and art galleries and studios. Great Lakes relations, graphic design, interior design, Media, a CD and DVD replication company, and English. Concordia’s venues for was noted as an example of a local creative performing and visual arts include Todd business. Wehr Auditorium, Chapel of Christ

61

Triumphant, and the Field House. The Mequon/Thiensville all work on their North Campus of the Milwaukee Area own. Technical College also serves Ozaukee County, offering associate degrees and RACINE COUNTY certificates in photography, digital imaging, music occupations, recording, and business; Racine County is directly south of animation, television, and video production; Milwaukee County, north of Kenosha computer graphics, architectural County, and situated right on Lake technology, interior design, and graphic Michigan. It is the third largest county in design. In Grafton, North Shore Academy of the M7 region, with a population of the Arts sponsors classes for all ages in the 199,510. The city of Racine is by far the performing, visual, and literary arts and also largest municipality, with a population of hosts community events. The original home over 82,000. Mount Pleasant and Caledonia of Paramount Records is also preserved in follow, each at around 25,000. The three Grafton along with a digital library of cities are clustered close to the lake. Like memorabilia. Kenosha, Racine is accessible to both Milwaukee and Chicago and has an Amtrak Finally, the News Graphic, Ozaukee link with a stop in Sturtevant. According to County’s newspaper, was lauded for doing the 2008 U.S. Census, median household an important job in showcasing the arts and income is $55,008, the fifth highest in the culture. region.

Challenges and Opportunities The city of Racine is experiencing a boom in residential development, with condos and . The cultural leadership, volunteer base, and audiences in the county are aging, other developments springing up along the creating some concern for the future of Root River and in downtown Racine. The the region’s creative industries. city’s vibrancy, including its cultural attractions, is drawing young talent. The . The infrastructure for supporting arts Young Professionals of Racine, with more and culture is relatively limited in the than 1,000 members, is one of the largest county. There is little or no local public groups of its kind in the country. funding for the arts in Ozaukee County, and there is a lack of housing and studio Racine County is home to several space for artists. international companies, including S.C. Johnson, Jockey International, Modine . The rural nature of the county has Manufacturing, CNH Global (a business unit made it difficult to recruit skilled of Fiat,) and Runzheimer International. In creative talent. In particular, the addition, several foreign-based companies county’s design firms have trouble have major operations there, including recruiting people to come to the area. Nestle and BRP North America. The county’s largest employers are Wheaton . It is difficult to form and sustain Franciscan Healthcare, S.C. Johnson, CNH, collaborations. The separate and Emerson Electric. communities of Cedarburg, Grafton, Port Washington, and

62

Racine County’s contribution to creative metals, and wood, which represent original sector employment, totaling 2,089 jobs, is and complementing artistic expressions. roughly equivalent to that of Kenosha and Ozaukee counties. The county’s jobs are Racine County is home to many concentrated in the design-communications architectural gems created by Frank Lloyd (37 percent), media and film (29 percent), Wright, including the S.C. Johnson and performing arts (20 percent) industry headquarters buildings, the Golden clusters. However, between 2002 and Rondelle Theater, Hardy House, and the 2009, each of the county’s largest clusters Wingspread Conference Center. The experienced significant drops in Johnson Foundation helps to preserve the employment; the greatest loss of jobs (a legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright and also drop of 286) occurred in design- sponsors many cultural activities. communications enterprises. The culture The Racine Heritage Museum offers three and heritage industry cluster was the only floors of exhibits celebrating Racine’s cluster to see some job growth; an increase history, innovations, and products. Historic of 5 percent (only 4 jobs) between 2002 and downtown Racine, with its many galleries 2009. Despite the county’s relatively small and shops, as well as nearby lighthouses, is contribution and the loss of jobs over the also part of the county’s heritage. The years, creative enterprises are still highly Burlington Historical Museum exhibits many concentrated in the county, scoring well pieces of memorabilia and artifacts from above the national average. the city’s past through the present. Of over 320 creative enterprises identified The Racine Symphony Orchestra was in Racine County, about 35 are nonprofit, founded in 1932 and presents yearly 10 are government entities, and almost 300 classical and pops series. The Racine are commercial entities, including galleries, Theatre Guild, in existence for over 70 photography studios, dance studios, music years, is a community theater that presents stores and studios, film and video adult and children’s theater, comedy shows, production companies, printing companies, and jazz concerts. It moved into its own and design studios. building in 1976 right next to the Racine Art Museum on land owned by the city of Creative Assets Racine. Other important arts organizations highlighted in the focus group discussions Major cultural organizations and attractions were the Racine Art Guild, Choral Arts are concentrated in the city of Racine. The Society of Southeastern Wisconsin, and the Racine Art Museum (RAM) houses the third Sixth Street Players. largest and one of the most significant collections of contemporary craft in North The Racine Arts Council is a networking, America. With major exhibitions of new information resource, and support work, as well as from the permanent organization. Founded in 1967, it advocates collection of the Charles A. Wustum for artistic expression by supporting arts Museum of Fine Arts, the Racine Art organizations, individual artists, arts Museum focuses on ceramics, fibers, glass, enthusiasts, and civic endeavors that preserve and expand the vibrancy of

63

performing, literary, and visual arts in the east Racine County from west Racine greater Racine community. County, reinforcing this isolation, and the county is also distant from both University of Wisconsin–Parkside is located Milwaukee and Chicago, although a right on the border between Racine and new commuter rail link to Chicago will Kenosha counties, and so residents benefit help. from UW-Parkside’s critical contributions to the creative economy. Gateway Technical . The River Council has a plan for uptown College also serves Racine County residents, Racine and the development of the offering coursework and/or degrees in river area that could benefit the interior design, architecture and structural creative industries. Economic design, structural engineering, graphic development officials and cultural communications, information technology, leaders in the focus group pledged to game programming, computer aided work together to embed creative drafting, interior landscaping, multimedia, industry strategies into the economic and digital photography. development plan.

There were mixed opinions expressed in the focus group about the K-12 public school WALWORTH COUNTY system and its commitment to arts Walworth County, sitting in the far education. Some said that great things are southwestern corner of the region, is the happening — “We are building a new sixth most populous (100,749) county in the generation of artists” — but others said the region. It is scenic country, with the rolling school system is not what it could be, with a hills of the South Kettle Moraine recreation high dropout rate and no support for area and numerous lakes and rivers for talented and gifted kids. recreation. Walworth County is mainly rural and agricultural. Its largest towns are Challenges and Opportunities Whitewater, with a population of a little over 14,000, followed by Elkhorn, Delavan, . The county has been particularly hard and Lake Geneva. Some communities along hit by recent economic trends and has I-43 increasingly have become residential the highest unemployment rate in the areas for those who work in Milwaukee and region. This economic climate is Chicago. There is a large and growing creating challenges for creative Spanish-speaking community that has businesses, individual artists, and the introduced Latino cultural influences. county’s nonprofit cultural institutions. Today, Walworth County is transitioning . There is a perception and reality of from an agricultural and tourism-based crime in downtown Racine. People do economy into a diverse mix of tourism, not feel safe or welcome walking; there retail, manufacturing, and agri-based are no bike lanes, only car traffic. companies. Its largest employers are the Grand Geneva Resort and Spa, Wal-Mart, . Focus group participants noted the Miniature Precision Components, Inc., sense of geographic isolation in the Pentair Water, and Aurora Health Care. county. The interstate highway divides Median household income is $54,772, sixth

64

in the region according to the 2008 U.S. at the Geneva Lake Museum, shows and Census. classes for adults and children at the Geneva Lakes Art Association, a wine Walworth County has the lowest number of festival with fine arts, concerts by the Lake jobs (1,375) with respect to creative Geneva Symphony Orchestra and Spirit of industry employment. Within this total, the Lake Chorus, and performances by the nearly 80 percent of those jobs are Lake Geneva Theatre Company. concentrated in the design-communications (26 percent), media and film (21 percent), Between 1847 and 1894, Delavan was and performing arts (33 percent) industry home to 26 circus companies. The original clusters. The performing arts cluster was P.T. Barnum Circus was organized there in the only creative sector cluster to 1871 by William C. Coup and Dan Costello. experience sizable job growth between 2002 and 2009, with an increase of 92 jobs In Whitewater, the nonprofit Whitewater (25 percent) in this time period. Arts Alliance (WWAA) is an umbrella Furthermore, the greatest proportion of organization with a mission to promote performing arts enterprises is involved in creativity and diversity that will serve to musical instrument manufacturing (totaling educate and enrich the lives of the 152 jobs); these jobs in particular, although residents of the Whitewater community small in number, represent an industry and surrounding areas through concentration more than 40 times the partnerships, cultural events, and education national average. programs. The WWAA developed the Cultural Arts Center, initiated mural Of over 239 creative enterprises identified projects and other public art, and sponsors in Walworth County, about 25 are exhibits and other events. The Guild on the nonprofit, 10 are government entities, and Triangle is a gallery/shop representing 70 almost 200 are commercial entities, artists of all kinds, many using functional including design studios, advertising skills creatively. Studio 84 is a nonprofit art agencies, craft shops, printing companies, center that provides experiences in the bookstores, movie theaters, media outlets, visual arts, theater, dance, and music for dance studios, production companies, the community, specializing in working with galleries, and photography studios. people with physical and cognitive limitations. Creative Assets An important part of the support system for the creative sector in Walworth County is The sandy beaches, resorts, and boutique the Walworth County Arts Council. Based in shops have made Lake Geneva and Delavan, it was founded in 1968 to foster surrounding communities a tourist mecca appreciation and support for the arts since the 1880s, and they remain a popular through education programs, outreach, and summer destination for Chicago residents. promotions. The Walworth County Arts Lake Geneva and the surrounding area draw Council sponsors art scholarships, education approximately two million tourists per year programs for children, visiting artists, and and host many cultural activities to engage trips to Milwaukee Symphony them, including art exhibits in galleries and performances. Similarly, the WWAA plays

65

an important role in promoting the visual Challenges and Opportunities and performing arts in that community. . Walworth County is a relatively poor Walworth County is home to the part of the region. There is particularly Whitewater Campus of the University of high poverty in the Hispanic Wisconsin, George Williams College of community. Resources and assistance Aurora University in Williams Bay, and a for for-profit arts businesses are lacking campus of Gateway Technical College in in the county. Elkhorn. University of Wisconsin- Whitewater offers degree programs in a . Residents are supportive, but are not multitude of creative disciplines including the principal patrons of the arts. design, multimedia, advertising, journalism, Seasonal residents (Chicago residents game development, theater, music, and who have vacation homes) may support visual arts and has recently received a the arts there, but are not supporters of Kennedy Center grant to train teaching the Walworth County communities — artists. The campus is home to Green Hill they are perceived potentially as having Center of the Arts and Young Auditorium, deep pockets that have not been which offer exhibiting and presenting series adequately tapped. throughout the year. A much lauded . program of the university is the Horizons Communities in the county have little School Matinee program, which brings in history of working together — instead 20,000 students per year to experience they compete. Outside the county, professional level performances. The especially in Milwaukee, there is little George Williams College sponsors idea of the creative assets of Walworth performance and speaker series, including County. Music by the Lake in Lake Geneva in the . Whitewater is now interested in summer. enhancing the creative nature of its UW-Whitewater and the city of Whitewater downtown and has developed the are partnering on development of the Cultural Arts Center, murals, and other Innovation Center in Technology Park, with public art. support from a federal economic . University of Wisconsin-Whitewater has development grant. The center will house a the potential to be an even stronger business incubator, intended to foster the resource for businesses, marketing growth of ideas from researchers into entrepreneur needs and interests of the businesses, including creative businesses arts community. that can create jobs and boost economic development in the community. . Arts education is reaching a significant number of young people — they are the There is a strong tradition of K-12 arts creatives of the future. education in Walworth County. School music programs are especially valued and have not been decimated by recent budget cuts.

66

WASHINGTON COUNTY are nonprofit, about five are government entities, and approximately 230 are Washington County is located in the commercial businesses, including northwest of the M7 region and has architecture and landscape architecture approximately 130,000 residents. firms, design studios, advertising agencies, Washington County, with its gently rolling printing companies, embroidery studios, landscape, is substantially rural. The largest media companies, video production municipalities are West Bend (population companies, movie theaters, dance almost 30,000), Germantown (almost academies, music stores, photographers, 20,000), Hartford (13,853), and Jackson and galleries. (6,755).

Washington County’s major industries Creative Assets include machine tooling, metal fabrication, printing, pharmaceutical distribution, photo Quad/Graphics and Serigraph have finishing, and trucking industries. The contributed to the growth and largest employers are Quad/Graphics, Inc., development of one of the largest segments West Bend Mutual Insurance Company, in the Milwaukee region’s creative Serigraph, and St. Joseph’s Hospital. industries, design-communications. Epic Median household income is $64,733, the Creative, a commercial video, film, third highest of the M7 counties according interactive media, and advertising company to the 2008 U.S. Census. in Washington County, is key enterprise in that sector. Despite its relatively small contribution (7 percent or 3,443 jobs) to the seven-county While Quad/Graphics’ headquarters is region creative industries, the located in Sussex in Waukesha County, the concentration of creative enterprises is firm has pre-print media imaging/print greatest in Washington County, when production locations in Washington County. compared to the national average. It is not only the most significant employer Enterprises contributing the greatest in the region’s creative industries, it also number of jobs are found in the design- contributes to the overall creative assets of communications (60 percent) and media the region. The company has a major art and film (24 percent) industry sectors. The collection and the Milwaukee Art Museum’s majority of Washington County’s creative expansion is named the Quadracci Pavilion, sector employment is found in commercial for the founder of Quad/Graphics, a major printing enterprises, contributing more than contributor. 50 percent of total creative sector The Museum of Wisconsin Art was founded employment in the county. Within the in 1961 and is the largest cultural county’s second largest industry cluster, organization in Washington County. media and film, creative enterprise Located in the heart of West Bend’s Cultural employment is found predominantly in District, this 21,000-square-foot museum newspaper publishing and movie theaters. showcases the best historic and Of almost 250 creative enterprises contemporary Wisconsin art. The museum identified in Washington County, about 25 has major plans for an expansion into a

67

32,000-square-foot facility that will provide Artists who live in Washington County for a comprehensive display of Wisconsin benefit from its proximity to both art as well as other amenities such as state- Milwaukee and Chicago. There are galleries of-the-art classrooms. in many of the towns and some art associations, such as the West Bend Friends The Schauer Arts and Activity Center is of Sculpture. located in downtown Hartford, in a restored canning factory. The center now has the Higher education assets that impact the 571-seat Ruth A. Knoll Theater, the Suckow creative economy include the University of Family Art Gallery, meeting rooms, Wisconsin at Washington County, which has rehearsal hall, a dance studio, and Pikes a theater that hosts a presenting series and Peak banquet room. The Schauer Center is also used by community groups. The sponsors a performance series, student school offers classes in both visual arts and matinees, and gallery exhibits. The facilities music. Moraine Park Technical College are also available for rent by cultural and offers associates degrees in industrial and community groups. Right next door in graphic design and community classes in downtown Hartford is the Wisconsin many arts disciplines. It was also noted in Automotive Museum and its display of the focus group that West Bend and other almost 100 classic cars. K-12 school districts in Washington County had maintained strong arts education There are many historic sites in Washington programs. County, including the Native American effigy mounds, the Holy Hill National Shrine Challenges and Opportunities of Mary, and Sila Lydia Bast Bell Museum. There are local historical societies in . Focus group participants cited a lack of Farmington, Germantown, Richfield, Old vision for long-term sustainability. The Courthouse Square Museum, and cultural sector is fractured, Washington County Historical Society in characterized by parochialism — each West Bend, as well as historic downtowns. community is working separately on its The Kettle Moraine Symphony, now in its own. 42nd year, is a regional orchestra whose . One of the opportunities cited was the approximately 60 members play five availability of locations and facilities for concerts per year. The Children’s Theater indoor/outdoor programs like Wolftrap, of West Bend provides live theater the National Park for the Performing experiences for children. The Hartford Arts in Virginia, outside of Washington, Players were founded in 1988 as a DC. These locations should be community theater company and now leveraged along with the rich heritage perform in the Schauer Center. The Kettle resources of the county. Moraine Jazz Fest brings international artists to West Bend each September. . Focus group participants voiced There are also a number of dance schools enthusiasm for the opportunity to get and academies in Washington County. together and optimism for what could Volunteerism for arts groups was cited as a come of it. “What could happen if we major strength for the county. tracked ideas, got together again, and

68

brought more new people in? We need contributor to the creative industry after to work together to build our Milwaukee County. Jobs in Waukesha community.” County are found predominantly in the design-communications industry cluster, WAUKESHA COUNTY comprising nearly 60 percent of all creative industry jobs. The concentration of design- Waukesha County, directly west of communications enterprises in Waukesha Milwaukee, is the M7 region’s largest County is more than three times the county by land area, second most populous national average. Within this sector, (380,629), and one of its primary economic creative industry employment is engines. Intersected by two interstates, concentrated among enterprises involved in Waukesha County has become a favored commercial, digital, and book printing location for businesses. Several nationally industries, with these three enterprise and internationally known companies are clusters contributing more than 40 percent located here, including Quad/Graphics, the of all creative industry employment in the second largest printer in the western county. hemisphere. Quad/Graphics’ headquarters is located in Sussex and has approximately Despite its prevalence, the design- 3,000 employees in Waukesha County. GE communications industry cluster dropped Healthcare Technologies, and Kohl’s Corp., 10 percent in Waukesha County between the nation’s fastest-growing department 2002 and 2009, totaling a loss of more than store chain are also located in Waukesha 900 jobs. The county’s second largest County. Median household income is industries, media and film and performing $75,754, highest in the region according to arts, each saw growth during this same time the 2008 U.S. Census. Educational period, at increases of 4 percent and 20 attainment is high with nearly 35 percent of percent, respectively. Overall, creative the population having a bachelors or sector employment in Waukesha County masters degree. dropped only 2 percent across the seven- year period, resulting in a loss of 342 jobs. Waukesha County has both urban and rural landscapes that are dotted with lakes. Of over 845 creative enterprises identified There are rapidly growing suburban in Waukesha County, about 57 are communities. Waukesha (population nonprofit, 10 are government entities, and 66,762) is one of the fastest-growing cities almost 800 are commercial businesses, in the region, followed by Brookfield including architectural offices, tool and die (39,209), New Berlin (39,016), Menomonee firms, photographers, design studios, media Falls (34,375), and Muskego (22,839); the companies, advertising agencies, consulting quaint lake communities of Oconomowoc, firms, printing companies, craft studios, Oconomowoc Lake, and Delafield; and production companies, bookstores, film and quiet, rural enclaves of Genesee Depot, video companies, publishers, music and Mukwonago, Dousman, and Eagle. dance academies, entertainment companies, jewelers, and art supply stores. Waukesha County, with a total of 13,427 jobs (28 percent of total creative sector employment), is the second largest

69

Creative Assets Waukesha County’s other communities are also culturally vital. In Brookfield, the Money Magazine picked Waukesha as the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts, a th “36 Best Small City in the Country” in longstanding leader in regional arts 2006, in part because of its cultural vitality. collaboration, offers music, theatre, dance The city boasts a thriving arts district with and other performances from the region many galleries and cultural venues. and from around the world, along with Waukesha Civic Theatre, now over 50 years exhibits, classes, and educational programs, old, presents community theater and in a modern and intimate venue. In education programs in a renovated old Muskego, the Muskego High School movie theater building donated by a Performing Arts Center is an outstanding prominent developer with a vision to venue for the production and performance integrate cultural development into of a wide variety of school-sponsored and downtown revitalization. The Wisconsin community cultural events. The Philharmonic, formerly the Waukesha Oconomowoc Arts Center was built in 2008 Symphony Orchestra, has been presenting by the Oconomowoc Area School District classical concerts, Summer Pops, and with bond funding to serve area children education programs at various locations in and residents with a lively schedule of the county for over 60 years. The school and community events, including Waukesha West End Artists Group is two presenting series that bring in regional comprised of artists and artisans in the city and international artists. Finally, Ten of Waukesha and the surrounding Chimneys, the historic home of Alfred Lunt communities who are dedicated to and Lynn Fontanne is located in the county. supporting the arts. It promotes the galleries and organizes regular events, such Heritage highlights in Waukesha County as the Arts Crawls. The Donna Lexa include Old World Wisconsin, one of the Community Arts Center provides art country’s largest outdoor living history programs for students with disabilities that museums, Waukesha County Historical promote creativity, dignity, and community Museum, Nashotah House, Clark House integration. The city is also home to dance Museum, Dousman Stagecoach Inn and choral groups. Focus group Museum, and historic downtowns. participants report a good relationship Higher education institutions are a crucial between the arts and business part of Waukesha County’s creative communities. economy. The University of Wisconsin- Arts Waukesha, formerly the Arts Alliance Waukesha offers associate degrees and of Waukesha County, is an important coursework in theater, music, cultural support organization, and the Arts communication, arts, and writing. The Waukesha Fund provides grants, advocates campus includes the Fine Arts Center for and promotes the arts, coordinates Gallery and Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. The events calendars, and presents annual arts Windy Hill Brass is the resident brass awards. The Waukesha County Community ensemble of University of Wisconsin- Foundation has also provided funding for Waukesha. public art and cultural activity.

70

Carroll University, Wisconsin’s oldest Challenges and Opportunities institution of higher education, offers degrees in visual arts, arts education, . Despite the amount and breadth of theater arts, music education, music cultural activity in the county, groups business, communications, graphic design, are working separately, on their own, web design, and writing. The university with little collaboration on marketing, hosts exhibits and performances in its cross promotions, or arts education galleries, Shattuck Music Center, and programming. Otteson Theater. Waukesha County . Technical College offers associate degrees The arts have been a catalyst for and/or coursework in photography, digital downtown revitalization in Waukesha imaging, music recording, animation, County, but there is a fear that they will television postproduction, architectural be displaced with upscale retail and technology, interior design, and graphic higher rents as urban areas gentrify. design. . It is difficult to find enough donors and financial support to sustain the cultural infrastructure and level of activity that has been developed.

. Higher than average household income, a strong management employment base, and strong arts education in a K- 12 school system have been catalysts for the development of the cultural sector in Waukesha County.

71

Chapter 5. Nurturing Creative Industries — Key Findings

Leveraging and building upon the region’s NONPROFIT CULTURAL SUPPORT current creative strengths requires an environment that has the following AND FUNDING characteristics: The nonprofit cultural support system falls Nonprofit Organizational Support and within two broad categories: the major Funding: A strong, formal, cultural support organizations that focus on the state and system, supportive public policy, and a regional levels and the smaller sustainable funding base are critical to the organizations that focus on a community or long-term viability of the region’s artists county level. There are five major state and and cultural institutions. regional organizations: the Cultural Alliance of Greater Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Entrepreneurial and Business Assistance: Artists’ Resource Network, Arts Wisconsin, Entrepreneurs and creative enterprises in the Wisconsin Arts Board, and the United the commercial sector require access to Performing Arts Fund. (See sidebar on appropriate support systems and financial following page.) On the community and resources to support their operations, county levels, there are a number of facilities, and growth. cultural support organizations including:

Networking: Formal and informal Whitewater Arts Alliance; opportunities can help build the region’s Walworth Arts Council; creative assets and enterprises. County Artists, Musical and Performing Talent: A deep creative talent base is Arts Commission (CAMPAC): necessary to ensure that the region’s AHA! Kenosha; businesses and organizations have both the workers and markets relevant to a global Racine Arts Council; 21st century economy. West End Artists (Waukesha);

Spaces and Venues: The availability of Pewaukee Area Arts Council; flexible and affordable space is critical for Cedarburg Artists Guild; producing creative products and services and for operating an enterprise, and Port Washington-Saukville Arts Council; appropriate venues are need for presenting, the Milwaukee County Cultural Artistic selling, and showcasing products. and Musical Programming Advisory Council and the Milwaukee County Building upon extensive interviews, focus Fund for the Arts; and groups, and surveys of the regional artists and businesses, the following section looks City of Milwaukee Arts Board. at some of the strengths and weaknesses of The region’s nonprofit cultural institutions the Milwaukee region across these have substantial needs for both operating characteristics. support as well as facility improvements.

72

For example, the Cultural Alliance’s 2008 Cultural Asset Inventory of the Milwaukee 7 MAJOR STATE AND REGIONAL SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS Region identified for the Greater Milwaukee The Cultural Alliance of Greater Milwaukee was created in 2005 to Committee almost $200 million in needed provide support to artists and cultural organizations in the region, infrastructure repair, capital improvements, raise their visibility, advocate on their behalf, and strengthen the connections with elected officials as well as individuals and and endowment building over the next five organizations in the business and economic development community. years to sustain cultural venues and The Alliance spearheaded the region’s first Cultural Assets Inventory institutions. Focus group and key interview in 2008, plays a highly visible role advocating for funding for the arts participants voiced a fear that the depth community, helps members cut their costs by organizing a network of vendors through its Affinity Providers Program, facilitates and breadth of cultural institutions, relationships between arts and cultural organizations and the city’s programs, and venues cannot be sustained. school systems and neighborhood organizations through the There is a perception that Milwaukee has Milwaukee Arts Education Directory, and is the organizing force Creativity Works!, more cultural activity than it can support or behind the effort that led to this project to develop a Strategic Plan for the Creative Industries in the Milwaukee 7 Region. consume. The Milwaukee Artists Network (MARN) was founded in 2000 to Nonprofit cultural institutions are build a strong support system for the visual, performing, and literary arts. MARN has an extensive menu of services and programs that are struggling. The recession, older and designed to help individual artists enhance their ability to make a declining audiences, a younger generation living with their art. Its Salon program connects individual artists with that does not subscribe, but tends buy museums, galleries, art dealers, patrons, and collectors. MARN also organizes networking opportunities so that artists have the chance to tickets at the last minute, and a pricing meet and collaborate with other artists. The Arts Mentor program system that is not flexible all contribute to a pairs experienced artists with those who are interested in declining revenue stream and an erratic strengthening their skills and their ability to market and sell their cash flow. Moreover, many in the funding work. community believe there has been Arts Wisconsin is a statewide membership organization whose insufficient attention within the nonprofits mission is promoting, advocating for, and advancing the arts. In addition to advocacy, it helps members strengthen their operations to increase the share of earned income in through the ArtsPeer Advisory Network, the Rural Arts Management their budgets. In this context, the support Institute, the Art Jobs resource directory, and workshops like the organizations face a number of challenges. Work of Art sessions that focus on the business of art. Ongoing individualized technical assistance and planning are also available to The smaller cultural organizations are members and the arts community. Finally, Arts Wisconsin produces Arts Education in Wisconsin and a comprehensive database that helps often under-resourced. people navigate their way through the landscape of arts-related activity in the state. The revenues for these organizations are The Wisconsin Arts Board (Arts Board), the state arts agency, increasingly difficult to come by. “nurtures creativity, cultivates expression, promotes the arts, Foundations in the region have been hard supports the arts in education, stimulates community and economic hit by the recession and their own development, and serves as a resource for people of every culture resources have been compromised. and heritage.” Its 2009 fiscal year budget was $5.7 million. The board provides grants for individuals (the Artist and Community Businesses and corporations, which are Collaboration, Artists Fellowships, and Folk Arts Apprenticeships having their own difficulties, are programs) and for organizations, (the Creation and Presentation and a experiencing donor fatigue. Both re-granting program for local arts councils). Other activities include a foundations and corporations also feel that program for the exhibit of the work of state artists, an initiative that guides and promotes art in education, the Percent for Art Program, other competing demands, like hunger, are the promotion and visibility of individual artists and programs and more of a priority. activities on the Folk Arts, news features about art in the state, and directories of arts resources and organizations. Many of the smaller organizations rely on United Performing Arts Fund oversees an annual community-wide part-time staff or volunteers to do most of fundraising campaign and allocates these funds to 34 member and the work. For some, this puts limits on their affiliate performing arts organizations throughout southeastern Wisconsin. 73

ability to function and to serve the needs of county and state economic development artists and other arts organizations. organizations and business support Moreover, there is limited ability to develop resource providers are minimal and, a comprehensive plan for their work based consequently, many artists in the region are on needs and opportunities in the arts and isolated from business, and businesses, in cultural community. With few staff and turn, lack a solid grounding in the creative financial resources, there is limited ability to industry assets that exist within the region. be strategic — some programs are There are, however, examples in the region developed because a board member feels of new innovative approaches. For passionate about it. instance, the Marcus Center has been working to free itself from public funding The region is represented by a number of with a redevelopment of the garage site, strong local and regional cultural making it the first nonprofit arts organizations that have good, longstanding organization to be self-reliant through real connections and relationships with the arts estate development. and cultural community. However, these organizations tend to be siloed, by Funding for the region’s nonprofit cultural community and cultural segments. institutions, while historically strong, has been decreasing in recent years and The range of services and programs is putting pressure on the region’s cultural impressive (promotion, visibility, small organizations. grants, marketing and sales assistance, event organizing and coordination, arts According to the 2008 Argosy Foundation education, networking, etc.). Some of the Report, Milwaukee County property tax- organizations focus on commerce — based support for cultural institutions and helping artists sell and exhibit their work, facilities (including the zoo) has hovered and helping arts organizations expand their around $12 to $13 million per year since audiences and diversify their markets. On 1985. There is significant property tax- the other hand, while collaboration exists, based support in all M7 counties, but it is many focus group members indicated that declining in inflation-adjusted dollars. For it is not universal; there are still silos and Milwaukee County, this decrease is not nearly the kind of collaboration and estimated at $7 million over the last strategic partnering that should exist. decade, according to the 2008 Cultural Asset Inventory of the Milwaukee 7 Region. Some of the cultural organizations have State funding through the Wisconsin Arts limited contact and relationships with the Board is low in comparison to other states business and economic development at $0.43 per capita, ranking 40th. communities and the resource Milwaukee Arts Board support, as reported organizations that provide business for 2009, is about $.33 per capita, near the support. bottom of support by the 60 largest U.S. cities. Throughout the interviews and focus groups for this project, it became clear that the The Milwaukee region’s United Performing support organizations are most comfortable Arts Fund campaign is the second largest working with and building relationships private united arts fund in the U.S., but it with the arts and cultural community. has declined over the last two years, in a Relationships and collaborations with

74

tough economy. Its highest ever total of artists, creatives, and designers — the small $10.6 million was raised in 2007; $9.47 entrepreneurs who are making their living million was raised in 2010. through contracting their services and/or selling their products. Like any other The nonprofits are also in danger of losing entrepreneur or business, creative some of the financial support they have businesses require a nurturing relied on as direct grants from foundations, environment, ability to reach their market, over and above the UPAF campaign. access to specialized assistance, and Foundations have suffered from the appropriate financing. recession, and they are also fatigued from constant solicitations from artists and From interviews, focus groups, and survey nonprofits. Lack of stable, sustainable results, it is quite clear that although many sources of financial support makes it are able to sell their products and services, difficult to operate and plan for the future many smaller commercial creative businesses are struggling to make ends While individual cultural organizations meet and to sustain their operations. For have taken steps to increase their earned example, entrepreneurs in the creative income, more could be done to work more industries are finding the current market collaboratively to build audiences and conditions very difficult — if they do not visitors. have a deep niche and a recognized name/brand, they find it extremely difficult The 2006 Geodemographic Market Study by to make a profit. the Cultural Alliance indicated potential for growing cultural audiences and earned While there are significant resources in the income. Demand for cultural services is region to support entrepreneurial above average; there is little overlap among development and small business growth, audiences of individual cultural few of these resources understand and organizations; and there are opportunities target creative businesses. to diversify audiences through messaging and media choices. New and more loyal There are organizations and programs audiences are also the most fertile ground throughout the region, with a heavy for development of contributors and concentration in Milwaukee, which offer a patrons. very broad range of services for individual entrepreneurs, small businesses, and BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURIAL creative organizations. However, many of SUPPORT these organizations and programs do not fully embrace the creative industries, they The heart of the creative industries in the have a limited understanding of how Milwaukee region is its creative enterprises. creative businesses and organizations These enterprises include the thousands of function, and, as a result, they have little commercial enterprises that produce and visibility or relevance for the creative distribute products with creative content businesses and entrepreneurs. and the freelancers — the self-employed

75

For example, while the city of Milwaukee has a strong awareness of the creative EXAMPLES OF REGIONAL BUSINESS SUPPORT economy and a loan portfolio that includes ORGANIZATIONS a modest number of creative enterprises, BizStarts Milwaukee was created in 2008 by several local the city does not target the creative business leaders and entrepreneurs to “accelerate early-stage industries in a strategic way, and it lacks a businesses and ideas,” increase the number of fast-growing plan for growing and expanding creative companies in the region, and create a climate that will significantly enhance entrepreneurial development in the M7 businesses. Moreover, throughout the region. BizStarts has seen a few people involved in the creative region, entrepreneurial development industries in its programs, and it may see more if graduates from efforts are generally heavily focused on the region’s arts and creative schools continue to stay and start technology-driven and green economy businesses. firms. The Kohler Center for Entrepreneurship at Marquette University supports several programs including the Golden Angel Network, Overall, in the current economic the Business Plan Competition, and, in partnership with the MMAC, “Emerging Entrepreneurs,” a networking initiative to environment, access to commercial enhance the management capacity of owners and executives of financing and risk financing for the region’s companies. entrepreneurs and growing small The Uihlein/Spitzer Center for Entrepreneurship at the businesses in the creative industries is Milwaukee School of Engineering was created to help faculty and students turn their business ideas into reality. difficult to access. The Waukesha County Technical College’s Small Business Entrepreneurs in the creative industries Services program offers networking and technical assistance to seeking startup financing or risk capital students who want to start or strengthen a small business. have access to many of the same sources as The Multicultural Entrepreneurial Institute (MEI) primarily serves entrepreneurs in other industries. small businesses and entrepreneurs in the African-American and However, the private, public, and quasi- Latino communities. MEI offers business planning and technical assistance in owning and managing a small business. A number of public financing that is available does not artists have been the recipients of some of the services from the fully understand the creative industries. MEI, notably a painter, an art broker, an architect, a web designer, and a music promoter. NETWORKING SUPPORT The Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC) lends directly to microenterprises and provides We live in an environment where business assistance in loan packaging and owning and operating a small and organizational success is increasingly business. WWBIC targets women (although not exclusively), related to access to and ability to network. people of color, and microenterprises in low-income communities. Several of its loans have been given to people in In addition to online networking, a rich the creative industries. networked community has multiple venues and opportunities for formal and informal face-to-face networking. There are a number of organizations in the There are several networks and networking region that provide opportunities for opportunities for entrepreneurs and small networking amongst creative businesses businesses in the region. and artists. For example, Bucketworks is a co-working, meet-up, and practice space for There is need in the region for additional creative professionals with specialized opportunities for informal networking equipment and experienced coaches who within the creative and cultural can facilitate the development of creative community. initiatives. RedLine Milwaukee offers studio space and mentorships to artists in

76

residence, exhibit opportunities, education that should be occurring within the programs for teens, and printmaking creative industries. equipment and space. There is enthusiasm for the networking sparked by gathering people for the ENTREPRENEURIAL NETWORKS Creativity Works! focus groups and meetings. Connections were made; The Wisconsin Innovation Network meets on a monthly basis and collaborations were fostered; these can be is a forum for entrepreneurs, service providers, and others built upon. The flipside is that the involved in technology businesses who want to partner or collaborate with others. gatherings highlighted a current lack of collaborative vision and cooperation — The Wisconsin Entrepreneurs Network provides entrepreneurs across counties as well as the region. In with information on all state resources related to entrepreneurial particular, networking is limited in the and business development, through four regional offices around following areas: the state and through an extensive menu of events and information sessions throughout the year. . between older and younger cohorts; BizStarts’ Biz Connects offers networking opportunities for those . between commercial and nonprofit seeking to grow and expand their businesses. creative enterprises and organizations; The Emerging Entrepreneurs (a joint effort by the Kohler Center . between the mainstream community and MMAC) is a new initiative that will give new entrepreneurs and various racial and ethnic groups; and small enterprise owners a chance to enhance their business skills and capacity through peer-to-peer advising, idea feedback . across the seven counties; and sessions, and specialized seminars. . between the creative and economic The Inventors and Entrepreneurs Forum of Greater Milwaukee development work. offers networking opportunities twice a month to anyone who has an invention, who has a new business idea, or who wants to Social networks and various online expand a business. communities are growing and are Leadership Milwaukee also provides networking opportunities for increasingly important as a venue for entrepreneurs who are a subset of a larger group of young informal networking within the region’s professionals. creative industries. The MMAC organizes several different networking events and programs, e.g., CEO’s Roundtable, the Networking Forum, and TALENT FUEL. Each of these programs gives entrepreneurs and business owners the chance to learn from each other and hear about new A strong creative economy and vibrant economic and business opportunities. creative industries require a pipeline of creative talent. The primary source of this new talent is internal, coming through the region’s K-12 system and youth cultural However, the Survey of Artists found that programs, technical colleges, four-year artists feel that the greatest need in the colleges, and universities. The region’s region is for additional informal networking education system is essential to the growth opportunities. and sustainability of its creative enterprises. The networking that is carried out in the But educational institutions and region is often limited in scope and lacking organizations play a dual role in supporting in the kind of broad-based connections creative enterprises. Not only do they provide the skills, learning, services, and

77

connections to enter and succeed in careers Milwaukee, which is under the most in creative occupations, educational pressure to improve achievement scores, institutions are also where people learn to has greatly reduced resources for the arts in appreciate and value the arts and creativity order to focus on the basics. The as future participants, supporters, and Milwaukee K-8 schools, for example, were consumers. once required to have at least half-time teachers for both art and music, but now The creative talent pipeline involves require only 0.1 teachers per school. High educational and training activities at schools once had a graduation requirement multiple levels: the K-12 public and private of one credit in fine arts, but no longer. In schools, including career and technical contrast, arts remain strong in the Kenosha education; in the two- and four-year system. As one person said in a focus postsecondary institutions; and the out-of- group, “Both in music and theatre, our school and extracurricular programs school district is second to none. We do a focused on youth. Each level has a good job preparing our young adults for distinctive role to play in preparing and careers in the arts.” And, the Racine School supporting the creative industries. Their system, according to comments in a focus success depends in part on the quality of group, is building “a new generation of the institutions, organizations, and faculty, artists.” As a result of the pressures the but also on how well they coordinate and arts find themselves under, the Wisconsin articulate their efforts with the larger lieutenant governor and state community and economy. superintendent of education formed a Task Force on Arts and Creativity in Education. It The creative pipeline also extends outside produced a report and a set of of the region, on the region’s ability to recommendations in January 2009 to attract new talent from other places and to reinsert the arts and creativity into the bring back talent that may have left the classroom, to revise standards to make sure region. This external pipeline is particularly every student has access to programs with important because it brings different ideas qualified teachers, and to continue the and experiences to the region that can research to improve arts and creativity stimulate even greater creativity. education. This section examines the strengths and The region has strong magnet schools in weaknesses of the educational pipeline of the arts. talent into the Milwaukee 7 region.

K-12 Arts Education — Inside and The Milwaukee High School of the Arts Outside of the School (MHSA), part of the Milwaukee Public School system, is the city’s primary magnet Arts in the public schools have been under school for the creative economy. The siege due to pressure to concentrate school’s core curriculum focuses on five resources on raising science, math, and creative areas: dance, theatre, music, English achievement scores at the same creative writing, and visual arts. It is the only school in Wisconsin that offers two time that budgets are getting tighter. hours of arts education every day for all The ability of school systems to retain their four years of high school, including courses art programs is mixed across the region. for advanced placement in the arts as well

78

as sciences, history, and other areas. microenterprises off the screen of school Another arts school is the Bull Fine Arts career centers. Elementary in Racine, which since 1974 has offered an alternative education that has focused on the arts. EXAMPLES OF EXEMPLARY PROGRAMS IN CREATIVE The region has a very large number of INDUSTRIES AT THE REGION’S HIGHER EDUCATION external programs in the arts that INSTITUTIONS complement and supplement what the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD) ranked 10th among all public system offers. design schools in the U.S. by the Design Intelligence Journal. Committed to innovation, the school produces topnotch designers for the region’s leading companies. These programs are offered by museums and other cultural centers; performance UWM’s Peck School of the Arts, with BFA and MFA programs in visual arts and craft media and a certificate in museum studies. venues and troupes; private art, music, UWM offers a BA in interdisciplinary arts and technology (although the theatre, or dance schools; nonprofit arts focus is much more the application of technology to the arts than the organizations; and private teachers. There influence of the arts on technology more broadly defined). are also a number of multidisciplinary Marquette University’s Department of Performing Arts and degree in organizations that play an intermediary role theatre, in partnership with MIAD, which covers all aspects of performance and production. Its 50 to 60 students come mainly from in K-12 school and community settings, the area and Chicago, but most leave the area to find work. providing opportunities for youth to Cardinal Stritch University’s BA in jazz studies, composition, and develop and express talent in the performance. Named the states first “All Steinway” school, public performances take place in a 400-seat auditorium. performing and visual arts. These include Arts @ Large, Artists Working in Education, UWM’s BFA and MFA programs in film and video are ranked among the top in the U.S. Its documentary film center has a partnership with Latino Arts, and ArtWorks for Milwaukee; Public Television, shows at and puts on film festivals, and produces Racine Art Museum, Kindermusik, and creative talent, which generally has to leave the area due to lack of opportunities. Kenosha Conservatory of Music. The 4-H clubs are sources of creativity through their Mount Mary has a top-rated program in fashion design that includes a writing and landscape architecture. As one Harley-Davidson Patternmaking Laboratory. It includes internships and partners with the Paris American Academy, makes biannual trips to person told the team, “It’s a source of Paris, and has a permanent historic costume exhibition space in Walter incredible artistic talent…that has been and Olive Stiemke Memorial Hall. overlooked for quite some time.” The Theater Department at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside campus was named the recipient of the University of Wisconsin Board Career and technical education in the high of Regents’ “Teaching Excellence Award for Outstanding Academic Program.” The department was the only fine arts department in the schools offers no career programs for state to ever win this award. creative occupations. Concordia University, Alverno College, Cardinal Stritch University, and UW-Milwaukee have K-12 art and music education programs to This path, which was once called vocational prepare teachers for the public or private schools, e.g., CEO’s education, is aimed at preparation for Roundtable, the Networking Forum, and FUEL. Each of these programs careers, but without limiting college gives entrepreneurs and business owners the chance to learn from each other and to hear about new economic and business entrance. There are no programs of career opportunities. options directly related to creative occupations, although some design and media is embedded in the communications program of study. These career paths are driven by employment opportunities, but many of the creative opportunities result in self-employment or work in

79

Postsecondary Education economy — for performances, galleries and museums, community arts events, and The region has strong degree programs public forums. and certificate programs in creative fields MIAD is a special case — a degree granting in its four technical colleges. institution that focuses on creativity. The The region is served by four technical school stands out in the Midwest and in the colleges: Milwaukee Area, Gateway, U.S. in its support of developing individuals’ Waukesha, and Moraine Park technical creative interests into careers and tapping colleges. Milwaukee Area Technical College into undervalued artistic talent. Its has the deepest and most extensive set of programs begin with a solid foundation in programs for the creative economy, arts and liberal studies and cover the full programs that are articulated with higher range from studio arts to communications education and connected to the creative to industrial design. Graduation requires a economy. Gateway has degree programs in senior visual thesis that develops a vision. interior design, which provide real life Graduates are highly sought by employers experience and lead to membership in the not only in Milwaukee, but also around the American Society of Interior Designers, and world. Further, MIAD offers courses to high in architecture. Waukesha has degree school students. programs in interior design and printing/graphics. In addition, there are Training talent is something for which various non-credit courses at all colleges in MATC, MIAD, Marquette, and the Peck arts, crafts, and culinary arts. School of the Arts are particularly noted — their programs are of the highest order, but The region’s programs in arts, culture, some people suggested closer relationships design, and other creative areas are one of with firms and companies in the industry to its strongest assets. make sure that youth are being trained on the latest technology and trained in content Eight colleges and universities, some of that is relevant to business. which have multiple campuses, offer baccalaureate and higher degrees for careers in creative fields: the University of Talent Attraction and Retention Wisconsin-Milwaukee, UWM-Parkside, There has been a significant brain gain in UWM-Whitewater, and UWM-Waukesha; the region, with many young people Marquette University; Cardinal Stritch returning to their roots and finding the University; Alverno College; Mount Mary area a great place to live and work. College; Wisconsin Lutheran; and the Milwaukee Institute for Art and Design (all The higher education institutions are in Milwaukee); and Concordia (in Mequon). churning out a significant number of skilled There was a virtual consensus in the focus and trained people in creative disciplines groups concerning the importance of higher such as design, architecture, media, and education to the creative economy. Each of creative technology. The good news is that the region’s institutions has strengths in the area is becoming a wellspring of talent one or more aspects of the creative and, if that talent can be harnessed, it can economy. Further, most of the institutions help reshape the region’s creative are important venues for the creative industries and image.

80

There are several organizations that made to change this image so that it is recognize the talent explosion, and they are more in keeping with the level of creative making efforts to organize it, e.g., Big Shoes activities in the region, much work remains Network, FUEL, Spreenkler, and the Greater to rebuild the image and rebrand the Milwaukee Committee (GMC). One person region. said, “People are choosing to come here and live. That’s huge, that there’s SPACES AND VENUES something about this place that people are finding attractive.” Creative enterprises and individual artists and performers need access to appropriate Creative talent is attracted by Milwaukee’s facilities to both create their work and to friendly, creative vibes, affordability, quality present their work. Moreover, the region of life, and increasing creative as a whole needs to have the facilities and opportunities. Milwaukee’s rock scene has venues to provide for a rich cultural been nationally recognized as one of the environment. These venues include most dynamic and growing in America, permanent spaces as well as special events important since cities such as Austin, and festivals that provide opportunities to Seattle, and Portland trumpet their live showcase and sell creative products, to music scenes as a key factor in attracting attract visitors to the region, and to and retaining young, well-educated talent. promote a rich community life. The lower cost of living and proximity to Chicago also add to the region’s Throughout the region, there are a number attractiveness. of buildings and spaces that give artists and other creatives an opportunity to To attract and retain talent, more could be produce their work and operate their done to change the image of the region. business or enterprise. These kinds of Retaining more talented graduates of the spaces are critically important for the long- higher educational programs, especially in term economic viability of individuals, small the less populated counties of the region, businesses, and the creative industries in and attracting creatives from elsewhere general. remains a significant challenge. While there Following are just a few examples of is evidence of people moving to the region, buildings and spaces that are targeted to graduates of the region’s creative programs creatives and their work. often move outside of the Milwaukee region. As is the case in most parts of the The owners of Jake’s Café in Sheboygan U.S., there is significant competition from have created space for the “creative locations popular with creatives such as professional class.” The space is designed New York, Chicago, and Austin. Many with a variety of creative businesses and creative businesses also note their difficulty individuals in mind — writers, filmmakers, in attracting talent to Milwaukee. web and industrial designers, and painters. There is a common receptionist area, A common theme emerging from almost meeting rooms, two kitchens, as well as every focus group is that the image of printing and other administrative services Milwaukee as a declining Midwestern city is available to tenants. The owners are a significant barrier to talent attraction and retention. While some progress has been

81

planning a somewhat similar facility in In the Artist’s Survey, access to shared Milwaukee. space and services for production was ranked as a significant need. Fifty percent There are eight existing small business of the artists surveyed work out of their incubators located throughout the seven- homes — some find this very acceptable, county region: six in Milwaukee County and while many would like production and one each in Washington and Racine operating space outside of their homes. counties. Another one is being planned in Whitewater, with the University as a The region has an extremely strong set of partner. Part of that facility will be targeted cultural venues. to designers and others in the creative industries. Small business incubators have Major venues encompassing performance, proven to be important resources for the exhibit, natural history, and heritage start up and expansion of small businesses. functions are located in downtown In a few instances, spaces are occupied by Milwaukee and are resources for the entire individuals working in the creative region. These include the Marcus Center, industries. the Pabst, Riverside and Turner Hall Ballroom, Milwaukee Public Museum, Hide House in Bay View is a relatively new Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee County building that has live and work space for Historical Society, and Milwaukee Repertory creatives and small businesses. There are Theater. The Calatrava addition to the 60 units on four floors, common areas, Milwaukee Art Museum has become a rehearsal space for musicians, meeting creative symbol for the city, garnering rooms, and other amenities. international attention. The Harley- Davidson Museum features 130,000 square Bucketworks in Milwaukee is a space where feet of exhibit space on its 20-acre campus, creatives can launch their business, share with tours and education programs about ideas, collaborate on projects, and network the iconic products of one of Milwaukee’s with others in the creative industries. The premier companies. Almost 50 percent of facility has three buildings, 20 rooms, and audiences of Milwaukee-based institutions 20,000 square feet of space. Rental costs and venues are from outside Milwaukee vary, but there is shared office and County. workspace, meeting rooms, and computer workstations. Major venues exist in every M7 county as a focal point for nonprofit cultural activity, Other examples of live/work and collective serving both local and regional audiences. spaces and marketing include Blend Studios These include the Museum of Wisconsin in the Third Ward, the Riverwest Artist Art, Schauer Arts and Activity Center, Association, and BYO Studio. These Racine Heritage Museum, the Kenosha organizations and others are converting History Center, Luxemburg Heritage some of the Milwaukee region’s trove of Museum, Cedarburg Cultural Center, industrial and warehouse space into Ozaukee Art Center, Kenosha Public creative spaces, studios, workshops, and Museum, the Cultural Arts Center in galleries. Private developers have Whitewater, Racine Art Museum, and the developed many of these buildings and, in Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts. some cases, creatives and small creative The Milwaukee region is home to dozens of enterprises are occupying space.

82

cultural festivals and outdoor concerts each On the Alverno College campus, the Pitman year. Many of these are presented in the Theatre hosts dance, music concerts, and specialized facilities along the lakefront theatre; Wehr Hall holds more intimate developed for Summerfest, including the events; and Alphonsa Hall is the site of huge Marcus Amphitheater, with a capacity music recitals. of 23,000. Mount Mary College’s Steimke Hall seats Several shared space models have emerged, 100 for music concerts; Kostka Theatre is a from the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, a performing arts venue; and the Marion converted Schlitz warehouse co-owned by Gallery has national, regional, and local art First Stage Children’s Theater and shows year round. Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, to the Broadway Theatre Center, owned by UWM’s Helen Zelazo Center includes the Skylight Opera Theatre, with multiple 700-seat Bader Hall and various lounges spaces for rent to other cultural and rooms that seat up to 200 for organizations, to the collaborative effort by performances; the Inova Institute has three Milwaukee Ballet to co-locate with the large exhibition spaces for art in the Peck UWM Dance Department and the Medical School of the Arts; and the UWM Union has College of Wisconsin with its Harmony a movie theatre that shows avant-garde, Initiative, to the Bucketworks “co-working” experimental, and documentary films and facility, to creative hubs such as RedLine. holds film festivals.

Educational institutions are a critical part There are also important performing arts of the region’s cultural facility venues associated with area K-12 public schools, such as the Muskego High School infrastructure. Performing Arts Center, Oconomowoc Arts Colleges and universities have large Center, built by the Oconomowoc Area performance spaces including theatres, School District, Milwaukee High School of auditoriums, recital halls, lounges, and the Arts, and the Cedarburg Performing Arts workshop spaces. They have exhibition Center. spaces as museums, galleries, and shows. The region faces some challenges in terms Marquette University has the Helfaer of its existing facilities and venues. Theatre that seats 226, the Weasler Auditorium that seats 499, the StrazTower While the region has a very strong Theatre with 89 seats, the Black Box infrastructure of facilities and venues, there Experimental Dance Studio, and the is evidence that there are additional needs Haggerty Museum of Art, which has a and challenges moving forward: permanent collection plus special . Focus group and key interview exhibitions. participants expressed that available Wisconsin Lutheran College’s Center for facilities are not affordable to all Arts and Performance includes the Blackbox groups, particularly small organizations. Theatre, Scwan Concert Hall, Raabe . There is a perception by some that Theatre, rehearsal halls, and the Schlueter performing arts space is underutilized. Art Gallery.

83

. Milwaukee lacks a contemporary, There are a number of opportunities for configurable, blackbox space for further building the region’s facilities and theater, dance, etc. venues for culture and creative industries. . Communities outside of Milwaukee The Milwaukee region still has significant County have identified facilities and amounts of industrial and warehouse space venues needs/opportunities, especially suitable for conversion to creative space. studio and workshop space. There is growing interest in shared spaces . There is a perception among focus and services; several excellent models have group participants that there is little already emerged, as cited above. collaboration between and among arts and cultural organizations, including There is growing interest in cultural around facilities use. Participants in the development, particularly venues, as a counties outside Milwaukee County downtown and community revitalization frequently expressed feelings of strategy. isolation within their own counties and especially within the region.

. Marketing is a particular challenge. Venues, including historic museums and heritage sites, are challenged to market with limited resources, and they feel unconnected to communication networks.

. The region lacks an up-to-date inventory of available creative and live/work spaces. There is also no vehicle for connecting artists and creatives with spaces.

84

Chapter 6. Suggested Goals and Recommendations

CONTEXT FOR SUGGESTED GOALS organizations is a critical mechanism for ensuring that the capacity will be in place. AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Creative Industries Project Principles

This research and analysis project was 1. The scope of the recommendations is undertaken to define and quantify the broad-based — that is, focused on the greater Milwaukee region’s creative entire geographical area and systemic industry’s assets, challenges, and in nature. opportunities for growth. Based on our research, we believe it is possible to achieve 2. The recommendations will position the a vision that the creative industries in creative industries to help address greater Milwaukee will: some of the racial and geographical . grow into an important economic driver barriers that exist within the region. in the regional economy and become 3. The recommendations leverage and one of its significant economic clusters; build on existing assets and capacity. . create jobs in enterprises throughout the region and lead to more SUGGESTED GOALS, entrepreneurial opportunities for RECOMMENDATIONS, AND ACTION individuals as well as stronger more STEPS: THE CREATIVE AGENDA sustainable nonprofit organizations;

. enhance the competitiveness of other GOAL 1: CREATE NEW ENTERPRISES AND businesses and economic sectors in the GROW SMALL BUSINESSES IN CREATIVE regional economy; INDUSTRIES.

. be a critically important asset to help Provide assistance to for-profit and retain and attract talent to the region; nonprofit enterprises and individuals and in the creative industries. Develop a new Creative Industries . continue to enhance the vitality and Microloan Program for creative quality of life of the Milwaukee region. entrepreneurs. This vision can be realized within the next Model: SEEDCO’s Art Business Initiative five to 10 years as long as the region can provides loans and services to nonprofit- organize the capacity to implement the and for-profit-related arts and cultural goals and recommendations that are enterprises. Recipients of the loans can use outlined below. An effective partnership them for startups and expansions, between the cultural community and the construction and renovation, purchase of region’s economic development new equipment, and debt consolidation.

85

Model: Creative Enterprises Revolving Loan database helps artists find a variety of Fund, a public/nonprofit partnership among different spaces as well as provides the Denver Office of Economic information on financing and zoning. The Development, the Denver Office of Cultural Cultural Development Corporation in Affairs, and the Micro Business Washington, DC, provides a similar service. Development Corporation, aims to provide the capital necessary for creative Model: Philly Space Finder is a website of enterprises to build, strengthen, or expand the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, their business ventures. The program the Theater Alliance of Greater targets creative enterprises. Special Philadelphia, the Music Project, and Dance consideration is given to low-wealth USA. The site serves as an intermediary for individuals and artists with disabilities. building owners who have available space, Loan amounts range from $500 to $20,000. and individuals, enterprises, and organizations that are looking for space. Design a “Creative Apps” program The site is directed primarily at the focused on training and support for performing arts and to those who are entrepreneurs interested in creating looking for space for rehearsals, auditions, Droid, iPad, and iPhone apps. performances, classes, exhibits, etc. Hold Creative Industry Information Create more networking events Sessions for business development throughout the region that bring providers in the region about the together all of the creative segments, needs of creative businesses and as well as people in the business artists and better target their community, to provide opportunities resources to the creative community. for strategic partnerships and Model: The Franklin County Community collaborations. Development Corporation (CDC) in Model: SPARK is a monthly networking Greenfield, Massachusetts, serves as a link event that is organized by Berkshire between creatives and all of the economic Creative. The event brings together artists, and business development resource creative enterprises and organizations, and providers in the county. The CDC helps the business community, to meet and resource providers get a greater explore potential projects and joint understanding of and appreciation for the collaborations. Several new product and business-related needs and opportunities of service ideas have come from the SPARK the creatives. events. Develop a database of creative spaces and small business incubator spaces Market the region’s creative products throughout the region and distribute it through export development activities, to creative enterprises and individuals. trade shows, and fairs. This could be a “Quick Win” project. Sponsor Milwaukee Regional Creative Model: The Chicago Artists Resource Business visits to Chicago, Madison, publishes Square Feet Chicago: The Artist’s the Twin Cities, and other metro areas to market regional creative products. Guide to Buying and Leasing Space. The

86

Increase the local market for creative would allow new and emerging designers to goods and services through public, share the costs of space. The higher institutional, and corporate buying education institutions in the region, some power. of the business support programs, and Develop and host Business-to-Business organizations like MARN could provide Product Showcases, both online and services. in-person, that provide a platform for local creative products and services. Model: Portland and Pittsburgh have created designated neighborhoods for the Model: In New York City, a firm called Art development of a Design Zone. The Zone Assets serves as a broker between artists attracts individual artists and design-related and businesses that want to either buy or firms to the neighborhood. In each city, the rent local artwork. The artwork is first Zones have become a destination for artists showcased to prospective buyers and and designers in both commercial and live- renters, and then Art Assets helps broker work space. the sale/lease. Establish the Milwaukee Region Design Create greater opportunities for artists “Skunkworks.” and art enterprises to market and sell their work in the region. The Skunkworks would be a group of designers who would work collaboratively Model: The city of Indianapolis created the to address design problems or Art Garden, a series of arts-related exhibits opportunities for homeowners, and demonstrations. The Art Garden is corporations, cultural institutions, and located in a large shopping mall in the public sector institutions. This kind of downtown. The mall attracts hundreds of collaborative creative problem solving thousands of visitors each year — the approach to design issues would bring new presence of arts enhances the visitor customers and clients to existing designers experience, but, more importantly, and raise the profile of design. individual artists have an opportunity to sell Develop a Design Incubator in art to a large and new customer base. partnership with the higher education Build upon the “Buy Local” campaigns institutions in the region. that have been so successful for local agriculture and create a similar Grow and support other key segments program for buying locally-produced that have particular strengths, e.g., artwork. film, culture and heritage, live music, and theater.

Grow the design segment. Promote increased collaboration Create a Milwaukee Regional Design among the region’s museums and heritage resources. Showcase. Explore the potential for locating design- Model: Museum 10 is a formal related artists and small firms in a single, collaboration among 10 museums and multi-tenant space/facility. The facility historical sites in the Pioneer Valley of

87

Western Massachusetts. The museums and Model: Los Angeles County Arts for All has historical sites formed this partnership to facilitated a series of policy changes and better promote the region’s cultural and educational initiatives to create systemic historical assets. A website has been change and institutionalize sequential K-12 created and several events are planned. A arts education in Los Angeles County school recent initiative called “Table for 10” districts. This was based on the Visual and highlights the region’s food and agricultural Performing Arts Standards for California industry — each museum and site has Public Schools. organized an exhibit around local food and culinary traditions in the Valley. Model: The Whole Schools Initiative, funded and supported by the Mississippi Arts Commission since 1991, infuses and Raise the visibility of Milwaukee’s integrates arts into regular instruction in K- vibrant live music scene and theater 12 education, putting the arts on equal companies in regional promotions and marketing campaigns. footing with math, science, and English. Schools are able to contract with both teaching and visiting artists to supplement Create a Regional Film and Digital and enrich their programs. Media Collaborative. Develop an occupation program in Model: The Filmmakers Collaborative Career and Technical Education for arts provides fiscal sponsorship and support for and design that is articulated with independent media projects and offers higher education. educational and networking opportunities for individuals and businesses in the media Model: Guilford Technical Community and film industries in New England. College in Jamestown, North Carolina, established the Larry Gatlin Entertainment GOAL 2: ENLARGE THE REGION’S Technology Center. It offers one- and two- CREATIVE TALENT BASE. year degree programs and continuing education in a range of employment and Promote the Milwaukee region as a freelance opportunities in all technical center of excellence in providing high- aspects of the industry. quality arts and creative education for its youth. Establish a regional Creative Higher Reinstate arts as a high school Education Consortium. graduation requirement. Develop a region-wide internship Encourage school systems in the region program that places students in the to have at least half-time art and music creative sector with small businesses, teachers in all K-8 public schools. larger companies, and cultural organizations. Work in collaboration with the Wisconsin Task Force on Art and Creativity in Model: The Massachusetts College of Education. Liberal Arts runs an internship program for students in arts-related programs in which students are placed in arts and cultural

88

organizations throughout the country. The Create stronger collaborations program gives students firsthand between the higher education experience with a broad range of arts institutions and the region’s cultural institutions and organizations. organizations so that the smaller organizations can gain access to the Develop a Business Plan Competition creative resources of the institutions’ for students in creative programs who departments, faculty, venues, and wish to start their own enterprise. students.

Model: The Office of Entrepreneurship and Develop a campaign focused on Liberal Arts in the Business School at Wake retaining creative talent and attracting Forest University provides small grants for back creative talent that grew up in art students who have a business plan and the city and left. want to develop the commercial side of their work. The small grants function as Build upon the new “brand/image” “venture capital” for launching new arts- and use it in this campaign to keep and related enterprises. attract talent.

Organize annual “Hire Creatives” Use the stories of many of the people who events in which theaters, museums, left and came back to the city and the and design and media companies have region as testimonials to the attractiveness open houses and provide overviews of of the greater Milwaukee region. their industry and career opportunities to students. Provide more extensive professional Expand articulation agreements development opportunities for between technical colleges and four- creative entrepreneurs in the region, year schools in creative occupational particularly in the area of business areas. operations and marketing.

Develop an outreach campaign to Solicit proposals from regional attract more minority students into organizations for the creation of an creative programs. entrepreneurial development program targeted to individual artists, Model: The Bird Street Community Center craftspeople, and performers. offers eight-week experiences in glass art, fashion design, or dance to 65 school-age Model: The Artist as Entrepreneur program boys and girls in the north Dorchester and immerses up to 50 artists in a five-day Roxbury neighborhoods of Boston, two “boot camp” that exposes the visual and predominantly minority neighborhoods. performing artists to business and These programs provide skills training for management skills necessary to market each craft and emphasize entrepreneurial their work and themselves. The program is skills such as business plan development, being funded by a $50,000 grant provided marketing, branding, inventory tracking, by New York City Economic Development bookkeeping, and professional attitude. Corporation (NYCEDC). Upon completion of this training, the participants will be eligible to apply for low-cost studio space to begin

89

putting into practice what they have and the collaboration developing learned. among MIAD, MATC, and the Peck School of the Arts, create a broader Model: Artserve, Broward County, Florida, regional Design Innovation Center. was incorporated in 1989 as one of six original arts incubators in the U.S. It has Model: The Center for Design Innovation in expanded its services to become south the Piedmont region of North Carolina Florida’s premier arts service organization brings in top designers to meet with local by developing events, programs, and businesses and is working on forming a services that help artists turn art into design council. It hosts an annual Design, business while providing a positive impact Art, & Technology Symposium and on the lives of children, seniors, and at- frequently brings in internationally known promise individuals. speakers to give workshops.

Encourage the Wisconsin GOAL 3: INCREASE THE COMPETITIVENESS Manufacturing Extension Program to OF ALL REGIONAL INDUSTRIES THROUGH offer design-related services to its THE INFUSION OF CREATIVITY AND manufacturing clients using its support DESIGN. from the state and the National Institute of Standards and Technology Strengthen the design capacity of (NIST). regional businesses. Create a Regional Creatives-in- Establish a Southeastern Wisconsin Design Council of manufacturers and Residence program that connects designers to promote increased use of artists and creatives with regional design by the region’s manufacturers businesses, public institutions, and and other companies. nonprofit organizations. Support the Cultural Alliance’s pilot Model: The experience of the Design Creatives-in-Residence program Industry Group of Massachusetts (DIGMA) designed to “provide significant value- could be useful to the creation of a Design added for both the host and the Council in the greater Milwaukee region. resident” and to spark “individual and Even in the early stages of development, organizational creativity and DIGMA has become a recognized leader in innovation.” the design industry in Massachusetts. Part of the recent funding of the Alliance Identify “Design Mentors,” corporate from the NEA will support the creation of leaders who already incorporate an Advisory Committee and a process for design in their companies and use their selecting creatives and identifying experience to assist other managers businesses and organizations that would who want to use design more productively. host them.

Building upon the proposed Model: The Kohler Corporation has an interdisciplinary Design Research ongoing artist-in-residence program that Institute at the Peck School of the Arts enhances the company’s capacity to bring

90

art and design into most of its product line. GOAL 4: TRANSFORM THE REGION’S The program also plays a role in the IMAGE TO REFLECT ITS RICH CREATIVE company’s arts edition products. An art ASSETS, CREATIVE TALENT BASE, AND gallery on the company’s premises CREATIVE INDUSTRIES. underscores the importance of design to its competitiveness. Showcase the creative industries and raise their profile in the regional Model: Winzelear Gear in Chicago has been economy. making gears for industry for more than a century and advertises the gears as an art Organize a few “signature” events to form. To help it do this, the company has a highlight the diversity and cutting-edge partnership with the School of the Art character of the region’s creative Institute of Chicago. In this partnership, assets and industries. fashion designers from the school work in Model: In Washington, DC, a group of the plant and experiment with artists and creatives has been organizing an incorporating plastic gears into unique event called Artomatic. It highlights the garments and accessories. breadth and edgy nature of the art and creative-related people and enterprises Develop a “Milwaukee Maker” found throughout the District. It Initiative. demonstrates that there is more to the DC Encourage manufacturers in the region art experience than the Smithsonian and to take on the production of “creative National Gallery. products” that are currently one-of-a- Develop and regularly publicize kind, but could be produced in multiples by local companies and sold “stories” that illustrate the economic in larger volumes. power of the creative industries and individuals. Enable local designers to more easily find and use rapid prototyping. These stories can be published or told in the many media sources, e.g., Radio Develop a “Design Challenge” based on a program in the Berkshires in which Milwaukee, MPTV, Visit Milwaukee major companies and organizations materials, the information circulated by solicit design mock-ups from creative Arts Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Arts professionals. Creatives receive some Board, and the Business Journal. form of economic remuneration if the Designate “Creative Ambassadors” to companies or organizations select their travel throughout the region making designs. presentations to public officials, community organizations, and business organizations about the importance of the creative industries. This could be a quick win project.

91

Model: Pittsburgh’s Human Capital Policy design that enterprises and Initiative (HCPI) trained dozens of “Human organizations could use. Capital Ambassadors” in the Pittsburgh Position the Creativity Works! website region and it eventually reached roughly as the hub of creative activities, 15,000 people in its effort to promote the networking, and communication in the importance of human capital to the regional region. economy. The Creative Ambassadors would Create and enhance cultural tourism be promoting the creative industries. marketing strategies to increase Recommend that the state of visitors, their stays, and spending. Wisconsin establish the creative industries as a targeted area of focus Encourage officials who are working for economic development within the on community development and urban new administration’s restructure of revitalization in the region to the commerce department. incorporate creative assets in their work. Model: The Louisiana departments of economic and workforce development Convene community development adopted the state’s creative industries as a agencies in the region to form a targeted economic cluster after the working group on the design and publication of Louisiana: Where Culture implementation of creative districts. Means Business. Among other things, this Tours to cities and neighborhoods that are meant that creative individuals and having some success could be organized, enterprises would be eligible to apply to a and “Best Practices” and strategy sessions $40 million pool of loan and grant funds in could be incorporated as part of the tours. the department of economic development. Model: In Pittsfield, Massachusetts, a group Take advantage of the branding of artists formed the Storefront Artists potential of the region’s creative Project. The project worked with the mayor assets. and owners of vacant storefronts in the downtown to give artists spaces to work Organize key marketing organizations and exhibit their art. The effort has helped and representatives from each creative turn downtown Pittsfield into a vibrant segment to develop a new brand and place to live and work. image for the region’s creative industries. Model: Massachusetts ArtistLink has a web resource for cultural districts, including The branding process will require a budget descriptions and information on policies, and the involvement of key organizations practices, and rationales. and businesses in the region. http://www.artistlink.org/?q=spacetoolbox/ Promote the new image through a formunicipalities/zoningforartists/artdistrict common “tag” or logo on tourism and soverlays other websites or marketing materials, possibly by developing a consistent

92

Work with municipalities and private Develop a community-led, broad- developers to increase and enhance based Advisory Council that would public art as a “place-making,” oversee the design and revitalization, and marketing strategy. implementation of this initiative.

Model: The mayor of Sheridan, Wyoming, Develop a formalized network of enacted Resolution 24-00 to establish an existing business service organizations “Art in Public Places” program in July 2000. and appropriate higher education The city of 15,000 now has some 50 institutions that could be used to sculptures with western and very edgy provide technical assistance and offer themes, and these sculptures establish the courses and workshops. city as one of the state’s premier arts Create a process for selecting qualified communities. and well-proven business and strategic planning consultants to provide GOAL 5: STRENGTHEN THE CREATIVE technical assistance and workshops for INDUSTRIES INFRASTRUCTURE. the cultural organizations.

Explore collaborative bulk buying Develop “The Business of Culture” among both for-profit and nonprofit program to assist the region’s creative entities to reduce the cost of nonprofit cultural organizations to services and goods such as healthcare, move toward a business model of printing, purchases, etc. operations. Establish a program whereby “loaned This initiative is intended to create a refined executives” from some of the support system that will enhance the businesses in the region can function operations and long-term economic viability as mentors for the executives of the of the cultural organizations. In this nonprofit organizations (and context, the goal is to increase the earned creatives). income of the nonprofit cultural organizations in the region, to develop a Model: The Arts Business Program of the broader audience base, to create new Arts Council of New Orleans is a source of products, decrease costs, and enhance practical business assistance for artists, arts operational efficiencies. Some organizations, and artistic business organizations have already begun to move enterprises. The Council uses experienced in this direction, and they have made use of businesspeople and attorneys in the the currently available resources and program. Arts organizations and artists of technical support of foundations and the all disciplines (visual, performing, music, business support services in the region. film, literary, etc.) who enroll as clients of However, if these resources could be the program receive benefits such as effectively coordinated and targeted, the entrepreneurial training, business plan benefits would be greater. consultation, legal assistance, and national marketing strategies to the ins and outs of The initiative would include, but not be trademarks and copyrights. limited to, the following components.

93

Create more opportunities for peer like the creative industries. Also, changes in learning among the executives and leadership at the county level could provide senior managers of the organizations an opportunity for more sustainable to share best practices and successful funding options. strategies. Model: Since 1989, Denver Scientific and Develop a self-assessment “toolkit” for Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) has organizations to periodically assess distributed funds from a one-tenth of 1 their capacity to adopt more of a percent sales and use tax to cultural business model of operations. organizations and facilities throughout the Secure financial support to help seven-county Denver metropolitan area. underwrite some of the costs for this The funds support cultural facilities whose initiative from foundations, primary purpose is to enlighten and corporations, and from some of the entertain the public through the larger for-profit creative industries to production, presentation, exhibition, help underwrite some of the costs for advancement, and preservation of art, this initiative. music, theatre, dance, zoology, botany, natural history, and cultural history. SCFD Model: The Rockefeller Foundation Cultural annually distributes approximately $40 Innovation Fund provides two-year grants million to over 300 organizations. In 2005, ranging in amounts from $50,000 to cultural facilities funded by SCFD $250,000. In 2009, funds were awarded to contributed $387 million in new dollars to 18 recipients who often demonstrated the local economy, a 10:1 return on innovative, adaptive strategies to the rough investment at the time. economic times. This trend included fresh business models, imaginative prototypes for Model: The Allegheny Regional Asset public/private partnerships, entrepreneurial District in Pittsburgh supports regional approaches to capital generation, artist assets in the areas of culture, libraries, peer loan programs, and new approaches to parks and recreation, sports, and civic marketing. facilities and programs, using one-half of the proceeds from the 1 percent Allegheny Broaden the base of funding support County Sales and Use Tax. The District is a for the creative industries. special purpose area-wide unit of local government that was authorized by an act Update the Argosy Foundation report of the Pennsylvania Legislature (Act 77 of from 2008 on successful funding 1993). For 2010, the District adopted a mechanisms. $79.4 million budget. Some 32 percent of Explore more systemic and sustainable the funding went to support libraries; 31 sources of public funding for creative percent to parks, trails, and other green activity and organizations. spaces; 18 percent to the stadiums and arena; 9 percent to special facilities (Zoo, Changes in leadership at the state could Aviary, Phipps Conservatory, and lead to new opportunities, perhaps through Convention Center); and 9 percent went to the refocused Department of Commerce, arts and cultural organizations. for innovative funding sources for sectors

94

Create a clearinghouse of funding of more culturally-focused spaces and sources and provide assistance to centers within the African-American and organizations interested in accessing Latino neighborhoods. these sources. Develop a stronger relationship Determine how United Performing Arts between the creative industries and Fund’s future funding will impact the the region’s workforce, economic creative industries in the region. development, and community development stakeholder groups. Develop a robust networking system that connects and engages individual Organizations like the GMC, MMAC, M7, artists, creative businesses, and and the Workforce Alliance could provide entrepreneurs. the leadership to make this happen.

Develop a “web connectivity” system Capitalize upon the economic that builds upon the current activities potential of festivals throughout the of the Cultural Alliance with a web region. system similar to that used by Berkshire Creative. Organize a higher level of technical assistance and support for organizers Build more networking opportunities of fairs, festivals, and other that bring together creative individuals celebrations to improve their and enterprises with members of the promotion, marketing, fundraising, business community on a regular basis. and business planning efforts.

Identify key leaders within the creative These festivals and other forms of industries (such as theater, music, and community and regional celebrations can museums/heritage) who would host be used effectively to showcase and market networking activities within their industries a place’s special history, culture, creativity, and across disciplines. This activity should or even weirdness, an increasingly sought- also be cross-generational and cross-racial after attribute. in nature. Further integrate festival promotion Undertake a more extensive into cultural tourism marketing engagement effort related to the strategies. African-American and Latino arts community.

The process should include some of the following: the development of more strategic partnerships and collaborations with the mainstream arts and business community; stronger promotion of the music-related programs and creative assets of the churches in the community; more support for projects like the Bronzeville development project; and the development

95

End Notes

1 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Creative Economy Report 2010.

2 Nigro, Lora, Threyda: T-Shirts as Art, “Off the Cuff,” expressmilwaukee.com. January 25, 2010.

3 Chapter 2 provides an overview of the relationship between design and manufacturing, including the results of a survey of manufacturers on their use of design.

4 Graham Killeen, “Lights, camera, Milwaukee!”, Journal Sentinel. Posted July 17, 2010.

96