Contessa Lobley, executive director and founder of TBEY Arts Center
For 18 years, Milwaukee’s TBEY Arts Center has been introducing students to visual arts, dance, music and theater with programs designed to offset the cuts to arts education in public schools. This month, the nonprofit will host two of its biggest event of the year: its 10th annual A Journey Through Dance student showcase at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, Aug. 18, at 7 p.m., and its inaugural Stargazed benefit concert at Turner Hall Ballroom on Friday, Aug. 24, featuring singers Sammie and Grace Weber. Ahead of those events, TBEY Executive Director Contessa Lobley spoke with Off The Cuff about the organization’s background and its mission.
How did TBEY start?
I started TBEY when I was 16 years old. With my background being in performing arts and dance, I wanted to establish a one-stop shop arts organization and a program that I could participate in at the same time, since I was that age. I was seeing that the first thing to go with budget cuts at Milwaukee Public Schools was art programs, so it started with me thinking about the kids behind me, who wouldn’t be exposed to the arts.
How does your organization combat that?
We have our core program, which is our afterschool arts program. It’s more of a training and technique mentorship program, where we work with students 9-19 in training for the arts. We help them with possible auditions, higher education. We have a relationship with UW-Milwaukee Peck Schools of the Arts and Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, so we help them with their portfolios and auditions to get into those schools, while providing them with other life resources.
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Our ARTReach program is where we go into community organizations as well as schools to provide art programming, including workshops and pop-up sessions. We actually have a contract with MPS where we have art programs for their Fill The Gap program. We offer those art services and programs to MPS schools, as well as the choice and charter schools.
Can you tell me about your Stargazed event?
That’s our first annual benefit concert. With a lot of nonprofits, they have an annual gala or some type of big fundraiser. We wanted to do something that encompassed who we are and what we do, so we felt what better way than to do an evening of music. So, we decided to look at highlighting local artists as well as bringing in two national artists. One is Grace Weber who is actually from Milwaukee, and we’re very excited to have her, given her initiative in the community with the 88.9 Music Lab—she has her own nonprofit in collaboration with the radio station, and we thought that was just phenomenal. So, the concert is just to bring awareness to our program, what we do, who we are, and to benefit our scholarships that we offer throughout the year to our students.
Have any of your students gone on to careers in the arts?
Absolutely. We have several students that are in L.A. and Atlanta. We have students at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, as well as students with Debbie Allen’s company who are in training there, so we have several students who have pursued a career in the arts over the years.
Growing up in a city like Milwaukee, it seems like a lot of students might not even consider that the arts could be a viable career path.
Absolutely, and that’s one of the main focuses here at TBEY. We focus on the training and technique, and all of our teaching artists are working artists. They’re performing. They have galleries. That’s real important to have in front of the kids, so they can see that you can have a career in the arts.
To learn more about TBEY Arts Center, visit tbey.org.
