Congratulations to Arts @ Large!

Jun. 23, 2012

5:19 p.m.

Last weekend, the Milwaukee Art Museum\'s 50th Lakefront Festival of the Arts hosted more than 180 artists from across the country. Did anyone notice the beautiful banners surrounding the museum, placed on the Festival fences? One titled C\'est Milwaukee, Chez Jacques, featured the sign of Milwaukee\'s classic French restaurant on South 2nd Street. Another, La Ville, Que J\'appelle, La Maison.(The city, what  I call home) had the Milwaukee skyline set against the bold French lettering while a young women\'s portrait looked over the cityscape. These were two of more than ten finished pieces and all were designed courtesy of Milwaukee Public School students from the Ronald Regan High School of the Arts and Arts @ Large. The complex arts programming honored the museum\'s current “Posters of Paris” exhibition. A very special addition to the juried artists that were participating in the 50th Lakefront Festival.   Founder and Co-Director of Arts @ Large Kimberly Abler discussed the project that MPS schools participate in every year. The museum invites the schools to exhibit in the Lakefront Festival and this year the sophisticated subject of the museum show precluded younger children from contributing. So, the organization funded a project that asked freshman to senior graphic design students to create posters in the tradition of the Toulouse Lautrec posters featured in the arts exhibition. While arts budgets for the MPS schools have been reduced, Abler explains there are great things for the arts going on all the time in and for the schools. “Great things” and projects such as these waterproof banners reproduced from the high school classes, that will then be returned to the students after the festival.  Arts @ Large was founded within the school district to serve the schools by encouraging all the arts and was originally funded by the district. When funds dwindled after 2000, the organization filed for non-profit status in 2005 so they could continue their ability to promote the arts and serve MPS students. This also makes Arts @ Large unique, because they were organized within a school district instead of working from outside the school district\'s framework. For these exceptional efforts, Arts @ Large was the only organization in the Midwest ever to be named the Arts Organization of the Year 2012 by Americans for the Arts. The organization received the distinguished and prestigious award this June in San Antonio, Texas, chosen from thousands all over the country. Abler added the organization also received two grants for further programming in MPS schools. One grant was awarded from the Department of Education, A Model Arts Grant, and two, another for Professional Development, one of only three in the entire country to be funded. These grants will further the organization\'s mission to encourage all the arts in MPS schools: dance, music, theatre and the visual arts. That continue to provide children and youth with the best opportunities in the arts possible. <o:p> </o:p> Abler comments these are the projects less often touted in the media than the budget cuts and lack of programming that one hears about. Yet, Arts @ Large has continually been providing and working toward maintaining these goals and outcomes that support the arts over the years to benefit children of every age. The banners speak for themselves. Projects that merge art history, imagination, museum studies, technical skills and the ability to work creativity to solve a problems and enhance an environment with, in this instance, visual art.  <o:p> </o:p> Culture thrives with the arts and this uplifts society\'s collective soul, especially when the world can appear grim, economically, politically and socially. Arts provides an opportunity for expression of these intellectual ideals in an often non-confrontational setting where the transfer of ideas between people can occur. The public can be exposed to fresh thinking through the arts, or new cultures, that provide a universal language to see similarities between individuals instead of the differences While Abler has been working as a teacher and with Arts @ Large for more than 20 years, she comments her father still has difficulty understanding what she does and why it\'s important. Abler keeps trying to explain to him their significance,  as does every advocate who knows how important the arts are to the people who believe any art might be marginal in a child\'s education. "The arts are critical and integral to life experiences," Abler concludes. “Art is fully integrated in every aspect of life, completely connected to the everyday.” Congratulations to Arts @ Large! For contributions or further information:artsatlargeinc.org <o:p> </o:p> <o:p /> <o:p> </o:p>

Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.