Arts @ Large Making Arts Accessible for All

by

A&E Feature

Arts @ Large is a multifaceted non-profit organization that has provided art-rich programs for the wider Milwaukee community for over two decades. Now based in a building on Milwaukee’s South Side (1100 S. Fifth St.), Arts @ Large offers a variety of programs for students, teachers, professionals and the community at large.

It was started in 2001 by Kim Abler and Teri Sullivan to support art teachers in the Milwaukee Public School District, expanding its programs over the years as the needs of the community changed. Equitable accessibility of the arts for all has always been at the core of the Arts @ Large mission. Typically, budget cuts hit the arts first and schools in minority neighborhoods often suffer disproportionally. And there’s more than a ripple effect. Artist and creatives all suffer when resources are not available for performances and displays. Children’s minds do not have the opportunity to grow, to see and hear the world in all its colors and sounds. And grownups are also deprived of nourishment. Creatives too are hurt without audiences or opportunities.

Arts @ Large addresses these challenges with a variety of programs from professional development programs assisting those with the talent and interest to become artist-educators, hosting artist-in-residence exhibitions in their gallery space and arranging for in-school teaching residencies. They host a broad range of community events including concerts and workshops.

Comeplay is regularly scheduled interactive music class at the A @ L Community Center on Sundays, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The “interactive music class uses jazz, pop, blues and hip-hop with traditional and original children’s songs, designed to introduce young children to singing, music appreciation, visual art and rhythm.”

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Music Under the Stars with Heirloom Members of the WI Conservatory of Music meets on Fridays from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. It is sponsored by Joy Engine Music Under the Stars Experience and is a free music concert series that invites you, your friends and family to enjoy local musicians and bands.” 

There are free art classes on Saturday for 3rd-8th grade students with the Better Project Awareness Foundation and artist Chris Crain. This is part of the 2023 Student A.I.R. Academy.  

The Sacred Garden is a youth-focused open mic event that evolves on the Arts @ Large Gallery stage allowing young artists who use the stage to share stories, music and more.

And there are their summer camps, free for students entering 3rd–8th grades, “with art-making and exploration of creativity where the themes align with our Artist-in-Residence Cornerstone (Technology and Innovation, Eco-Literacy, Peacemaking or Civil Rights).”

Arts @ Large is proud to create and facilitate opportunities for artists to get paid, students to make art and community members to come together in celebration of themselves and their togetherness. Their three principal areas of focus are “in-school teaching residencies, artist in residence programs, and their student focused community center.”

The Arts @ Large Community Center Artist-in-Residence program provides artists the opportunity to showcase their own art and creative practice, while also building community and capacity to translate their work as artist-educators. In their three-month residency, each artist activates a different cornerstone of the A@L organization: Eco-literacy, Technology and innovation, Peacemaking & Civil Rights, through workshops, masterclasses, field trips and community events. The current artists in residence are Cedar Becher(they/them) and Ava Hager, who will be teaching master classes and workshops throughout the next few months. Other programs and events are described on their website.

Emma Corbett helped me in preparing this article. She illustrates the success of the Arts @ Large effort to nourish and promote local creatives. She was introduced to A@L in the summer of 2021 through the AmeriCorps program Public Allies. The program exists to create a just and equitable society, and the diverse leadership to sustain it; cohort members are paired with a nonprofit to complete 1700 service hours and provide capacity building support to their organizations. She began working with A@L in September as the events & community relations associate. After graduating from the program in July of 2022 she was hired full-time as the cafe & events manager.

When I asked two friends, one a painter and the other a music teacher for MPS, if they ever heard of Arts @ Large, their eyes lit up—“Oh, yeah. I got paid.” “Wow, you wouldn’t believe how helpful they were.” And these were the first two I asked. Talk about impact!

Bottom line, check out their web site for a full list of opportunities and events. And if you like chamber music, this Saturday night, February 4, the Cosmo Reeds will offer a concert at 7 p.m. It could be a great introduction to this creative space on the South Side of Milwaukee.

For more information visit artsatlargeinc.org.