Imagine MKE: The City’s Top Arts and Culture Advocate

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Photo: VISIT Milwaukee via Imagine MKE

Imagine MKE concert hall

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that the arts and culture sector contributes $9.6 billion to Wisconsin’s economy, representing 2.8% of the state’s GSP—ranking it third behind the state’s retail and construction industries.*Research by Wisconsin Policy Forum that same year, however, found that funding for the arts and culture sector in our state is low when compared to peer states and municipalities. In fact, Wisconsin ranks dead last per capita.^Milwaukee is also the largest American city without a cultural plan or a coordinating office for the arts. This leaves the non-profit arts and culture sector in Milwaukee County, one that generates over $225 million in annual expenditures, extremely vulnerable.

The Economics of Art and Culture

In September 2017 more than 100 artists, arts and culture leaders, neighborhood leaders, and other civic leaders joined together to collaborate on ways to strengthen Milwaukee’s arts and culture sector’s contributions to the city. About a year later, Imagine Milwaukee (Imagine MKE) formed to serve as the hub, organizer, and advocate for the sector, bringing its first executive director and staff of six onboard in July 2019.Nine months afterward the pandemic hit. Suddenly, large-scale transformational plans were replaced with more immediate and transactional approaches to helping the sector survive. A few results of the pivot included:

• Raising and distributing $290,000 to 500 artists at a time when they could not work.
• Securing and distributing $700,000 in pandemic relief to local arts and culture nonprofits when they were dormant.
• Advocating for and receiving $8M in state Cares Act grants.

Deanna Tillisch, chair of the Imagine MKE board, believes that because the organization was just starting out its nimbleness made it easy to transition quickly to supporting artists in these ways.In addition to providing financial support, it was “equally important to let them know that they're important, that they matter in this community. Because if we don't have artists we don't have the arts,” said Tillisch.She went on to share that “none of us had any idea how long the pandemic would have an impact. The arts and culture sector is typically the first to be hit during challenging economic times and the last to recover. Although we’re still in recovery mode, I think what's exciting is that [in 2023] we can finally start to be more deliberate in the execution of our original vision.”

If You Don’t Have a Strong Hub, You Don’t Have a Strong Arts and Culture Sector

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Photo by Samer Ghani

Fred Kaems mural

Fred Kaems

In the past, arts and culture organizations across the city have typically worked alone—especially smaller ones with limited staff and budget. Imagine MKE is shifting this model by bringing organizations and artists together at the same table to collaborate with each other and better serve the needs of the community at large.Its small arts and culture cohort, for example, has been meeting monthly for over two years. Although the group was brought together by Imagine MKE, and initial gatherings were facilitated by its staff, the cohort now has full ownership of a shared agenda.The 12 members represent several artistic disciplines, have budgets under $300,000, and are rooted in numerous Milwaukee neighborhoods. As a collective, their work has evolved to include a joint proposal for a multi-year funding campaign. Although the details aren’t ready to be made public, cohort member Jill Anna Ponasik, artistic director at Milwaukee Opera Theatre, did share that “the extended dream is that we graduate as a cohort having had the benefit of three years of funding, monthly meetings, and the stability of guaranteed [revenue]. If the project is successful another cohort would then begin.”

The long-term benefit is that small organizations in Milwaukee can be properly capitalized because right now the system under-capitalizes [them]. So, there's a lot of good that isn't getting done but could be if they had the support,” she continued.

Imagine MKE continues to provide strategic guidance and support to the cohort, but the group is independent in its execution of the soon-to-be-released proposal. 

According to Ponasik the success of this cohort is largely due to Imagine MKE. In the 14 years that she’s been in Milwaukee, there have been several times when like-minded people have attempted to shift the paradigm in favor of smaller arts organizations but each of those efforts fell apart. To her Imagine MKE’s continuous role as orchestrator has been the difference.

A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats

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Imagine MKE logo

Imagine MKE brings innovation and resources to Milwaukee’s communities. In return, the neighborhoods are better able to craft solutions that benefit everyone.One case in point is the neighborhood activations within Metcalfe Park. For two years Imagine MKE has provided Melody McCurtis, deputy director of programs at Metcalfe Park Community Bridges, neighborhood residents, and other neighborhood organizers with access to different arts partners across the city to help accomplish several of this specific neighborhood's community development goals and objectives.“One of the biggest accomplishments we had this year was a partnership with Imagine, Artists Working in Education, and the Wisconsin Black Historical Society. Together, we were able to get 34th Street (at Center) renamed in honor of Ralph Metcalfe,” said McCurtis. Metcalfe attended Marquette University on a track scholarship and later went on to become a four-time Olympic medalist.Because of the relationship with Imagine MKE, McCurtis and team were able to capture everything on video, including having Metcalfe’s grandson Nasser Metcalfe at the unveiling. The footage will be used in a future project about the overall impact of arts and culture on residents’ lives.“Imagine MKE has laid a solid foundation through its neighborhood activations. Their partnership has been extremely helpful in us being able to dismantle, repower and create community viable solutions around culture, housing, civic engagement, safety, health and wellness, and intergenerational wealth as directed in Metcalfe Park’s community development plan,” said McCurtis.“I've learned through this work that nobody really understands how much art and culture can impact the community. It was a hard year in 2021. We had folks that were sheltered in place. We had folks that were dealing with anxiety and isolation. We were thinking about the impact on their mental health with each activation,” continued McCurtis. “City officials need to think about and understand the positive impact of art and culture on its citizens.” She believes Imagine MKE is the organization to help start those conversations.

Strengthening Milwaukee’s Arts and Culture Sector

Even though Imagine MKE has lost its founding executive director and several members of its staff in the last few months, its vision for Milwaukee remains the same: an engaged, inclusive, inspired, and economically vibrant region that is recognized as world-class for its thriving arts and culture scene. It will do this by leading efforts to:

• Shift public and business community perception of the arts and culture sector and demonstrate its value as an economic and cultural driver.
• Advocate for the increase of public funds, policy changes for the sector, and paid opportunities for creatives in the private, nonprofit, and government sectors.
• Convene, attract, and retain the creative talent workforce by connecting them to pipeline and entrepreneurial programs and paid opportunities in the private, nonprofit, and government sectors.

This is not work that Imagine MKE will be able to do on its own. These efforts require support from artists and arts organizations, public and private sector funding, and commercial buy-in from consumers.“My understanding is that they've done great things. Could they have done more if they were more visible? I think it's possible under a different model of governance. The voices of cultural leaders and independent artists need to guide a lot of the objectives that are there, and then bring on peer organizations to say we have to be fully in support,” said Patrick Rath, president and CEO of United Performing Arts Fund (UPAF).UPAF partnered with Imagine MKE on two large research projects. One was an audience outlook study to understand why consumers would return to theaters after the pandemic. The second was to better understand the economic impact of arts and culture locally through an analysis of consumer trends. Both were considered valuable experiences that many organizations benefited from. 

“Milwaukee is very fortunate because of its arts and culture scene. If we can use Imagine MKE to help build a coalition to make it even stronger, I think we will see great results in the future,” continued Rath. The arts and culture sector is extremely dynamic, and growing rapidly each year. As such, there is more need for additional voices than ever before. Success will come from gaining the full support of those that Imagine MKE is advocating for—and that’s a different call to action than others have made previously.During this time of transition, Imagine MKE is actively searching for new leaders who will help create stronger sector connections, build greater awareness and advocate for increased funding to support a vibrant Milwaukee powered by arts and culture.