Recent News
Public Art
Milwaukee Arts Board recently awarded a conservation grant to Marina Lee's work "Snails Crossing"
2012 Milwaukee Arts Board Grant Recipients
'here, mothers are ...' a public art experience in Milwaukee
Milwaukee Arts Board
The Milwaukee Arts Board (MAB) was created to enhance the development, cultural diversity, accessibility and enjoyment of the arts for Milwaukee's citizens. All regular meetings of the Milwaukee Arts Board are scheduled for the 2nd Tuesday of the month at 4:00 p.m. and are held in Room 301-A or 303 of City Hall, 200 E. Wells St. Dates and location are subject to change.
Staffed by the City Clerk's Office, Arts Board members meet eleven times a year. The Arts Board provides a range of support to arts and community organizations that produce innovative projects or programs. Additionally, the MAB is committed to supporting public art projects that provide a sense of place, celebrating our community in city neighborhoods, parks and public spaces. For specific information about the MAB email ArtsBoard@milwaukee.gov. For meeting information, please contact Joanna Polanco at 286-2366 or jpolan@milwaukee.gov.
MAB Artists of the Year
Visit the Artists of the Year webpage to see a listing of past winners and for more information.
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The Milwaukee Arts Board honored the two recipients of its 2012 Outstanding Artists of the Year award on March 12, 2013 with a reception held at the Broadway Theatre Center. 
Pictured from left are MAB member Josie Osborne, Mayor Barrett, Reggie Baylor (artist and owner of Reginald Baylor Studio), Bill Theisen (artistic director of Skylight Music Theatre ), Alderman Willie L. Hines, Jr. and MAB member David Flores . (Photo: MAB member Tina Klose)
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Support for the Arts
Each year the City of Milwaukee Arts Board awards grants to projects that enhance the arts for the citizens of Milwaukee. Grants are made to 501(c)(3) organizations based in the City of Milwaukee. This program is supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin.
Support for Public Art
The Milwaukee Arts Board has been instrumental, through funding and technical support, in a number of recent public art installations.
Through its New Work initiative, it partnered with Milwaukee Public Library on the Villard Square Branch Public Art Project. Artists Nicolas Lampert and Paul Kjeeland were selected through a public process to create art throughout the new library's interior. The library opened, and the new project was unveiled, in October 2011.
The MAB has also opened a fund for the conservation of public art in the City of Milwaukee.
The goal of the fund is to preserve that part of the city’s cultural and civic heritage embodied in its public art. The fund supports the conservation of works that are of historical, cultural and aesthetic importance to the city.
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Public Art Conservation Fund
February 2012 - A Public Art Conservation Fund grant of $5,000 was awarded to the Woman's Club of Wisconsin Foundation for the conservation of Magdalena Abakanowicz's “The Birds of Knowledge of Good and Evil” on E. Kilbourn Ave. (Photo: MAB member Tina Klose)
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Previous Conservation Projects
- The Wisconsin Humane Society received $2,500 to clean and wax a statue of Henry Bergh, the founder of the ASPCA. The 9-foot-tall sculpture, created by American artist James Mahoney in 1891, is located at 4500 W. Wisconsin Ave. and was extensively restored in 1999. It is seen by 100,000 visitors to the Humane Society each year.
- Lake Park Friends received $2,500 for similar work on the bronze statue of Gen. Erastus B. Wolcott (1920) by Francis Herman Parker located in the park. The Wolcott statue is one of the few equestrian statues in the city.
These two projects above highlight the need for ongoing maintenance of public art at a time when the County Parks system and other civic bodies have reduced their commitments to maintaining the collection of work in public spaces. Both the Henry Bergh and Erastus Wolcott statues were extensively restored after lengthy fundraising efforts: the Bergh in 1999 and the Wolcott in 2006 after being identified as one of Diane Buck’s “Dirty Dozen”—a group of important public sculptures in desperate need of conservation. However, without regular maintenance, the process of deterioration will recommence. The Public Art Subcommittee works with all grant recipients to encourage them to find sources of funding for the necessary ongoing maintenance.
- Another project to receive funding was Snail’s Crossing Park in Riverwest. Artist Marina Lee, working with the Riverwest Neighborhood Association and the City’s Department of Recreation and Facilities, received $4,000 to restore sections of the park that had suffered from vandalism and deterioration. Much of the matching funding was raised through grassroots efforts: artists and neighbors gathered at Lee’s Riverwest studio to make ceramic tiles at a series of workshops this past summer. The park on Bremen Street is once again filled with children.
Public Art New Work Fund
Since its inception in 2010, the fund has supported the following projects:
- Intergration of art into the Villard Square Branch Library (2010)
Partners: Milwaukee Public Library, Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library
Artists: Nicolas Lampert and Paul Kjeeland
- Bay View bus Stop (2011)
Partner: Bay View BID
Artist: Román Montoto
Wikipedia Saves Public Art in Milwaukee
The Milwaukee Arts Board, in collaboration with WikiProject Public Art, is documenting the city’s public art through Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia. In 2010, the Milwaukee Arts Board allocated part of its public art funding to support a coordinator to organize the project and to mobilize people of all ages to document public sculpture. The project is designed to identify public art in the City of Milwaukee; to create accurate, informative and up-to-date articles on Milwaukee’s public art; to raise local and global awareness of the existence and meaning of Milwaukee’s public art; and to encourage the community to care for public art.
Press Releases
2013
May 17 Milwaukee Arts Board to distribute grant awards totaling $157,500
March 11 Milwaukee Arts Board Recognizes Outstanding Artists of the Year
January 2 Milwaukee Arts Board Opens New Cycle of Public Art Conservation Fund
2012
March 7 Milwaukee Arts Board Recognizes Outstanding Artists of the Year
2011
March 25 The Milwaukee Arts Board Promotes a Citywide Effort to Document Milwaukee’s Public Art
March 7 Milwaukee Arts Board Recognizes Outstanding Artists of the Year
February 1 Milwaukee Arts Board Annual Grant Process Now Open
2010
June 8 Milwaukee Arts Board to Distribute Grant Awards Totaling $177,000
March 5 Milwaukee Arts Board Recognizes Outstanding Artists of the Year