Milwaukee: an Arts and Culture Society
- Elisabeth Gasparka
- Mar 21, 2024
- 2 min read
It all begins with a visit. If you ask the leadership of VISIT Milwaukee, they believe that in order to attract people to live, work, and play somewhere, they have to first experience and connect to the culture of that place on a deeper level.
The attraction of the outside world to Milwaukee is not an accident, and is, in large part due to the work of VISIT Milwaukee—led by Peggy Williams Smith, President & CEO, Joshua Albrecht, VP of Marketing & Communications and Claire Koenig, VP of Communications and Public Affairs—who champion and lift up the city’s culture every day through their work and entice media representatives to visit and learn more about what Milwaukee has to offer. At the same time, Milwaukee continues to struggle with population decline and a loss of talent, particularly within diverse communities.
Elisabeth, along with Imagine MKE’s Executive Director Adam Braatz, discuss with the VISIT Milwaukee team how the arts and culture of Milwaukee is one of its chief assets, and a powerful economic driver. The group discuss how intrinsic the arts are to tourism, and how Imagine MKE and VISIT Milwaukee are both working to amplify the region’s creative economy and shape the narrative about Milwaukee. If the narrative shifts, and our arts sector can be better supported and broadcast for all its brilliance, it all adds up to Milwaukee stepping into its greatness as, in Albrecht’s words, as a new “arts and culture society." They see a future where Milwaukee is known as an innovative place that embraces, supports, and celebrates all that is creative and expressive, and where talent and lovers of culture will see themselves, feel a sense of belonging, and want to build their lives.
Learn more about the work of VISIT Milwaukee, and follow them on Instagram.
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Full Interview Transcript (Click to Expand):
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Welcome to Creative MKE, a conversation show from Imagine MKE, where we talk to creative leaders in Milwaukee to highlight all the incredible transformative power of their work in our region. We Hope that after listening, you'll be able to imagine our city's arts and culture ecosystem, and all the awesome artists, organizations, and creative assets within it in a new way. I'm your host, Elisabeth Gasparka.
Hey there. Welcome to Creative MKE. Today on the show, along with Imagine MKE's executive director Adam Braatz. I speak with Peggy William Smith, Joshua Albrecht, and Claire Koenig from Visit Milwaukee. In our conversation, we discuss how a visit to Milwaukee leads people, including yours, truly, to fall in love with our city's rich culture, and how that culture is deeply linked to the tourism sector, which together function as a powerful economic driver. Milwaukee's culture, including our festivals, venues, and creative entrepreneurs, is what makes our community distinct and has led to media features like top chefs filming in our city, and Milwaukee getting named one of the top places to visit in 2023 by National Geographic Magazine. And yet, our culture thrives today despite a lack of investment leaning heavily on individual philanthropy to make possible the arts programming that we enjoy. We discuss how Milwaukee has an opportunity to embrace the momentum around our arts and culture, and build a quote unquote, arts and culture society, a future in which Milwaukee is known nationally for the vitality of its creative economy.
This episode marks the final installment of our syndication with WUWM this summer. Thanks to the team at WUWM for their support and for the opportunity. If you enjoy this conversation and you wanna hear more, please check out the rich back catalog of creative MKE episodes available wherever you stream podcasts. While you're there, if you enjoy the show, please subscribe or leave a rating or review. If you'd like to learn more about the work of Imagine MKE in advancing Milwaukee's creative economy, you can find us on the web at imaginemke.org and follow us on social media. Creative MKE is supported through a partnership with Shepherd Express. For more than 40 years, Shepherd Express has proudly advocated for arts and culture in the Milwaukee area. You can hear more podcasts like this one at shepherdexpress.com. Today's music is by Joe Riepenhoff. And now stick around for our conversation with Visit Milwaukee. Welcome.
Claire Koenig:
Thanks for having us.
Peggy Williams-Smith:
Hi.
Joshua Albrecht:
Excited to be here.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
So the three of you are here from Visit Milwaukee. So in the studio, we have quite a population today, also joined by Adam Braatz. My boss, the executive director from Imagine MKE.
Adam Braatz:
Howdy. Thanks for letting me tag along.
Claire Koenig:
Oh yeah, of course. So I wanna just invite you three to, to weigh in. What is, in your words, what is Visit Milwaukee and what is the role that you play there?
Peggy Williams-Smith:
Visit Milwaukee's job is to lift Milwaukee up. We get to tell the stories of people who live and work and play in this city, and then we get to share that with the world in hopes that they want to come here to visit. And what we hope is that once they've visited here, they want to live here.
Joshua Albrecht:
Yeah. I would echo what Peggy said, and I like to think of us as the conductors in a, in an artistic sense of the community. You know, knowing when to bring in those crescendos and, and the like for the community to gather, to celebrate, to succeed as businesses and entrepreneurs, all those facets that go and work together. And then meeting that road of public and private, getting people on the same page, building those stories to tell into the greater community, and then letting people be a part of those stories when they come visit.
Claire Koenig:
On a bit more of a tactical level, we are thinking about Milwaukee's reputation, which is where there's a lot of overlap with Imagine MKE and the work you all are doing, because there is no other entity that is really doing that. The city is, is running a city and making sure we have all the things we need to be successful. And the county's doing the same thing there. And the the Chamber is helping there be successful activations for businesses, and the bids are doing that in their own communities. And we happen to be the only group that is going out there to Detroit to Atlanta in the last week alone, to talk to people who might be bringing big groups here or might be getting us some sort of national recognition in some way.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
So how does your work interact with the arts and culture sector and Milwaukee's creative economy?
Claire Koenig:
Well, part of us selling Milwaukee is selling our incredibly rich arts and culture and live entertainment scene. And we do that in a lot of different ways. And I would say we've had the most exciting two years of doing that in our history. And in a lot part thanks to Josh and Peggy,
Peggy Williams-Smith:
I would say that the theater district is a perfect example of, of collaboration. And Josh really spearheaded that for our organization, along with key players throughout the city. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>. And it is something that was first spoken of nearly five years ago when I was in a different role with a different company. And I think that with Josh's foresight and the team behind him, we were able to execute. And it, it has come to fruition.
Joshua Albrecht:
Yeah. A hundred percent. It's been a, another one of those magical moments of getting people together on the same page to understand the what is valuable to Milwaukee is arts and culture. And when people come together to make something amazing, we get things like the theater district. But it does take that buy-in from so many people. One individual can't push anything forward, right? And so when we had the buy-in from all these, all these theater groups and all the venues and then all their support staff, it really made it so easy to finally get moving when everybody understood the mission vision of what that could do for us. And really defining an area of the community as this arts and cultural hub through theater and through live performance. We've got such an amazing live music scene, such an amazing theater scene.
It was a natural fit for it to finally bubble out and organically come together. Actually, when we created the theater district, we really wanted it to be organic. We didn't wanna put hard, fast rules and Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative> and make it too bureaucratic, if you will. Like, art is organic. It just sort of comes from within. And the, you know, the soul speaks. And so we just let the group operate in a way that they knew how to operate, which was organically through creative thought, through creative processes. And now it's developed into this wonderful partnership amongst the venues. And then in addition to that, we obviously help with, with all the festivals we partner extremely closely with, with Summer Fest, and as, as we record this podcast, state fairs going on Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>, all these great festivals that happen throughout our community. It's, it's very similar to the theater district itself too, helping to coordinate these festivals that draw people in and launch our culture and the culture of the people. The people are so valuable to us as a community. We understand that through a lot of the research and focus groups that we host throughout the community, is that our people is our differentiator. And one of the greatest ways they express themselves is through art and culture and these festivals and these live music performances. And so we can celebrate our people by celebrating the arts.
Adam Braatz:
So you mentioned a goal of, of visit being to get people to visit Milwaukee and to potentially want to come here again or, or move here. Stay here. What relationship does that tourism have to the wider arts and culture sector? And not just performance arts, but also visual arts or the wider creative economy?
Claire Koenig:
So we believe everything starts with a visit. Most people who are, who are transplants, maybe they're boomerang, millennials like me, <laugh>, but it all starts with coming here and having an amazing experience, and then you're so compelled to come back. We met someone last week who came to Milwaukee for a conference in 2015. She's a young millennial. She worked in sustainability on the East Coast, and she came here for a conference. She fell in love, she started following some social media, Milwaukee, social media accounts, including ours online, and then decided this is the place she has to be. Mm-Hmm. And in January she moved back and now works in the tech sector. So that's, it starts with a visit at work, and we are fully behind the mayor's goal to increase this population Mm-Hmm. To a million people. And, and we think visit, and our efforts can be a big part of that.
Peggy Williams-Smith:
So mainly we do it through promotion. Obviously we're judged by the amount of visitors and the amount of revenue we bring in through hotel tax. That's truly how we derive our budget. But in order for us to bring people here, we have to talk and attract people who want to look at every different type of thing. Hmm. So, sculpture Milwaukee is a perfect example. I was fortunate enough to work for Marcus Corporation for 22 years, and I know the brilliance of Steve Marcus and I know what he did with Summer Fest with UA Marcus was on the ground floor of creating all of those different organizations. So when people would say, why are you behind sculpture Milwaukee? It's like, this man knows what he's doing. Eventually this will draw people here. It's a free sculpture exhibit that allows people to come in and experience it regardless of your background. So I think that what we do is partner to promote and to lift up, like I said at the beginning, what everyone else is doing.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Wonderful. Yeah, it's been amazing. I myself am an import to Milwaukee, so I'm a testament to the, the formula that you've described. I came for what I thought was gonna be a month long internship in the month of January, 2010, and that turned into a temporary marketing role in the heart of Milwaukee's arts and culture working for present music. But it's been incredible to see the culture really like lift off in the last 10 plus years. I mean, sculpture Milwaukee is one very prominent example. You know, our downtown is completely enlivened by people experiencing public art, you know, almost on every block. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>. It's, it's really sensational.
Peggy Williams-Smith:
And I think that the residents of Milwaukee, the people who live here truly value the arts and culture and entertainment scene. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative> because they give so much privately. You know, the philanthropy that you see throughout our city is amazing. We're number four in the country for Phil, for philanthropy, for Giving. And that just shows what Milwaukee is made of.
Claire Koenig:
One other anecdote I'll add is we were doing a site tour for some TV producers who were coming from the West coast. We were considering Milwaukee for a TV show, and we were taking 'em all around town, showing 'em whatever they wanted to see. And they said, you know, when we were telling some of our other TV production friends in LA that we were coming here to scout, they said, you know, that's the place we would move to if we weren't in LA is Milwaukee. Because you have groups like Milwaukee Film and the film festival, you have no studios. And in all of the other film and TV production and videography groups in Milwaukee that have really established themselves. And we try to support those, those groups through our promotion. But also, like when we create our own videos, we're of course using those people too. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative> as much as we can.
Peggy Williams-Smith:
I think also leading into the DNC, prior to the pandemic hitting, we were having a reception with all of the people who had moved here just temporarily to host the DNC. And there was a woman who was born and raised, lived in New York City. She said she saw more Broadway shows here in the year that she lived here <laugh> than she ever did in New York. Mm. Because it was accessible. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> it was affordable. And it, what she thought was the product value was just as wonderful. So I thought that was really a testament to, to Milwaukee and all that we have to offer.
Adam Braatz:
I think another testament to Milwaukee and all we have to offer, your first experience here was coming in January, <laugh> in February.
Peggy Williams-Smith:
I wasn't gonna point that out, <laugh>.
Adam Braatz:
And you still wanted to come back. There was something that called you to stay here longer. It's,
Elisabeth Gasparka:
It's exactly what Peggy was just describing that sense that the quality of what was presented here in terms of the visual arts, dance, music, theater, the production value was so high, and the performers and artists were bringing, bringing so much authenticity and passion to the work that they did in this market that maybe isn't as prestigious or has the sort of gleam of New York City. And I just thought, wow, you know, people who live here are doing it for the love of what their, their craft is. And that really spoke to me.
Peggy Williams-Smith:
Absolutely. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>, I think it's, you know, I don't go to other cities and enjoy their art. I, I just, I don't very often, so I don't know what that's like. But when you say that, I can only imagine because going to a show here it is of the highest quality and coming from somewhere else, it's interesting to hear that maybe it's not the same, not the same thing. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>. And that's what people, that's what people say that they don't realize how great Milwaukee is until they've been here. And I think that that is right. Part of the experience,
Elisabeth Gasparka:
I think the culture kind of gobs smacks you. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> it just, it exceeds your expectations in every way. And, you know, you're describing going to a theater performance here in Milwaukee when you go to a theater performance, a you can find parking at a reasonable cost. You get to go to dinner at one of the fantastic restaurants that are all over the city and probably make it downtown to park, you know, 15 minutes before your show and not have to be crazed about it. So there's something really unique about that balance that we're able to strike here.
Joshua Albrecht:
Well, it's such a symbiotic relationship of all the elements that go into an experience in the city. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So the, all those things, the Milwaukee, nice, Midwest, nice hospitality driven culture that we have lends to the amplification of the arts experience. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So if you've already been set up for success, you're gonna have success. And when you arrive in Milwaukee, you're set up for success for an amazing adventure. And then, so everything goes along from there and everything just hits a little different. Even winter and Milwaukee hits different, it's <laugh>. There's nothing, it's not cold in Milwaukee.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
It is beautiful. It's beyond cold <laugh>. It's beyond cold, but the, the lake somehow looks like a Caribbean sea. So it all equals out, I guess.
Joshua Albrecht:
Yeah. It's always warm inside the theater. It's always warm inside the Fiserv Forum.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Indeed, indeed. So in the last 10 years, it seems like Milwaukee is ever more frequently being named to best of lists by national and international brands, including, of course being named as one of the top places in the world to visit by National Geographic Magazine. So can you speak to a little bit more about what role the creative economy plays in making Milwaukee such an attractive destination?
Claire Koenig:
So in that national GE Geographic story, they grouped the winners into five different categories. And ours was for slow travel. And the whole feature on Milwaukee was about the city as a hub for culture that is built on collaboration. And it called out these incredible arts groups. I mean, we took the writer for that story to a bunch of arts destinations when he was here. And he saw that and he met the people doing the work and to be recognized for that. And in places like the, all of the cultural development going on in Bronzeville Mm-Hmm. Was a part of that. All of the live entertainment happening in the Deer District, it was spot on. It captured the moment, I think Mm-Hmm. And again, the arts and culture scene was the star of, of that story.
Joshua Albrecht:
Yeah. Showcasing the community to all of the amazing media outlets that come through is, is a lot of Claire's work every single day. And this is, this is actual work. And I'll take the moment to say it's, you know, to, to champion the work that Claire and our team across the board at visit. Like it doesn't just happen to get on National Geographics Mm-Hmm. Best list. And it doesn't just happen that we get in the New York Times for the Bronzeville District to be one of the top places for a changed world. This is, you know, years of dedicated work, bringing in writers, bringing in influencers who can help share the story. And then the rule of the creative economy is that, is that they're open to working with us Mm-Hmm. To help share that story. Mm-Hmm. So the, the more open our entrepreneurs are, the more open our artists are to work with Visit Milwaukee to help us give those stories out to the greater world, the more lists we'll be on. And the, that process is ongoing every single day and a day goes by that we're not pitching, pitching, pitching these great, amazing stories. And then those entrepreneurs create those things and we amplify it. And, and our team has done an amazing job keeping that message forward.
Claire Koenig:
I mean, I'm even thinking of when the top chef producers were scouting Milwaukee as we were being considered as part of a larger Wisconsin season. We took them to, I don't know, 10 arts venues. And this is a, a culinary competition show, but they wanted to capture the spirit of the city and all of the different kinds of creators that there are, including food creators. And, and they, they loved that arts. Were a part of that.
Joshua Albrecht:
Yeah. So much of our culinary scene is arts, our brewery, our brewers Mm-Hmm. Their artists. Mm-Hmm mm-Hmm. And the, and the top chef got that right away. And that's why they were so excited about coming to Milwaukee. National Geographic understands that right away, that art is not just the visual and the, the concerts and the music and the sort of traditional arts. Our art in Milwaukee is pervasive across all platforms into our entrepreneurs who might be doing something like you know, a t-shirt business or a candle company. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative> or a new great new apothecary like gonna be sage. Every entrepreneur is an artist in their own way. They're crafting their profession in their own way. One of our mantras right now is Milwaukee, fresh for the Fresh Coast. That's a message for all of our entrepreneurs to take to heart, is that we, we have an opportunity to chart an arts and culture society here in Milwaukee that is fresh brand new approach that we are all artists pushing for a city in a new dynamic way that a west coast east coast isn't even thinking of yet. And we're the ones setting that trend and setting that stage for a brand new way of thinking about arts and culture in a community here.
Adam Braatz:
That's why I love the idea of the creative economy. And that's why in our messaging at Imagine we use the term creative economy more frequently. And while we do represent the arts and culture sector to the layman, you say arts and culture, and they picture what you mentioned. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>, traditional arts, sculpture, paintings, theater, ballet, symphony. When the creative sector is so much more, so much wider. It includes the culinary arts, it includes video game developers, it includes film, television. There's so many things you can't tell me that a barber is not an artist. Mm-Hmm. And those are the people who we endeavor to represent. And, and they contribute a ton as you know, to, to our economy. The creative sector generates nearly $10 billion in annual economic activity. It sustains almost 80,000 jobs throughout Wisconsin, unfortunately. And this is something that we're trying to, to champion against.
It's we in a recent survey in a collaboration that we had with the Wisconsin Policy Forum, over a quarter of Milwaukee based creatives, 28% of them strongly were considering relocating to another city because of the lack of creative opportunity or a lack of feeling of support. And we're experiencing a big issue right now is a creative migration away from Milwaukee and a brain drain from Milwaukee, especially with Milwaukee's communities of color. So there, there appears to be a disconnect between the value of what creatives are adding to our culture and their ability to see themselves evolve and find opportunity here. So how are we as a community going to gonna better retain that talent, attract and retain creative talent? Because as you mentioned, it is a foundational pillar to tourism and mitigation against population migration away from the city. So how do we attract and retain that talent? Or how do we retract folks who may have gone away if they choose to do so?
Peggy Williams-Smith:
You know, I, I've heard these statistics over and over and I don't know what, what success looks like. I guess we would need to find what success looks like. We heard a story yesterday at the bid, the King Drive bid from Angela, from Honeybee Sage, who decided to move back here to start a business from Nashville. And this is where she was accepted, this is where she's lifted up and this is where she supported. And I think that there are people who are doing that all over our city, and we just need to tell those stories because then people will understand that there is support. Hmm. And I think that for the longest time, as Milwaukeean, we tend to focus on the negative and not the positive. So if we start to tell those positive stories of how someone is supported of how a creative has been lifted up, then more people will feel compelled to share in those stories. And maybe we'll start to see the statistic change. Yeah.
Joshua Albrecht:
I, I a hundred percent agree. Of course, being a marketing person, I like to hear that and say, well, 75% <laugh> of our creatives are investing and excited and a part of what we're trying to do. That's a good point. And to echo what sort of, what Peggy was saying, when we focus on that 75% who are thriving, who are believing in the process, and believing in the community, and believing in the, the culture that's being cultivated, perhaps they will be the ones to retract, you know, their, their cohorts to, to stay here or retract them back and say, Hey, no, you may have left, but we we're building something magical here. And you gotta, you gotta be a part of it. And then organically they will start to, to follow suit. Right. And if we keep that authentic flavor and that authentic approach, that's when people gravitate to the new and cool thing. Right. And so I think we lean on those 75% who are excited and thriving and help them carry that out.
Peggy Williams-Smith:
I mean, I was at State Fair last night and, and the majority of stages were filled with people watching local bands. Right. I mean, you had your main stage act, which was Ari o Speedwagon, but the majority of the acts I saw right here being supported by our economy, we're the city of festivals, church festivals, employ bands. And I know that's just one sector, but there is so many examples of us supporting the creative economy in different ways. Those are the stories that we need to tell.
Claire Koenig:
I'll just add, I mean, we have some really great arts educational institutions. The Peck School of the Arts at UWM, MIAD, of course, 80% of MIAD grads stay in Milwaukee, right. Mm-Hmm.
Peggy Williams-Smith:
UWM is 82%.
Claire Koenig:
It's right. Yeah. It's just the same. So that's, that's great. I didn't know that. That's huge. Yeah. There are, like Josh said, tons of people staying here choosing Milwaukee, building their practices in Milwaukee. But it can never hurt to remind people with resources that you gotta continue to support those artists. Go to gallery night and buy a, a Mayad seniors photograph or something. Mm-Hmm mm-Hmm. <Affirmative> or piece of work Go, you know, tweet about your favorite artist, share their song Mm-Hmm. To your friends. Even those little things can, can help show support. Mm.
Peggy Williams-Smith:
And then make sure that you are paying people in Milwaukee, a lot of times we tend to say, well, we're gonna give you exposure. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative> if you do this for us, and they need to get paid. And we're very cognizant of that at Visit Milwaukee. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>. We try to make sure that when we're doing something, we're using local makers, local creatives, and we're paying them for the job that they're doing for us. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Well, this has been such a wonderful conversation. Unfortunately, we're gonna have to wind down our time together here. So just one more question for the three of you. Wisconsin, unfortunately is ranked 49th in the nation right now in terms of per capita public spending on the arts. And we're facing the challenges that we spoke about of population decline. So I wanna invite you each to, in just a few words, if you will, imagine what a future would look like for Milwaukee, where our arts and culture sector is more supported on an individual level and an institutional level by public funding.
Claire Koenig:
I can start by saying film tax credits. Mm-Hmm. At the, at the state level would help us attract more TV shows, more movies shot here. Maybe a whole series based in Milwaukee, like some other cities, Atlanta, Chicago have had Mm-Hmm. Recently. Mm-Hmm. That could be great for us. And, and we will keep talking about that.
Peggy Williams-Smith:
You know, I think about this a lot, and you wonder, everyone wants a piece of the pie and the pie isn't getting bigger. So how do you, how do you support, how do you support the arts? And I think we creatively and collaboratively need to look at ways in which we can find sustainable funding for the arts. I don't have the answer to that question. If I did, I might be in a different role. <Laugh>. I wish I did have the answer to that, but I think that as long as we continue to lift up the creative economy and we all work together, I think we will find solutions that might help us to move up that, that ranking.
Joshua Albrecht:
You know, I, I would say, you know, coming again from a marketing angle and going back to that initial thing we said, where it starts with a visit. The more funding we have to support the arts, the more funding we have to support tourism, the more we can tell people about the great things here. And there is an amazing value in actually letting people know what Milwaukee is all about. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. We can do that through things like recruiting in Top Chef and getting on lists, but the more we can actually market the city as a place for creatives and a place that creative creativity thrives, the more that people will get attracted. It's why the brain drain might be attracting other people might be going to other cities across the country. There is a message and a brand for those cities that excites them to go there. Part of the reason why they're able to do that is money. If we have more money to be able to tell people why we're so amazing and market to them as to why they should stay here and be their creative self here, that attracts more creatives, more creatives begets more creatives, begets more creativity. And that's where you can really find the success.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Thank you so much for your time today. It's been a, a treat to speak with you all. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the show, please share it with others. Post about it, leave a rating or review or contact us. Creative MKE is hosted, edited, and produced by me, Elizabeth Gasparka. It is recorded in beautiful downtown Milwaukee with engineering support from the good folks at Podcamp Media Creative MKE's theme music was written and produced by Bobby Drake. To get involved or learn more about the work of Imagine MKE, you can find us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, or visit us on the web.
