Exploring the Vel R. Phillips Plaza Art Commission
- Elisabeth Gasparka
- Mar 26, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 8, 2024
In part one of this special two-part episode, Elisabeth speaks with City of Milwaukee Commissioner of City Development Lafayette Crump and arts leader Marilu Knode to discuss the plans for the Vel R. Phillips plaza. It’s a development project for which Crump and Knode are both serving on the art committee to select an original sculpture installation concept that, once completed, will memorialize and animate the legacy of Phillips, a trailblazing Black woman, attorney, politician, jurist, and civil rights activist, who served as an alderperson and judge in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and as secretary of state of Wisconsin.
The group reflects on how the arts are a special ingredient to development—that art can help our city to stand apart and also function as an economic engine. Crump shares how investing in the arts is often a “less obvious” aspect of infrastructure to decision makers, but an incredibly important ingredient to a city that can retain and attract diverse residents and visitors. With a new generation of leadership in place in Milwaukee under Mayor Cavalier Johnson, the city has made a one-time investment in public art through this $600,000 commission. But the plaza and the artwork will not just be about aesthetic beauty: it will have activations, spaces for vendors, food and beverage offerings and programming to encourage people to linger, engage and learn about Vel Phillips.
In her life, Phillips was a boundary pushing figure, and, as Knode reflects, “she forecast the direction the country would be going in with her leadership.” The intention is that the plaza installation and the social and artistic activations it invites will build upon this legacy. “Often people think public art is always “man on horse” or “woman in fountain.” Vel Phillips had a different form of leadership,” reflects Knode. “Let’s use this an opportunity to reformulate how we think about leadership."
But should artists have to be activists? Knode suggests that in this day and age, everything is political. According to her, “going into the arts itself” is political. At the heart of this commission plan is the acknowledgement that artists are often the ones who drive social change in society.
“A lot of creativity or boundary pushing that does come out of city government... somewhere you will find an artist pushing on us to do that,” says Crump.
Vel R. Phillips Plaza will be constructed by July 2024, and the public art installation is estimated to be completed in 2025. Learn more about the project.
Read:
Full Interview Transcript (Click to Expand):
Lafayette Crump:
Being able to, in this space, right in our commercial center of, of downtown, to also say, here was a black woman who was instrumental to issues of equity, issues of, you know, achievement by anyone, regardless of their background. To be able to do that in a space like this that is that important to us and that symbolic to us is a really valuable opportunity.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Welcome to Creative MKE, a podcast production from Imagine MKE. I'm your host, Elisabeth Gasparka. Each episode, we feature conversations with arts leaders in Milwaukee and beyond, who are impacting Milwaukee's arts culture, and creative industries. We explore the cultural assets that make our community so special, and opportunities to help Milwaukee become a more vibrant city for all. Join us as we delve into topics, including the urgent need for funding for the arts in Wisconsin and Milwaukee. How arts organizations and creative entrepreneurs are fueling our economy, public art projects, and much more. Today, my guests are arts leader, Marilu Knode and the Milwaukee Department of City Development Commissioner Lafayette Crump. Welcome to creative MKE, both of you. I'm so glad to have you here in the studio.
Lafayette Crump:
Thank you. Great to be here.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Let's begin with discussing an exciting development project that you both have a role in facilitating the Val r Phillips Plaza. So the two of you are, you know, in different ways, instrumental in our city's plans for this, this plaza and the artist commission to honor Vel Phillips Life and Legacy. So what are the aims of this development project and how does public art factor into those goals?
Lafayette Crump:
Sure. Well, I'll kick it off. And, and again, thank you so much for having us both, and I'm always amazed and, and feeling very fortunate for all of the experience that Marilu brings to what we are doing. We're really blessed to have her in this community. You, so the, Vel R. Phillips Plaza and the, the art piece, you know, as you were talking about them coming to the city, I was thinking about the impact that this plaza is going to have on our community, both from a development space, but also as a remembrance of someone who was truly a titan in this community and in the state. It's important to us that we have gathering places throughout the city and that there are many places where people can, you know, congregate and feel at home in the city of Milwaukee and do all of the things that they might want to do without necessarily having to go spend money, without having to necessarily travel far and wide. But they can do it right in the heart of the city of Milwaukee and the Vel R. Phillips Plaza is gonna be an important part of that. And at the same time, being able to, in this space, right, in our commercial center of, of downtown, to also say, here was a black woman who was instrumental to issues of equity issues of, you know, achievement by anyone, regardless of their background. To be able to do that in a space like this that is that important to us and that symbolic to us is a really valuable opportunity.
Marilu Knode:
I wanna thank you for having me, and I'm just always so honored to be here with you, Lafayette. You know, I, I love the investment that the city is doing in the Vel R. Phillips Plaza and recognizing that arts add something very different to the kind of infrastructure development that the city is doing right now. And I'll kind of keep saying about this, that art can help define our city, make it really very unique that we all need sewers and roads and all these things. We all need them. We're grateful to the government for providing them, but the arts actually sort of set us apart. So I've been very honored to be part of this project. And we've just gone through one milestone, which is the art committee of which Lafayette is serving as a, a member, just winnowed down from 60 applicants down to three. So we've got two artists on the East coast, and then a collaborative team here in Milwaukee. And one of the conversations that was happening with the art committee during their jurying process was, you know, we have a very diverse arts community here. I used to live here, went away for many years, and came back. And the community has really matured. It's diversified, it's grown, it's changed, and we have a very, very vibrant community here. And yet we don't have that many opportunities for artists to do this kind of big project. And so I really commend the city, the mayor, the commissioner, for really investing in the arts because we are an important economic engine for the community, and we make it very unique here in the city of Milwaukee for all our residents. So that being said, I'm very excited to be part of this process. I keep saying it's so exciting because it really is a milestone for how the city is investing in Westtown. I know a lot of people say that the East side has all the arts organizations, that's not true. And this is another anchor that Westtown gets for the arts. So it's, it's a really great combination.
Lafayette Crump:
Yeah. And just to kind of underscore us centering art at the plaza, you know, I, I love that you mentioned some of the things about, you know, we all need sewers. We, we all need other infrastructure. And it can get really easy when you are you know, en engaging in government service when you're, you're thinking about being a steward of the resources that are put before you to only hone in on the obvious things, the things that we know are necessary, and thinking about the things that we know are necessary in the, in the present and the near future. But thinking more expansively, thinking more broadly about the impact of art what it says to the folks who come to, to the Plaza, what it says to a community about how we value art what it says to folks who visit here and are thinking about whether or not Milwaukee is a location they want to be in, art is an, an incredibly important part of that. And so we we're very grateful, grateful for the mayor's leadership, grateful for my team, including Dan Casanova, who shepherded this project and grateful that we had council support to make art a part of this project, and to expend government resources on something that is important, but not always obvious to people.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
To me, it seems like the last seven years have created a ripe environment for public art to be invested in, because in part of sculpture Milwaukee and its continued presence in downtown Milwaukee and into Westtown. So this is just gonna be another feather in the cap of Milwaukee's downtown space and another draw for people who are interested in contemporary art.
Lafayette Crump:
You, you know what I love about what you just said? You said the last seven years, and I, I started to think, well, what happened seven years ago? And to me, I love it when something that is relatively new inserts itself into the public fabric, and it feels like, oh, this has always been the case. Hmm. And it becomes a part of the landscape. And I can't imagine Milwaukee without sculpture Milwaukee now. And I'm just thinking about what that means for future generations of people who grow up expecting art to be all around them and what it means for them, you know, young people when they're thinking about careers. You know, when I was growing up I, I love to draw. I was really interested in art, and I had you know, my father was very practical and, and, you know, thinking about what would that mean for my career prospects? What would that mean if I decided to pursue art? And, you know, it wasn't just about my talent, but maybe it was about luck and maybe it was about the available resources that were out there. And, and he didn't want me to be struggling. He didn't want me to be a quote unquote starving artist. But when you see broader opportunities for art all around you, and you see it everywhere, it becomes much harder to suggest that it's not a viable path. And you don't lose out on all of the many, you know, imaginative people who are going to impact other people's lives.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
So, just looping back to the process a little bit that's happening, any insights you can share about next steps in making the determination of which artist is going to eventually be selected?
Marilu Knode:
I would maybe just say that the art committee has the, a really big task, but I'm really very impressed when this kind of public process happens. And it makes me really very happy to see the deliberation and the care with which everybody has taken to think about, well, who was Vel R. Phillips, but also what would be a great way to honor her. But one of the most important things is for us to think about, this is also an artist who is going to be winning this commission. Artist or artist that, you know, the arts change every generation, just like any technology changes, artists are responding to it. So I think it's important that this co group also thinks about what would be the most representative way to represent Val Phillips, because she was always looking to the future as well. I mean, she was a leader. She forecast the direction the country would be going in with her leadership in that of many other people. So I think that there's going to be a really interesting conversation in the fall when we have the three projects proposed, and we're gonna be interviewing the artists to talk about what does the art part of it represent? You know, how does this sort of forecast where artists are going as well? So I think maybe a lot of people consider public art, as always Man on horse or woman in Fountain. Which is sort of the polls that I used to sort of comically describe what we think about in terms of public art. But in Vel Phillips had a, a different form of leadership. We're not re inscribing these old tropes of, again, man on horse mermaid in Fountain <laugh>. And, and I think that that's really exciting. You know, let's use this opportunity as a way to sort of reformulate how we think about leadership and contemporary society. You know, I'm also working on this project in Madison as part of the Bell Phillips Legacy Initiative, where we are commissioning Radcliffe Bailey to do a sculpture of Vel R. Phillips at the state Capitol grounds, the first black woman juris jurist politician, civil rights leader, to be so honored in the entire country. And so I think the fact that we have so many people in the community who understand and recognize Vel R. Phillips's importance, you know, Brad Pruitt, who's, you know, very important with the America's Black Holocaust Museum, he's the interim director right now and has been a leader in bringing that to life. His, you know, goal was to get Vel Phillips's better known nationally Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative> not just regionally, not just the state, but nationally. And I think she deserves that recognition as well. So I think the work that's happening at the Plaza will help with that. All the people coming to town with our, our conventions and as tourists, I think that we're really going to be helping to bring her to a, a new generations of, of people.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Beautiful. I wanna tug on something that you said, 'cause I find it really interesting. So you mentioned how this sculpture ultimately might forecast new directions in contemporary art and sculpture. I'm wondering what role activism and the importance of activism in the artist's career, in their mindset, in the way they engage with materials, how does that factor into the juror's consideration?
Marilu Knode:
That's a very interesting conversation about activism. I think that right now we're going through a period in the art world where people are saying, should artists always be activists? Does it, does everything have to be political? In some ways? Everything is political. Whoever you are, you are taking a political stand in the life that you lead. Going into the arts is a very distinct political decision. Your dad maybe didn't <laugh> thank you. You should be going into the arts, but you know, you, you have the sensitivity and you have leverage. And that's what we want too. We want people to be sensitive to the arts all around us. So I would say that you know, the, the, the committee recognize the value of the artist whose work was activist in very different ways, and yet displayed a sensitivity to the importance of this commission, not just for us as a community, but also to sort of the narratives that are happening in America right now. And, and I, I think I'm very excited to see what the three teams will come up with. We won't know that until August when their projects are due. But I, I know that that's something that they'll be thinking about as well. That's why, you know, the committee chose these, these three, these few groups. So very exciting to see what comes out of it.
Lafayette Crump:
Yeah. And I, I'd like to tug on something else you said, where you talked about you know, the forward thinking that Vel R. Phillips had and the way that she approached leadership. It, it's interesting 'cause I was just on a leadership panel last night curated by my partner who is an artist, Katie Avila Lam Miller who curated this panel on behalf of Milwaukee Chamber Theater, in conjunction with a show that they have coming up mountaintop about the, the last evening of Martin Luther King's life. And it was the panel was hosted by Lexi Brunson of Copyright Magazine, and we were talking all about leadership and talking about new ways of attacking hierarchical leadership structures. And particularly when you're a black leader in Milwaukee, how you might approach things and, and recognizing that you're falling, you know, even when you're a leader, you may be a part of a you know, the power structure that has always existed you know, often white, often male, often hierarchical, often expected to be a very specific kind of leadership. And our opportunity when we think about what art looks like here, and not just man on horse, not just woman in fountain, and, you know, being you know respectful and paying homage to this woman's unique form of leadership is something that we can do through art. And I really appreciated the way that you frame that for the you know, for the jury and, and how we think about what this could be. And that you know, you, you don't just have to choose something that we've seen before or that we've seen in all other communities. It's a real opportunity to interrogate how we see art, how we see leadership, how we see representation of ideas and not just thinking about things in such a literal fashion. So I'm very excited to see you know, what the, the three finalists that were selected, what they present in terms of their options, and then having that further conversation with the group really looking forward to that. Yeah.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
So once the plaza is complete and the work of art is in place in situ, how do you envision this space being activated?
Lafayette Crump:
Well, I think that, that's a great question. When we think about, you know, development in the city of Milwaukee and the built environment, we are always reminding ourselves that, you know, these buildings, these spaces are not just about how, how beautiful they look in a drone shot, but it's about the people at the ground level and about how people are experiencing them and how it impacts their lives. So, you know, Marilu talked about, you know, infrastructure, right? And how we get people to places, how we make roads available for people, however, they're choosing to get themselves around not just cars, but bikes, walking families walking with with their children. And so we want this to be a plaza that feels inviting to everyone. And programming on site is an important part of that. It's not just <laugh>. If you build it, they will come. It's also, are you doing things that excite people? Is there a renewable energy that is, is happening there? So you know, one of the things we'll have on site is a, a food and beverage service that will exist. So that when, when folks are there, they recognize that, okay, we, we can spend a little time here. We can, this can be you know, a a segment of our day can be to, to hang out in this space. And, you know, we're certain that when people do that, they'll take the time to look at the art. They'll take the time, take the time to, to learn about Velar Phillips. And most certainly there will be activity there associated with her, associated with the community. But it is also right across from the convention center, which is being, you know, renovated now, which will, you know, it's just gonna be absolutely beautiful. And there's gonna be even more activity there than there has been in the past and all of the other corporate attraction we've done in the area. So you're going to have people who naturally want to come use the space, but we absolutely will do additional things to invite people in.
Marilu Knode:
One of the things I think is so important with the design, pardon me, of the plaza, is the one or two kiosks that are going to be flexible with the kind of programming going on there. So we're working with Mike Phillips, Vel Philip's son, and he's been very adamant about sort of representing the, some of the other Vel Phillips honorary projects around the community. But for the opening of the Plaza, we're gonna be installing a project that the bid downtown bid did for the DNC in 2020 with two really important local artists, Dasha Kelly Hamilton and Della Wells. And it was, it's called The Road of Democracy. And it's a combination of Della's collages and then Dasha's poetry. And it's a beautiful work. I remember driving by it when I would venture downtown during the very beginning days of Covid. And I think it's really appropriate that that work is being reinstalled. One, because not many people saw it in 2020, and certainly none of the delegates saw in 2020 'cause nobody came. So I think that there's a really nice balance and symmetry to having that work up. And then once that's up for a year, the bid is gonna be managing the ongoing sort of artistic installations inside those kiosks. So there's going to be an ongoing project. There's always gonna be a reason for folks to come down and see the plaza. Even if you work downtown, there's always gonna be something new to see and experience. So I think the fact that there's long-term installation and materials and artwork, and then there's also that, that fluctuating sort of experience, I think it'll be a very dynamic space. Mm-Hmm, <affirmative>.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Excellent. So at this moment in time, Milwaukee is seeing an influx of developments primarily in the downtown area, but also in neighborhoods like Bronzeville. How does investment in public art and in the arts in general, work in concert with these developments?
Lafayette Crump:
Well, you know, I, I just had a conversation the, the other day with with someone who is working on bringing an additional sort of cultural, broad cultural amenity into the city. And so I won't spoil <laugh> their, their thunder by, by talking, you know, deeply about it. But we, we had a great conversation about the impact of, of art on drawing people into communities and making buildings and areas of the city destinations that they might not otherwise be for people. You know, we, we, we talk a lot, you know, in city development about making sure that every area of the city feels like a place that people are excited about being in. We don't ever want someone to have to live or, or work in a part of the city where they feel like we have to do this. We don't have other options. And so part of making someplace you know, within the city, an area of choice, a neighborhood that you want to visit, a neighborhood that you want to live in is art. And undoubtedly that, you know, having something that you know, sparks creativity, something that you want to look at, something that you want to experience, something you wanna wander through. These are all, you know, reasons to, to draw people in. And, and art is, you know, it's just clearly an important part of that. People want to live you know, in places that are visually exciting and exciting, you know, in other ways that, that spark their, their interest in their imagination.
Marilu Knode:
Hmm. I, I love hearing you say that because it's very interesting to me to look globally and how cities are sort of revitalizing themselves. So that one city, I think am <inaudible> where the mayor said, let's paint all our houses. And the city's turned around because of them applying something really pretty simple. But it's an aesthetic interest. You know, that, that lots of research shows that if you are a house next to a park that's well maintained, a park that's active, 'cause it's got arts activities, the housing values go up. So there's this really great sort of continuity and connection between development and what arts do. And I wanna just say that I think, I think a lot of people think, oh, I don't know anything about the arts. I'm very far away from the arts. In fact, everything you touch or watch or read or think about was designed by or produced by an artist. And so when you think about the things, buildings, for example, well, a good architect is an artist. Mm-Hmm. <Affirmative>. And so if you do your art right, you're going to make something that's really a very distinct product for the environment that we live in. And I think that we're in such a different mindset today. We have new generations of leaders in our city who recognize that there is this continuity of connection. The arts are not separate from everyday life at all. We're all part of it. We're wearing it, we're driving it, we're sitting on it, we're looking at it. We're all part of it. So I think the fact that we can acknowledge and accept that we understand how artists can really shape our cities, I think having the levers and the, and the sort of being able to leverage these resources in our city development is really unmistakably a great benefit for the citizens of the city of Milwaukee. To hear you saying that Commissioner is really a great thing. So, you know, I think we have a lot of opportunities, things that need to be rebuilt, but I think we're in a new generation of leadership, and I, I'm really very optimistic that things will get done in a very different way than they have been done in the past.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
So in 2023, for the first time ever, SMU data Arts named Milwaukee as one of the top 40 communities nationwide, in terms of our arts vibrancy for a combination of, of reasons, including what you just described, Marilu, I mean, community led, neighborhood arts activations on the ground, you know, our incredible wealth of venues, large and small for performances, but also this kind of DIY artistic ethos and the seemingly endless, you know, pool of talent that exists here in Milwaukee. But at the same time, we've seen, you know, talent migration particularly of young diverse talent from Milwaukee. So I wanna talk about sort of the bigger picture here and the city of Milwaukee's plans to address this. Let's just talk about the 2040 plan and dive into what role you see creatives and their retention and attraction to the city of Milwaukee in the success of that plan.
Lafayette Crump:
Sure. Well, thank you for mentioning that. We recently completed and got approved by city council and signed by the mayor, our connecting MKE downtown 2040 plan that we did in conjunction with the downtown bid. They've come up a couple of times here, great partners of ours at the Department of City Development. But as we've imagined what downtown Milwaukee should look like and who it should be for over the next 10 to 15 years. Absolutely. Artists are a crucial part of that. We talk about connectivity to other parts of the city. We talk about catalytic projects, we talk about increasing density in downtown, and that has to include affordable housing, workforce housing has to be housing that artists can afford. And where, where artists can continue to think about what, what their next steps are. We, we don't want, you know, artists to feel like, you know, there's no opportunity for us. So we are moving into either a different field that is perhaps less creative, or we need to leave and go to another community that is more supportive of the arts. And as much as we can talk about how vibrant Milwaukee is and how we punch above our weight in this respect, and all of the, you know, the amazing creatives we have here, the rich pool of talent, there does need to be more public support for artists. I'm happy to hear that we rank well on that list, but there are other lists we all know that we rank lower on. You know, while we facilitate the Milwaukee Arts Board, you know, through the Department of City development when it comes to municipal funding, when it comes to state funding we are punching below our weight here in Milwaukee. And that's something that over time I am very hopeful and optimistic that we will change. Because if you do not have artists, if you do not have those folks here who are pushing the boundaries, and you touched on it earlier, art and activism there is something about art and activism that does seem to go hand in hand, and we need people pushing us. You know I, I talk about you know, public meetings that we have and other ways that we're engaging with the community, and I want us to be challenged. And often artists are a part of that you know, demanding that we think differently, demanding that we think more expansively. A lot of the creativity or boundary pushing that does come out of city government, you will somewhere you will find an artist pushing pushing on us to, to do that just because of the way they see the world, the way that they think differently.
Elisabeth Gasparka:
Tune in next week for the second installment of my conversation with the Milwaukee Department of City Development Commissioner Lafayette Crump and Arts leader, Marilu Knode. As we discuss the connection between the city of Milwaukee's 2040 downtown plan and how the presence of artists is inextricably connected to the social and economic vitality of our city, we touch on the ways in which artists push forward social change with their gifts for problem solving and critical thinking. We also speak to the strength of the arts sector itself in terms of employment and tax revenue driven directly and indirectly through arts organizations programming and events, and how all that might just amount to a position of power for Milwaukee's arts community. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend, like subscribe or leave a reading and review. Follow Imagine MKE on socials to hear and see more Milwaukee Arts stories, learn about arts events and opportunities, and to receive arts, advocacy, news and alerts. To get involved or learn more about the work of Imagine MKE, visit us on the web. Creative MKE is produced and edited by me, Elisabeth Guest with support from Adam Braatz. The Season's episodes were recorded in downtown Milwaukee and in Washington Heights with support from the good folks at PodCamp Media and the Washington Park Media Center. Our show's music is by Bobby Drake. Additional audio support provided by Think Tank and Silver City Studios. Thank you to WUWM for the opportunity to broadcast creative MKE on the radio. And thanks to the Shepherd Express for their ongoing partnership. 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 at shepherdexpress.com.
Listen:
References and resources:
Marilu Knode Bio (Click to expand)
Arts leader Marilu Knode is currently working for the City on the Artist Commission at the Vel R. Phillips Plaza in downtown Milwaukee and is part of the Vel Phillips Legacy Initiative commissioning a sculpture of Vel Phillips on the Wisconsin State Capitol grounds in Madison.
She recently completed STRIVE Jones Studio Adventures in Architecture, a monograph exploring the firms’ forty-year history creating a sustainable architecture of place. She was one of the founding team for Sculpture Milwaukee, where she served as co-curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs from 2017-2020.
Marilu is the former director of Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis. She has organized dozens of exhibitions in the US and abroad, exploring diverse social and cultural topics. She has authored numerous catalogues, organized conferences, participated on panels and written for local, national and international magazines and museums.
At the core of Knode’s curatorial practice are the hundreds of commissioned works for museums and public art programs with artists from around the globe. Knode was the American Commissioner to the Cairo Biennial, working with Nancy Spero, in 1998, and co-founded the first curatorial practice program in the Middle East at the American University in Cairo.
