​September 2019- Here at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center we are busy collaborating on Historic Milwaukee’s Doors Open 2019 event.  This year, MYAC is partnering with the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, First Stage, Danceworks, and the Milwaukee Children’s Choir to show the public some of the Milwaukee areas best young artists. 
 
Annually, Doors Open brings together over 170 organizations, facilities and off the beaten path spaces to allow the general public into spaces that would otherwise be private.  We are excited to show off the great talent of the young artists here at MYAC to the community!
 
On Sunday, September 29th we’ll be featuring performances throughout the day in Youth Arts Hall, Free Theater Academy classes for kids from First Stage, a behind the scenes costume shop tour, and information on how to connect with local arts groups.  See the schedule below for a full lineup of activities.  We hope to see you Sunday for this great free event, stay up to date on everything related to MYAC’s Doors Open activities by following this link:  https://www.facebook.com/events/2471492266412645/
             
All-day activities:
Performances and exhibitions of youth arts groups
First Stage costume shop tours
Door Prizes and Raffles
Representatives from local arts groups

Youth Arts Hall Performance Schedule:
11:00-12:40 MYSO Student Performances
12:50-1:20 Milwaukee Children's Choir Student and Ensemble Performance
2:10-2:40 Danceworks Youth Performance Company
2:50 - 3:20 Milwaukee Children's Choir Student and Ensemble Performance
4:00-4:30 Danceworks Youth Performance Company

First Stage Free Class Day Schedule:
12:00-12:30
1:00-1:30
2:00-2:30
3:00-3:30

The incredible Abby Hanna recently spoke with the Youth Arts Center Staff to discuss her involvement with many of the programs who call MYAC home. She herself calls it her second home.

Today is the start of the Summer Academy at First Stage and the MYSO Steel Drum Camp, so what a better way to share in the excitement of that than to share Abby’s experiences. 


We understand that you've been in MYSO, First Stage, Milwaukee Ballet, Children's Choir, and Danceworks--how do you balance all of these activities?
Yes. I am involved in all of these organizations, but not all of them at the same time. I believe that having a good support system is the key and also staying focused and organized. All the activities that I am part of require an extreme amount of focus, organization, discipline and devotion. I am able to balance most activities because, in a way, they are all connected—singing, acting, dancing and playing musical instruments. And of course, the reward is performing in front of an audience.    
 
I live in the moment, in the present. Not in the future. So I maintain a certain degree of focus and relaxation. This could not possibly be done without the support of my parents, grandparents, and my little sister Andrea. 
 
What arts programs are you currently involved in?
I just completed a year in advance Musical Theater. I was a cast member (Lilly) in the First Stage Production of Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse. I play cello with MYSO's Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, and I’m in Ballet 5 at the Milwaukee Ballet.    
 
Do you have a favorite art form (music/theater/dance)? Why do you like to participate in so many different art forms?
Honestly, I love everything (music/ acting/dancing) because expressing music in different ways is what I like best. To choose one over the other is very difficult. I feel that the variety makes me a more well-rounded person. And, really all of the activities are like fitting together the pieces of a puzzle—making me who I am. I love the arts in all its forms. It makes me feel free and it is a way of expressing myself—my thoughts and beliefs.        
 
Music is my passion. It gives me strength and makes me more human. It brings out the best qualities in me. Theater makes me more confident and brave. I feel I can conquer the world when I’m performing.     
 
What instruments do you play?
Cello is my primary instrument. Since the age of five, I’ve played piano. In the 4th grade, I began playing the flute, which is what I play in my School Band. 
 
What's your experience at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center been like? Do you have a favorite memory that took place here?
My experience has been remarkable! MYAC is my 2nd home. Without MYAC, I would not have had the opportunities in the past nor in the present. MYAC is the center place that holds all of the organizations together. For me, there is one special room in MYAC— The Shakespeare Room. It was the very first room that I used in progressions, and then for my Chamber Ensemble Bach group, First Stage Academy classes, auditions, and choir lessons. It’s so cool to think that all these amazing things can happen within the walls of one room! 
 
A favorite memory is the recent MYSO Gala Night, Pathways to Success event, when we celebrated MYSO’s 2015 National Arts & Humanity Youth Program award. I had the honor of playing a cello duet with my friend, Malik. 
 
What's your favorite thing about being a multi-disciplinary artist? Have you found connections between your work as a musician, singer, and dancer?
I am so fortunate to be able to do all my favorite things: Sing, dance, act, and play cello.These forms of art go hand in hand to my advantage. For instance, on many occasions I have been ahead of the game; as a singer I’m sensitive to the musicians, and as a musician I’m sensitive to the one singing, as a dancer, I am able to express the music with my body, mind and soul. I hope that all of this helps me to be a better performer on stage.     
 
And one other general question--how did you guys learn about MYSO, First Stage, Children's Choir, and Danceworks?  We ask because we've been seeing that many students come to MYAC for one program, and then through being at MYAC they actually learn about another program that fits their interests. We call these "crossover" students who maybe come to MYAC for MYSO and then end up joining Danceworks (who is another of our artistic partners). I'm just curious if that's the case with Abby.
 
My mom learned about the Milwaukee Children’s Choir over the internet. I was so excited to join because I love to sing. When I walked through the hallways at MYAC, to choir, I loved to hear the music of the MYSO kids. My music teacher, at my school, recommended me to the Progressions program. I was ecstatic to become part of MYSO. Then, since we used to come often to MYAC, we learned that First Stage was offering summer classes and that is when I joined the First Stage Academy. 
 
(Maggy Hanna (Mom) responded) Absolutely! However, because Abby has a passion for so many forms of art, she stays with what she was doing, and crosses over at the same time. 

Please visit any of our Program Partner's Web Sites to learn how you can become part of one of the many opportunities they have to offer.  Make MYAC your second home also.

The Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra has been approved to work with a Marquette Trinity Fellow for two years. The Trinity Fellowship from Marquette University is a graduate fellowship for those dedicated to social and economic justice. Fellows must have prior volunteer service in AmeriCorps or PeaceCorps.

Fellows then complete a Master's degree in their graduate program of choice, while also working at a local community organization. Each year the Marquette Trinity Fellows Program supports 10 fellows with a full tuition scholarship, living stipend, and opportunity for professional development at a Milwaukee nonprofit.

MYSO applied and was matched with a Trinity Fellow, who will join the staff in September of 2016. Since I'm currently working at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center as a Trinity Fellow and will be leaving soon, I wanted to get to know the next Trinity Fellow to work in this building.

Simba Gandari will join the MYSO staff in the fall, and will assist with finance and business administration while earning his MBA at Marquette.

What's your background? Where are you from? 

I was born and raised in Harare, Zimbabwe. Just after high school I got bitten by the travel bug and this led me to India. After two years I came to the U.S and this has been my home the last 9 years. My work background is in sports based youth development. Using soccer as a tool to educate inner city youth on traits like teamwork, leadership and commitment has been my biggest goal. For my undergraduate studies I went to Cardinal Stritch University where I got my Bachelor’s degree in Sport Management.

What will you study at Marquette? What do you hope to learn?

I will be pursuing a Masters in Business Administration from Marquette. My hope is to learn how to help businesses solve problems using innovative ideas.  I want to use what I learn in the classroom to help others better their businesses.

Since MYSO is an arts education program, do you have any background in the arts? 

I actually know very little about arts education but this is what drew me to MYSO, it’s an opportunity to learn more. I thrive on new opportunities and challenges, and MYSO will produce both. My goal is to learn from each experience.

What aspect of the Fellowship are you most excited about?

 I’m excited to meet and build relationships with the other Trinity Fellows.

Is there anything in particular you're excited about with your placement at MYSO? What are you hoping to learn during your work at MYSO?

My hope is to learn what it’s like to run a non-profit from the business side. The challenges that the finance, administrative and marketing departments all face on a daily basis. My long-term goal is to work in non-profit consulting and working at MYSO will provide a solid platform. I’ve also never been to a musical concert, I hope I get to attend one or two.

Outside of work and school, what are your hobbies/interests?
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Participating in sports has allowed me to build lifelong friendships. I am fascinated by techniques used in different sports and I will study it until I can master it. This summer my goal is to learn how to play golf!

This interview continues to celebrate and explore where the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center has come during its ten years of operation. We’re celebrating our 10th anniversary all year, and to understand MYAC’s story, I’ve been talking to key staff and supporters who’ve been here since the beginning.

Fran Richman is former Executive Director of the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra (MYSO). She led that organization for 25 years, and co-founded MYAC with Rob Goodman during her tenure.

Fran has since retired from her role as Executive Director, but remains involved with MYSO and MYAC. This is the second part of our interview. You can read the first part in a previous blog post.

Kaye Herranen: You talked about this a little bit already, but how did the move to the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center impact MYSO?
Fran Richman: It’s perhaps a bit of an overstatement, but in some ways it changed almost everything about MYSO.

In a sense, MYSO kind of reinvented itself with this move.  We added a number of very exciting, new programs, and with that we added a diversity element that had been sorely lacking. One of the things that both MYSO and First Stage developed as part of the capital campaign was our community partnership programs. And I really think that incorporating that concept into the project in such a prominent way was an Elizabeth Meyer idea, as well.

Both organizations were starting up new programs and/or ramping up our scholarship offerings in existing programs, doing things that we hadn’t done before, to help increase our diversity and to make sure that we were serving kids who were interested, so that no interested or capable student would be denied access to the programs. MYSO had always had that as a mission tagline—that every student who could successfully audition into MYSO could participate fully, because we would make sure that they had tuition assistance and private lesson assistance.  With the building, the new programs, and an enhanced commitment to diversity, we broadened that access tremendously.

It was putting these programs under the umbrella of community partnership that gave us opportunities—including important fundraising opportunities—that we wouldn’t have had before. We discovered that that pragmatism connected beautifully with the whole vision of what we wanted this space to be and do; it allowed MYSO to grow from about 600 students right before we moved in here, to more than 900 in just a few years.

Before MYAC, MYSO had a rabbit warren of office space. It was one large room with a number of small room dividers; we crammed about 6 staff people in there, and we had timpani and string basses and a lot of other percussion equipment and our music library up in the front of the office.  When someone walked in, they couldn’t see anyone, just timpani and large percussion. So they would yell over the cubicles to see if anyone was there. And then people would poke their heads out, like prairie dogs popping out of holes. We were thrilled to be located in the Marcus Center, and they did their best to help us maximize our use of the space; but it was not ideal for our purposes. We entered our old office in an “Ugly Office” contest and were stunned that we didn’t win.

But in spite of the space, we managed to run some truly extraordinary programs, and people liked the idea of coming to the Marcus Center, knowing that so much of Milwaukee’s arts community had ties to it. It screamed “performance,” and that was fun. But the rehearsal halls were really too small for our large ensembles. We were often putting 100 kids in a space that was meant for 50. Sometimes kids were actually hanging out the doorways into the hallway. But it was what we had, and people thrived and grew and turned into fabulous musicians. So it couldn’t have been too bad.  So enter MYAC!  In addition to giving us a place to store all of that important equipment, it allowed us to take donations of instruments and to buy some equipment that we sorely needed.

KH: What was the original vision or dream for MYAC?
FR: I think the goal was to ensure that children from every background, regardless of their financial capability, would have an opportunity to—in our case—study ensemble music in a setting that was educationally appropriate and high quality and which could play a key role in preparing them emotionally, psychologically, and musically, for whatever they wanted to do.

We sort of joke about the fact that early on we had this idea, and we wanted to vet the idea around the country to make sure that we weren’t wasting a lot of resources re-inventing the wheel. We felt strongly that if there was something out there, we should tap into it, take advantage of what others could teach us. But we gradually discovered that there WAS no wheel—we were it—this concept didn’t exist anywhere. The combination of an urban-based collaborative venture; seeking to create high quality space; not focused on performance but rather on education, training, and rehearsal—all of those things made it unique. And that uniqueness was a pretty compelling argument; I think the idea that Milwaukee was developing a new arts model was something that really helped tremendously with the fundraising.

The community did not embrace the concept [of MYAC] initially. I think there were a lot of people who felt that nonprofits have no business building or owning facilities, and certainly that two relatively small arts groups don’t have any business doing that.  It took a long time and was a perplexing concept—people couldn’t quite get their arms around the idea of what we were doing—because it was new, it was different.

You know, when we first started the campaign we had some wooden boards lined up against a wall, which we called the wall of dreams. I hope the pictures exist somewhere. There are some really great quotes on there of what kids thought this was going to be. And they’re wonderful! The kids were pretty eloquent—I think they understood the concept better than a lot of the adults! If that wall is still around, it would be a fun thing to integrate into this retrospective.

When we launched the project, we had a $12 million capital campaign.  A measure of the success and of the extent to which people ultimately “got it” is that the campaign raised over $15 million. The “extra” was almost entirely for the new programming being proposed. People said that not only did they think this building was important and great and wonderful, but that they needed to give money to support the kind of programming being developed because of the location and the mission and the notion of community partnership.

So the campaign raised several million dollars extra, largely from Dick Burke, but from a number of other generous people as well, to support the diversity initiatives and the scholarships.
That’s a very successful campaign by anyone’s measure. It was very slow getting going; it was not an easy campaign for a long time, but then gradually people caught on.

I’m sure you’ve heard the story about Dick Burke.  A couple of people from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation worked with Dick to help direct his philanthropic giving; they wanted him to come and hear about this project, wanted him to come and see the space. This was when it was still a big warehouse, pretty much a concrete football field.  After a lot of effort, a Foundation officer finally convinced him to come and see it. But what he was hearing from Rob and me was all about arts programming, arts and the kids, etc.  He made no bones about being a self-professed non-arts guy. And he later joked about wanting to bolt when he got here; he was just not all that interested.  After some time he said that he would be willing to give some money for the programming that he cared about, the things that would directly help disadvantaged urban youth. That was wonderful news--he was willing to commit $1.8 million. That sounded absolutely fabulous, but then we had to work very hard to help him understand that unless we had the building, none of that programming was going to happen.

I think it was a good six months after he committed to giving program money, that he committed to making a capital gift, money that would go toward the brick and mortar part of things. My sense was that he loved the place and was pretty sold on it but that he had to be sure it would serve the needs that he saw in the community. He later played an important and active role on the MYAC board of directors.  I just loved the fact that he said, “For my $3.6 million can I un-name some spaces? I don’t want anything named after me—I just want to be sure some key spaces remain un-named.” 

When you inform someone that you’re studying the arts, either at the high school or college level, many people respond with the question, “…And what are you going to do with that?” In this blog series we’ll be profiling several careers in or related to the arts.

We spoke with Megan Ley, a music therapist who works with adults with intellectual disabilities at the Milwaukee Center for Independence.

What  music or arts programs were you in growing up?
I started in choir--that was primarily what I did. I was also in orchestra through middle school and high school, so I play the violin. I was part of the Lacrosse Youth Symphony Orchestra. I was also in show choir and took piano lessons.

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Do you play any other instruments?
With the music therapy program you do learn how to play guitar as part of the main curriculum. So I play guitar, piano, I picked up some other random instruments like ukulele—once you learn how to play guitar you can branch out pretty easily. The ukulele is really useful in that you can carry it anywhere, you can play a lot of different styles of music on it. Sometimes I play the autoharp, or just weird stringed instruments.

Where did you go to college and what did you study?
I went to the University of Minnesota, in the Twin Cities. I didn’t know about music therapy at all in high school, and I didn’t really know about it going into college. It was after my first semester of college, my mom works at the hospital in La Crosse, and there happened to be a music therapist who worked there. So she kind of heard about it, and thought that I should check it out. I set up a job shadow, I followed her around for the day. On that day she was in the oncology unit, so she was going around to people who were getting chemotherapy. Which was pretty powerful, and I got to see the effect that music had on people at a pretty dark time of their life.

So that was how I got to thinking—wow, I really need to do this. I transferred into the program at the University of Minnesota. Luckily they have a really great music therapy program there. So I wasn’t sure what I wanted to major in at the time, but then I stumbled into music therapy and was like, yes this sounds like something I want to do.

Music was a big part of my life, and I had heard from so many people “What can you really do with a music degree?” and that kind of negative “is it really practical?” attitude.

What was the program like at University of Minnesota? What type of classes did you take?
It’s a four year, undergraduate program. You’re in the music school, so when you start out as a freshman you’re in basically all the classes that the other music majors take. You take Intro to Music Therapy to get an overview of what it is, all the different things you can do with it. And then as you progress through the program it became more specific to music therapy and psychology. Also in your Junior and Senior year—and I think this is the same throughout all music therapy programs—you do a practicum. Every semester you go to a site where there is a music therapist and you shadow them, and help them there.

Did you have a favorite part or aspect of the program? A favorite class?
The thing I liked the most about where I went to school is that it was really hands on. Instead of just talking about music therapy, we were always doing things in class like role playing. At the time I didn’t really like this, but we had to videotape ourselves a lot so we could watch it and improve. And they had a lot of other opportunities for practicum with different populations—with children, with older adults, and everything in between.

What are some different types of music therapy? Is it by age group, or different approaches?
Sometimes it’s hard to describe music therapy, at least for me, because there are so many different things you can do with it. There are different philosophies. The University of Minnesota is very cognitive behavioral, so focusing on goals and accomplishing those goals in a timely matter, measuring something. There are different approaches that are more psychoanalytic, more improvisational. There’s also neurologic music therapy. So there are different, more specific schools of music therapy.

Music therapists can really work with anyone, from premature infants all the way to older adults in hospice care. Music therapists work in hospitals, schools, treatment facilities, rehab facilities, even correctional facilities. Lots of variety.

Generally, what is your job like? What are the things you do on an average day?
In general, music therapy is using music, but we’re focusing on things that are not musical. So that’s where we differ from things like music education. You’re not focusing on whether or not someone’s playing an instrument correctly—it’s not really about the music. At my job, I have a lot of groups. I have two groups a day, and we’re working on a lot of things like social skills, communication, expressing emotions.

What are some of the activities that you do with clients?
Each group I have has a different focus. Like I said, we focus on social skills. For one group we might do a hello song just to welcome everyone to the group and let them know that we’re getting started. It’s a structured way for people to work on greeting a peer, this is how you say ‘hello’ or ask about someone’s day. Or this is how you answer those questions. So that might be something we do to address a pretty basic social skill, something like saying hello. Another thing we might do is I’ll say “We’re going to write a song today, I want you to tell me what we’re going to put in the song. What style is it going to be? What instruments do you want to use?” It’s about making decisions, listening to other people’s input, coming to a compromise, working as a group, working with others.

Playing instruments is a big part of it. Taking turns, impulse control. Just choosing an instrument.
A lot of times I’ll be playing something on guitar to lead the group and I’ll have other people playing instruments with me. It’s a collaborative group effort, not just me singing the song. I want people in the group to be doing something active and working on something.

What’s your favorite part of the job, favorite stories?
There are so many great things about being a music therapist. Even just creatively, there are so many opportunities to be creative musically and do so many different styles of music—I’ll do anything from folk songs to Taylor Swift, in one group maybe.

One of my favorite things about this job is seeing someone who might not in other aspects of their life respond to things--maybe even look up or smile--do something musical or hear something and interact and engage. That’s really rewarding and something I really enjoy about being a music therapist.

If someone is interested in music therapy, what would you say are some required skills or experiences? Do they have to have a musical background before college?
I think it helps to have a little bit of a musical background, but I think it’s more important that you have to be interested in people and that aspect as well. Being flexible is a big thing. A lot can happen in any group of people, you need to be able to think on your feet, be flexible, be in the moment.

Do you have advice for people interested in music therapy?
I was going to mention that if someone is interested in music therapy, going to the American Music Therapy Association website would be really helpful. It’s a good place to start, it has all of the schools in the country that have a music therapy program, basic information about music therapy.

It’s a really great opportunity to be creative. And if you play a really weird instrument and think like "Oh, I’ll never really use this,” chances are you can find a way to use it in music therapy.

Something that’s really rewarding about music therapy is that I found that music is something that touches a lot of people regardless of their functioning level and it can have an effect on really anyone of any background.

This interview continues to celebrate and explore where the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center has come during its ten years of operation. We’re celebrating our 10th anniversary all year, and to understand MYAC’s story, I’ve been talking to key staff and supporters who’ve been here since the beginning.

Fran Richman is former Executive Director of the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra (MYSO). She led that organization for 25 years, and co-founded MYAC with Rob Goodman during her tenure.

Fran has since retired from her role as Executive Director, but remains involved with MYSO and MYAC. This is the first part of our interview.

Fran Richman: My husband and I moved to Milwaukee in 1972, and I continued working on my doctoral dissertation for a bit. I also did some teaching at UW-Milwaukee, in the sociology department. Then we had our first child, then we had our second child, and I got further and further away from the academic thing.

When our kids were 11 and 7, I went back to work. That was in the mid-eighties, and I did budgeting and finance work for the Milwaukee Jewish Federation for a couple of years. Then with my husband, who had been a long-time board member of MYSO (then Music For Youth) and board president, we accompanied the orchestra, with a number of parents and chaperones, on a three-week concert tour of Europe in 1987.

MFY/MYSO was going through some changes at that time; it was well poised for growth, but it was dealing with some organizational issues. While we were on this tour, it became pretty clear to us that this was something that might be a very interesting setting for me.

By the following year, MYSO was in a position to hire someone for a Managing Director position. They had never had someone administering the organization fulltime. And I thought, okay I can make that leap, this might be fun. I started in 1988; Steve soon resigned from the board, and ultimately both of our kids were involved in MYSO.

Then, about ten years later, we started talking internally at MYSO about the need for more space. It was in the mid- to late-90s that we started conversations about it. It was a couple of years before anything really got going, but we were already looking—that’s kind of a fun part of the story for me—both MYSO and First Stage were at different points in their history, but both very much in need of space.

They were in the basement of the Marcus Center, and we were up on the top floor of the Marcus Center. We were independently looking at various spaces around the community—sometimes they’d be going out the back door and we’d be coming in the front door. Eventually Rob and I ran into each other in the elevator at the Marcus Center and realized: Well this is kind of dumb, we really ought to be doing this together.

Kaye Herranen: Rob said that when he started talking with MYSO, the MYSO board seemed to be further along in the planning stage than First stage was. What did this initial planning look like, before First Stage came into the picture? Were you looking to build a space? Or just exploring ideas?

FR: We honestly didn’t know, so we looked at all the options. We had a board member at that time who was involved in real estate who showed us a number of properties. We knew we needed space, but we didn’t really have a firm grasp on exactly what we wanted or needed, or maybe if we should be dreaming a little bigger.

One of the things that we had going for us was that MYSO finances had always been managed extremely conservatively, so we had an endowment, we had some reserves, we had money that we could put toward this. And we had a couple of people who we were pretty sure would step up significantly to help. But I think we were a little bit clueless about what a big project would really involve.

We looked at some wildly inappropriate buildings that we could have done something with—but it wouldn’t have been anything like this.

First Stage was much younger, and had been managed very differently. They were the ones who had some young, major movers and shakers on their board and in their audiences and parent group--folks who had kids involved with First Stage. They had a much bigger audience because of the kind of performances they did, so they had a bigger pool that they could tap into.

And the beauty of having two different art forms became crystal clear to us quickly. It was obvious that we could do a lot more if we collaborated with another organization, ideally a different kind of organization, where we could tap into different segments of the community and could hopefully convince some folks that this was an exciting, necessary, viable project.

It was not easy. There were a lot of naysayers who thought this was the dumbest idea on the planet.

KH: I was going to ask about the reception—so after you had this idea of collaborating, was it well received by board and staff?

FR: It was very well received by our board because they were close enough to understand that this was a tremendous need. MYSO was in a little bit of a box. The organization had grown very gradually and well. The organization was founded in 1956. So in 2000 it was 44 years old, and we had a lot of things going for us—including very strong support in the community, but not necessarily real broad support.

We were at a point where unless we got that broader support, unless we got more space, unless we opened up some new programs, we couldn’t really grow. We couldn’t really do much that was different or new. There were a number of programs that I had wanted to start for years and years, but we had nowhere to put them. This was especially true of some diversity initiatives that we had put “on the back burner.”

Those things began to gel as we went through the process; first we made the decision that we wanted to be in the greater downtown area. Both MYSO and First Stage are organizations that are committed to the city, and we wanted to be able to show that, in part through our locations.

Again, we looked at a lot of horribly inappropriate spaces, I think at least 40 or 50 different spaces before this one. By that time we were working with people from the First Stage board, the MYSO board, and some professionals who were assisting with feasibility and design and site selection.  Sometimes we would all roll our eyes at much of what we were seeing. Because of the nature of the work done by the two organizations, our facility needs were very specific and VERY extensive, and not many buildings met them.

We got to this space and walked in, and there was kind of a collective gasp, because it was the first space that we had seen that seemed like it could actually make sense. We could design it so it could house large musical ensembles and small groups; it could house theater classes, it could provide a space that would be an informal theater and quality performance space--all of those things.

​So then it began to feel a little more real. Because the space was so large, much larger than anything else we had looked at, it was clear that we could start up some of the important new programming, and it became very clear that we could include a number of other organizations.

And that whole process, I feel, is a tribute to Elizabeth Meyer, who was critical to the development of the vision for this place, not just in terms of the collaboration between MYSO and First Stage, but also in recognizing the need to try to involve all genres of youth performing arts.

We wanted to include dance, we wanted to include vocal music, to try to pull in a lot of different stakeholders and organizations, and Elizabeth was also very instrumental in seeing the ultimate value of this city location, in terms of engaging under-served communities.

Those were the types of programs that I kind of had in the back of my mind that I really wanted to get going. We started up our Progressions program, which is a city-based string program for third and fourth grade students, very shortly before we moved in here, anticipating what was going to happen. We started up a jazz program, which had something of a focus on the city. And gradually we added others.

One consequence of being located here in the city was that we suddenly we had some “street cred,” that we weren’t just saying we wanted to serve diverse populations that were different from the stereotype that some folks had of MYSO, but that we really meant business.

The stereotype was something we really struggled with because we knew that MYSO was not exclusionary in any fashion; we had substantial scholarship funding and widespread recruiting. Diversity was there, but certainly not at the level that it should have been, largely due to the fact that kids from schools without strong arts programs and from backgrounds that don’t have the wherewithal to provide private music lessons are going to be at a distinct disadvantage in joining an audition-based program.
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So we set about trying to change all of that, and to offer some training that would ratchet up the preparation for some promising kids without other opportunities, so they would ultimately be able to audition into MYSO. And that has absolutely happened. The numbers and the achievements of the kids are phenomenal.

For this staff spotlight, I wanted to feature a Milwaukee Youth Arts Center staff member who is active in the Milwaukee art world. Harry Loeffler-Bell is our Operations Assistant, as well as an author, musician, and actor.

When I was little I went through phases of thinking I was going to be a scientist, without really knowing what that meant. And I still have some interests in that realm of that universe. The first thing I remember wanting to be when I grew up was wanting to be a professional draw-er. Of course not knowing what that was.

That’s another thing that made me pursue actually getting a job here. Because when I was growing up, playing trumpet was a huge part of my life. So for a while I thought that’s what I was going to do, to play trumpet professionally. Which I ended up not doing, and that’s ok. Because that led into other stuff. I play trumpet, guitar, ukulele, I can fake my way through piano sometimes.

Here’s the thing, I think a lot of kids should know that it’s really easy to self-publish. Amazon has a service, Google has a service. With Amazon you can submit in a PDF version, submit a picture for the cover image, and they have a print on demand service. Billy in Space, and Ned, are both on Kindle and Amazon, so you can get a hard copy or a soft copy. Doing that is really easy, all you have to do is actually write the book—you finish whatever your story is, then you go through editing which is in my opinion harder than writing it, then you just upload that file, and bam—it’s available for people to purchase.

Once the second one is done I’ll spend a lot of time sending it around to publishers. So when you finish your book you have two options, you can either  go straight to self-publishing it, or you can do along the route of sending out the book to a billion different publishers and seeing who maybe wants to pick it up. So I might try that.

There’s a children’s book, The Orangest Ninja: Ned, that was the first thing I did. Then there’s a novel, called Billy in Space, and I’m working on a sequel to Billy in Space right now. That’s been taking forever, but that’s what I’m working on.

The children’s book I wrote about four years ago. I just got the idea—I wanted to do a children’s book written in haikus and I thought it’d be fun to do it about a ninja. And I had this cute doodle of a ninja that I’d come up with, so I just decided ‘Alright, self-publishing is a thing, so why not do it?’ So I did it. And then the novel came about, that started as a video game idea actually. But the video game idea was getting too complicated so I kind of just wanted to tell the story.

I took the story, the core concepts, I was working on and turned it into the basis of the book. That was finished around two years ago. The sequel is going slow. The first one, half of the ideas were already formed because I was working on it as a game first. So this one, it’s same universe, same main characters and everything, but I hadn’t had all of my ideas forming in my head through other things, so it’s been taking twice as long.

Billy in Space is very much if you took the movie Alien and made it a comedy. It’s got a similar tone to something like Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. That was the first book I ever read that I laughed out loud to.

One of the other things that I work on is animation. I’ve done a music video for some of my music, but not a lot. But a friend of mine who I go and play shows with, he’s this really cool folk musician named D.B. Rouse. I became friends with him right after college. Right after college it was pursuing life as an actor, pursuing goals as a musician, then writer, and now I’m doing all of this at once.

He asked if I wanted to do a music video for him, because he’d seen the one I did for myself. And since then I think I’ve done 5 or 6 music videos for him. All animated stuff.

Yeah, the animation is pretty much self-taught. It started because I wanted to make animated shorts, which I did, but if there’s a story you want to tell, and that’s the best medium to do it, it’s just a matter of sitting down and going ‘Ok so how does this program work?’ It’s not hard, it’s just like any other skill; you just have to take the time to learn how to use it.

I went to Marquette, and studied theater there. I started with a focus on acting, throughout college I did some writing, but it was all plays. I wrote a one act musical, and there was another story about a kid and the monster that lived under his bed. It was fun. I was proud of both of them. I used the theater group, Marquette University Player's Society to do those plays.
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Definitely, my theater training is helping me now. I think that’s why someplace like MYAC is important, because there’s a lot of stuff that you learn in theater training that is useful for other stuff. Specifically relating acting training to writing a novel. I think one of my strengths is characters and dialogue, because that’s what you really learn to do as an actor—learning to make characters and dialogue sound believable. So those skills easily transfer over. They’re just two different types of storytelling, so a lot of stuff transfers.

This guest post was written by Marc Isaacs, a professional actor and acting coach, as well as a parent of a Milwaukee Children's Choir student. Marc has led educational programs and seminars for students on a variety of acting-related themes. Marc has volunteered to write guest posts occasionally, sharing a parent's perspective on happenings at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center.
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As anyone who has moved to a new town knows, first come the obligations, followed by the opportunities. Where to live, shop for groceries, and send the kids to school are part of that first list but it's the opportunities yet to be discovered that lead to truly memorable experiences. Let me share with you how the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center has become one of those opportunities for our family shortly after arriving in the area from Texas.

In Houston, fine arts was among our priorities. Thanks to my brilliant ex-wife Bonnie, our daughter Aidan spent four years at a fine arts magnet school which focuses on helping each child "develop their individual talents in the arts and to understand the relationships between academics and the arts." Our girl excelled, participated in the school choir in fourth grade, and we were grateful. Then a job opportunity for Bonnie in Milwaukee came suddenly over the summer and she chose Shorewood as the place to call home.

The abrupt change of scenery meant scrambling to find new arts resources in Milwaukee, and we were fortunate to hear about Milwaukee Children's Choir from a PTO leader in the Shorewood school district. Bonnie arranged an audition for Aidan with the artistic director of the Milwaukee Children's Choir, and I took her to it. When my daughter and I met Marco Melendez, a gracious and joyful man, we were delighted to hear he's from Texas. We were even more delighted when Mr. Melendez offered Aiden a spot in the Girlschoir.

A few weeks have passed since then and a visit to the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center has become our Tuesday ritual as my daughter rehearses under the direction of Sarah Zietlow. As a parent, I am impressed by MYAC's attention to creating a safe and secure environment for the kids. Bonnie and I weren't able to just take her to rehearsal without stopping at the front desk to get a sticker identifying us as parents. (Following a parents' meeting, we now have badges to wear during every visit.) I also enjoy knowing an open space for students and parents to sit, relax, work, and connect is always available when we're there.

Beyond the elementary school community--which we are still getting to know slowly--I have a strong sense the community we are now a part of at MYAC will be enriching and rewarding to all of us and lead us to many new opportunities, valuable connections, and heartwarming friendships in the coming months. The time spent there has already given us a glimpse of other arts opportunities we may explore in the future, whether as participants or as audience members. I'm eager to get acquainted with the work of First Stage and African American Children's Theatre, and I'm sure we'll make time to see more than a few shows in the upcoming year.

Finally, I welcome the families at MYAC to introduce themselves to us anytime. We love meeting new people, especially ones who can lend a helping hand as we adapt to life in Wisconsin. We're just beginning to explore the arts, culture, and entertainment opportunities here in Milwaukee, and would love to hear your recommendations.