News @ the Peck School of the Arts

Take 5 with Jim Plaisted of the North Ave. BID: CRE Guide

By Sean Ryan
Business Journal Serving Greater Milwaukee
May 16, 2013

Jim Plaisted since 1999 has been executive director of the East Side Business Improvement District, which centers around East North Avenue in Milwaukee...

...Plaisted answers our questions on these new developments, other businesses moving to the area and the district’s image as a college neighborhood.Q: How and why are you working to change perceptions of the East Side as a college neighborhood?...

A: We are promoting some of the positive aspects of living near a university. Traditionally, university neighborhoods tend to be the most energetic and eclectic in nature. It’s where new ideas emerge, talent is groomed and where there’s a demand for things like an art house cinema, specialty shops, coffeehouses and restaurants like Beans & Barley. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts in the Kenilworth Building has a great impact on the neighborhood. It buzzes with artists, music and film students, animation wizards and theater people. They get their fuel from this neighborhood, and in turn they energize the area.

But there’s more to the East Side than students. There’s a whole population of university faculty, young professionals and longtime residents that call the East Side home. They also have a strong influence on the businesses that are attracted to our commercial area. It’s no accident that Whole Foods chose this neighborhood for its only Milwaukee store....

Visit The Business Journal Serving Greater Milwaukee to read the full article.

Emmons is new dean of UWM's Peck School of the Arts

May 16, 2013
BizTimes

Scott Emmons has been named dean of the Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM).

Emmons, a professor of music education, joined the UWM faculty in 1992. He has served as interim dean of the Peck School during the 2012-13 Year of the Arts at UWM, a celebration of the Peck School’s 50th anniversary.

“Scott is a solid citizen of this university and has already demonstrated his commitment to UWM students, faculty and staff, and to the Milwaukee arts community,” said UWM Chancellor Michael Lovell. “I have every confidence in his ability to lead the Peck School of the Arts forward.”

Read the full article at BizTimes. 

Emmons named dean of UWM's Peck School of the Arts

By Karen Herzog
May 15, 2013
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Scott Emmons, a professor of music education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee since 1992, has been named dean of the Peck School of the Arts.

Emmons has served as interim dean of the Peck School during the 2012-'13 Year of the Arts at UWM, a celebration of the Peck School’s 50th anniversary.

“Scott is a solid citizen of this university and has already demonstrated his commitment to UWM students, faculty and staff, and to the Milwaukee arts community,” UWM Chancellor Michael R. Lovell said in a prepared statement. “I have every confidence in his ability to lead the Peck School of the Arts forward.”

Read the full article at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

 

Inter-Arts - Musical Theatre Students and Alumni cast into "Waiting... A Song Cycle," an NYC Off-Broadway Production

Musical Theatre student Cleary Breunig and two Musical Theatre alumni, Ryan Cappleman and Sally Staats, have been cast into "Waiting... A Song Cycle," an Off-Broadway musical production. This production was created by UWM student and The World's Stage Theatre Artistic Director Gretchen Mahkorn, in collaboration with composers Bob Kelly and Kelly Pomeroy.

The musical will be premiered in Milwaukee May 23-26, 2013 at Tenth Street Theatre (628 N. 10th Street, Milwaukee). Then, The World's Stage Theatre Company will take its production and staff to the Off-Broadway Mainstage Cherry Lane Theatre in New York City for a week in late June 2013.  Tickets can be purchased at http://waiting.bpt.me/.

Congratulations, Cleary, Ryan, Sally and Gretchen!

Congratulations to the 2013 Peck School of the Arts Length of Service Award recipients!

Congratulations to the many Peck School of the Arts faculty and staff  who received Length of Service awards in 2013!  The following faculty and staff were honored for their long-time service to UWM:

10 Years
Kimberly D Beckmann
Gregory J Flint
Curt G Hanrahan
Alexander J Hansen
Mark D Petersen
Carl A Storniolo
Kristy A Volbrecht
Darci L Wutz
Bernard F Zinck

15 Years
Christopher L Davis-Benavides
William C Heinrichs
Lisa A Moline
Jonathan M Monhardt

20 Years
Mitchell P Brauner
Susan A Thomas

25 Years
Denis R Sargent

30 Years
Efim Boico
Ralph E Evans

35 Years
Karen M Gunderman
Stephen H Pevnick
Leslie Loomis Vansen
Robert H Yeo

Thanks for all you do for our students, UWM, Milwaukee and the arts!

Avant Garde Coffeehouse remembered at Inova

By Jessica Sattell

ThirdCoast Daily

May 1, 2013

2101-2111 N. Prospect Avenue — better known as the Bertelson Building — is the stunning Mission-style 1927 gem just south of UWM’s Institute of Visual Arts. Currently, it houses tenants including Mystery One Bookshop and Allium, a bar and restaurant that describes itself as an “avant-garde” meeting place in a nod to the building’s artistic roots. But from 1962 to 1968, 2111 was the very center of Milwaukee’s folk/blues revival and a hotbed of all kinds of art reflecting that time’s explosive cultural change. It was better known as the Avant Garde Coffeehouse...

Visit ThirdCoast Daily for the full article.

Theatre - Theatre Gigante Presents Electra

Theatre Gigante presents Electra, the third production in its 25th Anniversary Season.  Actors, dancers and musicians depict this Greek tragedy in a brand new theatrical way.  This premiere, created by Artistic Directors Isabelle Kralj and Mark Anderson, is inspired by the Hungarian movie filmed in the 1970s titled Electra My Love, and focuses on politics and tyranny. Kralj and Anderson also explore the concept of vendettas and the fine line between justice and vengeance.

Gigante's Electra is told through dialogue, dance and music. Directed by Kralj, this hybrid drama includes music by Seth Warren Crow and the Tiger Lillies, choreography by Kralj, lighting and set design by Rick Graham and costume design by Marion Clendenen-Acosta. The cast includes Mark Anderson, Joe Fransee, Isabelle Kralj, Craig Menteer, Suzette Nelson, Edwin Olvera, Molly Corkins, Megan Kaminsky, Katie Rhyme, Jessie Mae Scibek and Joelle Worm.

Electra shows May 10-11 and 16-18 at 7:30pm at Kenilworth Studio 508, 1925 E. Kenilworth Place. Reception following the May 10 performance and post-performance talk-back on May 16.

Read more at Theatre Gigante, and purchase tickets at arts.uwm.edu/tickets.

 

Theatre Alum - Punk singer finds her voice as playwright

By Jim Higgins
April 19, 2013
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

When the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts wanted someone to write a play for its Avant Garde Coffeehouse Project, someone who could listen to the folk and blues music of the '60s, read the articles and the oral histories, look at the historical photos, digest and distill all that source material and fashion a drama that could capture the spirit of those times in a way that matters now, the school turned to the most logical person:

A 23-year-old punk-rock singer emblazoned with tattoos.

But those aren't ordinary tattoos, and the folks who've worked with Fly Steffens will happily tell you that Steffens is no ordinary 23-year-old, punk-rock-singing playwright. "Wise beyond her years," one of her former supervisors called her.

Steffens has buzzed through the UWM theater community the past few years, working on plays and documentaries and even promotional materials for the Peck School's Year of the Arts celebration.

She drew on many of those experiences in writing "Meet Me at the Avant Garde," a play based on research but with fictionalized characters, set at the famed Milwaukee music spot of the '60s.

The Avant Garde project is one of the Peck School's biggest Year of the Arts efforts, a collaboration among the university's music and theater departments and its finger-style guitar program. Photos, videos, sound recordings and ephemera from the coffeehouse are on display through May 12 at Inova, 2155 N. Prospect Ave., where UWM finger-style guitar students have given concerts of related music.

Read the full article at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Art! Music! Film! Take a trip back in time to the Avant Garde Coffeehouse

By Dori Zori
April 17, 2013
88Nine Radio Milwaukee

Milwaukee has a rich musical history and the Peck School of the Arts is doing their part to make sure our present and future generations don't forget it.

From 1962 to 1968, the Avant Garde Coffeehouse, located at 2111 North Prospect, was a center for the folk/blues revival in Wisconsin. Not only did the coffeehouse host local and nationally know musicians, but it was also a hotbed for experimental films, poetry readings and performance art.

Milwaukee has a rich musical history and the Peck School of the Arts is doing their part to make sure our present and future generations don't forget it.The Finger-Style Guitar Program at the Peck School of the Arts collaborated on a new project to tell this story through theater, dance, art and music.

"Meet Me At The Avant Garde" is a play/musical writtenby UWM Grad Fly Steffens. "The play is about the art and the music that was there from the perspective of two different generations experiencing the music at the same time" says Steffens. "There's so much original research and stories relayed by people who where there."

View the full article and listen to the podcast at 88Nine Radio Milwaukee. 

First Flourish Fest partners with UWM to celebrate creativity

Flourish Fest, coordinated by University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Associate Professor of Theatre Anne Basting, runs from May 5-17, coinciding with National Older Americans Month. This first festival is part of the Peck School’s Year of the Arts celebration and dovetails with the community connections that are a key component of YOA.

“Festival events include opportunities to witness, talk about and create the power of art-making across generations,” says Basting.

Flourish Fest is organized by The Creative Trust, an organization dedicated to fostering lifelong learning in the arts. Basting founded this alliance of agencies and organizations in July 2012, after returning from the Bealtaine Festival in Dublin, Ireland. That festival is a nationwide, month-long celebration of later-life creativity across all arts disciplines.