Monday, November 24, 2025
On Thursday, November 20, grantees of the Milwaukee Recreation Partnership for the Arts and Humanities gathered for the second annual Connected Roots Summit at ThriveOn King Collaboration.
Milwaukee Recreation’s Partnership for the Arts and Humanities
The Partnership for the Arts and Humanities is a $1.7 million allocation of funds by the Milwaukee Board of School Directors to support afterschool and summer arts and humanities-related opportunities for youth and families. Goals of this program include increasing youth access to arts and/or humanities-related experiences, establishing and strengthening new community partnerships, and expanding resources and support for arts and humanities education for all city of Milwaukee youth and families.
Connected Roots Summit
These themes of partnership culminate in the annual Connected Roots Summit. Through this event, Milwaukee Recreation aims to foster connections, share insights, and strengthen the foundations of individuals and organizations working in the arts and humanities.
This year’s theme was, “The Power of Partnership: Sharing Resources, Expanding Impact.” This professional development summit featured a hands-on workshop focused on resource sharing, with the goal of fostering stronger partnerships and greater sustainability among Partnership for the Arts and Humanities grantees.
Keynote Speaker
Anne Katz, Create Wisconsin
Kicking off the summit by sharing lunch together (provided by Ladle Lady) , keynote speaker Anne Katz of Create Wisconsin shared a statewide perspective on advocacy, sustainability, and partnership.
Create Wisconsin is Wisconsin's community cultural development organization. Katz’s commitment to the organization is fueled by the vision for a Wisconsin where creativity thrives as a driving force of the economy, workforce, and community life. Katz provided valuable insights on advocating for arts and cultural, community, and economic opportunities for everyone, everywhere in the state. (To learn more about their work, visit createwisconsin.org).
Whether they call themselves artists or not, Katz recognizes creatives throughout the state who do this work in a variety of ways. “Making a living as an artist is whatever it means to you,” said Katz. This focus on ‘creativity’ over ‘the arts’ connects all corners of the summit allowing for the increased growth and pollination of resources throughout the Milwaukee community.
Wisconsin's Creative Sector contributes $12.4 billion to the state’s economy (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis 2023, presented by Katz). While outlining the data of creativity as a viable industry economically, Katz stated, “now we get to layer the economic and civil impact over our foundation––that the arts are important because expression makes us human. [But] private funding alone cannot do what needs to be done, and reach who needs to be reached.” The room nodded along as Katz expanded. “We cannot rely on the price of a ticket to achieve creative equity.”
Though public funding supports the accessibility of art, many times these partners are all competing for the same pool of dollars. As she shined a light on Wisconsin’s current arts and humanities funding and advocacy landscape, Katz emphasized a need for partnership amongst those in the room, citing the urgency for collaboration over competition.
Q&A Session Facilitation
LaShawndra Vernon, Pryme Solutions
As a dedicated multidisciplinary artist with a focus on advancing equity, LaShawndra Vernon fielded a Q&A session to hear from partners in attendance, highlighting the most prominent successes and necessities in the creative education economy and landscape. Partners emphasized collaborative funding as a model experiencing steady growth––attributing this as an indicator of what great leadership can accomplish. But, as the room emphasized, no renaissance, no movement has ever been successful without an artist. Partners discussed relationships beyond collaborative funding, and what can lead to the most sustainable solutions. Grantees emphasized the need to focus on the arts as the commonality between all routes for success, looking at the intersections of disparities within our communities, specifically within the geographical landscape of Milwaukee. Facilitators emphasized the need for decision-makers to see creativity as a right, a privilege, and the driving force of American life. Xela Garcia, Executive Director of Walker’s Point Center for the Arts, emphasized that sharing impact stories is often the most effective way to persuade policymakers.
Katz wrapped the Q&A session by stating, “There is a creative solution, there is a collaborative solution, the end product is not a tangible product you see, but the people who will be here today, and in 10 years.”
Partnership Activities Facilitation
LaShawndra Vernon, Pryme Solutions
After the open floor conversation, Vernon facilitated activities to promote collaboration amongst representatives of the organizations. Vernon led a conversation about the assets in the room, “The room is here to solve together. Identify things to collaborate on in these sessions of discussions. Share wins and struggles. What is shared here stays here, but what is learned here should leave here.”
Facilitated models of collaboration included the following:
Supply Swap
A table in the room was filled with tangible supplies brought by the organizations, free for the taking. This simple model raised an emphasis on the theme of sharing low-hanging fruit.
Building the Tree
The 32 grantees in attendance wrote slips of paper, noting both what they have to offer, and what they are seeking to gain through collaboration. Participants were encouraged to think beyond physical resources, considering human resources, knowledge and expertise, financial resources, audiences and visibility, and networks and relationships.
The grantees then attached what resources they were seeking as leaves to a large tree in the front of the room. “The leaves are the needs!” said Vernon, as she coordinated the construction of this visual.
Participants then put what they had to offer each other at the roots of the tree, whether it be transportation, facilities, teaching artists, or financial mobility.
Erin Fonseca, Milwaukee Recreation’s afterschool arts & humanities manager, along with resource staff DeMar Walker, assisted partners in using the resource tree––pairing organizations with compatible ‘haves’ and ‘needs’. The partners then participated in speed-networking to identify which resources could be shared amongst each other. “We want you to leave here with a tangible resource or plan of action,” emphasized Fonseca, “today is about more than just ‘being inspired.’”
Partners who connected on sharing resources then added apples to the tree, fruits of their labor, marking sustainable connections mutually beneficial to their organizations.
Resource Hub
After completing the tree as a visual representation of collaboration, Fonseca shared a digital hub to continue this resource sharing amongst grantees.
This partner-managed resource will allow organizations to enter their needed or shared resources within the appropriate category, providing a brief description including quantity and deadlines. Then, other organizations can contact fellow grantees to meet these needs. Once a connection is made they will mark the request as “connected.”
In Summation
Resource-sharing is the easiest, most accessible way to create partnerships that fill the gaps where funding may fail. The Connected Roots Summit began as a starting point to form sustainable partnerships amongst grantees, with resources provided to continue these conversations, so that access to the arts and humanities can be sustained for years to come.
Thank you to our 32 grantees that participated in this year’s summit:
Art Start
Artists Working in Education
Arts @ Large
ArtWorks
Bembe Drum and Dance
Black Arts MKE
Boys & Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee
Casa Romero Renewal Center
Craig Clifton, Inc.
Ex Fabula
First Stage
Girl Scouts of Southeast Wisconsin
Hmong American Friendship Association
Hope House of Milwaukee
Lynden Sculpture Garden
Marcus Performing Arts Center
Milwaukee Art Museum
Milwaukee Ballet
Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition
Milwaukee Repertory Theater
Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra
Running Rebels Community Organization
SHARP Literacy
Signature Dance Company
Sojourner Family Peace Center
TBEY Arts Center
TRUE Skool
Urban Ecology Center
UWM ArtsECO
Walker’s Point Center for the Arts
Wisconsin Bike Fed
Woodland Pattern