Choreographers vie for top spot in Milwaukee Ballet’s “Genesis”

Next month, three choreographers will get a unique opportunity to showcase their work during Milwaukee Ballet’s third international choreographic competition, Genesis: Choreography for the Next Generation, March 26-29. Held every other year, the competition demonstrates Milwaukee Ballet’s continued commitment to generating new and innovative works. While ballets internationally often follow the same model, Milwaukee Ballet is one of few companies in this country hosting a truly international competition. Milwaukee will be among the first to witness the evolving new talent in international ballet production. Genesis will include three Milwaukee premieres choreographed by finalists Maurice Causey, Cameron McMillan and Timothy O’Donnell. The winner receives $3,000 and is offered the chance to create an original piece for Milwaukee Ballet the following season. Second place receives $2,000; third place receives $1,000; and the audience favorite receives $500. The three choreographers are handpicked by Artistic Director Michael Pink, who watches and critiques over 30 submissions from across the globe. This year, Pink received entries from Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Spain, United States and Vietnam. “I look for musicality and creativity in the steps; the original way in which the choreographer brings together music and dance,” Pink said. Pink also invites a panel of renowned judges to select the winner. This year’s panel includes André Lewis, artistic director of Royal Winnipeg Ballet; Gil Boggs, artistic director of Colorado Ballet; Katherine C. Kersten, founder and artistic director of The American Ballet Competition; and John McFall, artistic director of Atlanta Ballet. Each choreographer is given a dance team of eight performers to create a 20-minute work. The dancers and choreographer will then have three weeks, a total of 90 rehearsal hours, to make their piece ready for the panel of judges and the audience. As in year’s past, this year’s competition takes place at Milwaukee’s Pabst Theater, providing audiences with a rare opportunity to get an up close experience with the Ballet’s dancers. In the ornate Baroque and Renaissance style of this intimate auditorium, audiences will discover the athleticism, strength and versatility of the dancers—every muscle and bead of sweat is distinguishable. The show’s choreography pushes the boundaries of dance from ballet to contemporary, providing an incomparable performance for experienced ballet-goers, and an accessible introduction to ballet for novices. Milwaukee Ballet also runs a voting process, allowing ballet goers to pick an audience favorite by the end of the show’s run. Genesis: Choreography for the Next Generation runs March 26-29 at the Pabst Theater, 144 E. Wells Street, Milwaukee. Tickets to the performance begin at $22. To order tickets or for additional information, call (414) 902-2103 or visit www.milwaukeeballet.org.Genesis is sponsored by Briggs and Stratton.

Regional Transportation Authority Public Panel Discussion

As a community. we will soon be given a choice to urge our representatives to either support or oppose the creation of a permanent Regional Transportation Authority. (RTA). In order to inform our neighbors, The 3rd District Neighborhood Association is sponsoring a panel discussion and public forum on this all important issue for all citizens of South Eastern Wisconsin. Panel: Ken Yunker – South Eastern Wisconsin Planning Commission Sharon Robinson – City of Milwaukee Representative to the RTA Kerry Thomas – TransitNow Donna Brown – Department of Transportation City of Milwaukee, The Connector Project Location: St Mark’s Episcopal Church Belleview Place and Hackett Ave. Flyer

Great Lakes Urban Exchange Annual Conference

The post-industrial cities of the Great Lakes region are too similar to remain isolated from one another. GLUE is building the collaborative networks that our cities need, and enabling the exchange of information and ideas across those networks. In mid-March, GLUE is bringing the best part of its exchanging to the Cream City. Who: 75 young urbanists from old cities who are tired of business as usual and want to connect What: Hear from urban policy experts, plan transit activism, learn about movement-building, and figure out how to collaborate towards the future health and prosperity of our cities Where: Milwaukee—on the shores of beautiful Lake Michigan When: Thu., March 12 – Sat., March 14 Why: Because the success of each of our cities is directly tied to the success of all of our cities Let’s steer it. Planned events include: a tour of Growing Power; speeches from Milwaukee Common Council President Willie Hines, CEOs for Cities CEO Carol Coletta, and John Austin from Detroit’s New Economy Initiative and the Brookings Institution; policy drill-down sessions with the Northeast-Midwest Institute and Smart Growth America; community journalism training with the Allied Media Project; an art walk in the Third Ward; and of course, at least one brewery tour. Conference participants will walk away educated about policy innovations, energized by success stories, activated within the growing urban movement, and able to boast about Milwaukee’s assets. About GLUE: Information on GLUE at GLUEspace.org Conference agenda, details and registration at glueconference2009.wordpress.com GLUE is a project of the Tides Center Email at glueteam@gluespace.org Flyer

August 2008

Our fete for the winners of our 3rd annual Random Exposure photo contest at the glamorous Eisner American Museum of Advertising and Design.

Public Open House for the Near South Side Plan

Public Open House for the Near South Side Plan March 17, 2009 3:00 – 7:00 PM, short presentations at 3:30 pm and 5:30 pm At The Harley-Davidson Museum At the crossroads of 6th and Canal Street Museum Entrance Peace Room, 3rd Floor http://www.mkedcd.org/planning/plans/NearSouth/

VITAL’s 6th Birthday at MOCT!

We came, we saw, we celebrated six years in the business. February 2008.

2008

a Christian Mandate to Engage with the Urban Environment

Eric O. Jacobsen will be speaking and leading a public discussion on From the Garden to Jerusalem: a Christian Mandate to Engage with the Urban Environment Eric O. Jacobsen bio: senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Tacoma graduate of Princeton Seminary (M.Div.) and Fuller Seminary (Ph.D.) author of Sidewalks in the Kingdom: New Urbanism and the Christian Faith (Brazos/Baker Books) At the Urban Ecology Center Thursday evening March 5 6:30-8:30 pm Contact person: Joyce Tang Boyland Questions: 964-3227 or jtangb@gmail.com RSVP: theboylands@gmail.com Flyer

Grace for Public Spaces

Keynote speaker David Greusel, AIA architect of two award-winning downtown major-league ballparks (Principal at HOK Venue) will speak and lead discussions on the built environment, neighborhoods, the discipline of place, and building consensus. Subsidiary speakers: Eric Jacobsen, author of Sidewalks in the Kingdom, will speak on the theme of “Love Thy Neighborhood.” Jill Florence Lackey, founder of Urban Anthropology, Inc., and Grace La, of La Dallman Architects, will each speak on how public space has transformed a community, and the process by which this was achieved. This event will be focused on equipping people to work with others to enliven local communities, with particular attention to the role of physical and social spaces. There will be discussion of the impact of the built environment on human life, and gracious ways of preserving what is good and addressing what is broken in our public spaces. Besides informative and thought-provoking lectures, significant opportunities will be provided to establish collaborations and develop relationships. Marquette Alumni Memorial Union, Ballroom E (NE corner of 16th and Wisconsin) Friday 6 March 8:30 – 5:00 and Saturday 7 March 8:30 – noon Questions to Joyce Tang Boyland: jtangb@gmail.com, 964-3227 RSVP to Laura.Furey@marquette.edu, 288-6010 Flyer

Taxes, Trains and Brains

Dave Wetzel will present his discussion: Taxes, Trains and Brains March 15, 4pm, at Outpost Natural Foods Community Room, 2826 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. Questions\RSVP Contact Bill Sell at: email: sunrise@bikethehoan.com phone: 414-272-3787

M.O.R.E. Ordinance Approved by Committee

The Milwaukee Opportunities for Restoring Employment ordinance was the primary reason behind this special meeting of the Community & Economic Development Committee.  The ordinance intends to increase the required percentage of City of Milwaukee residents hired to work on city projects and development projects receiving more than $1 million in TIF assistance.  Additionally it mandated a prevailing wage to be paid for these projects and set a higher Emerging Business Enterprise (EBE ) utilization level as well.  The proposed ordinance brought out a large group of both supporters and opponents.  Alderman Ashanti Hamilton attempted to frame the discussion early on saying that “there are many people who may come to the table and say this is the wrong time to do something like this” and indicated that he felt the time was right to move on this ordinance.  He added that “I submit to you that the price has already been too great”.  Alderman Nik Kovac explained that “in the end this is not a philosophical question, it is a practical question” and lent his support saying that “I think we have a document that comes close to being a win win win”.  An extensive list of developers and real estate professional spoke in opposition to the ordinance though primarily the development community opposed the ordinance because of the prevailing wage mandate. Richard Wanta, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Underground Contractors Association, spoke in opposition of the project saying that “the same city has chased us out of town for decades”.  He went on to point out that there is currently only one major water and sewer contractor in the city, so once this passes that contractor is especially likely to get all of the available work in the area because of the new regulations. Dick Lincoln, Senior Vice President of the Mandel Group, started his remarks saying that “the camel is a horse that is designed by committee” indicating the ordinance wasn’t quite right but went on to say that “we’re almost there”.  He explained that generally he felt the ordinance was a positive but that the prevailing wage requirement was problematic.  He argued that it works against minority hiring, as smaller companies often compete on price, and that this would add substantially to the cost of the project. Barry Mandel, President of the Mandel Group, pointed to the PERC requirements in the Park East and tied them to the fact that development has been non-existent in the county owned portion of the Park East.  He then pointed to The Brewery and The North End projects as two projects that have been moving forward because they utilizing non-prevailing wages. Greg Uhen, President of Eppstein Uhen Architects, spoke out against the proposed ordinance saying that “my concern is that it will reduce the number of opportunities that come to the city” and that he felt “this is another roadblock, another reason for them not to come”. The line of members in support of the ordinance were at least as lengthy […]

Who says bloggers don’t have any influence?

A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about Jody Harding, a mayoral candidate in Racine who taking away people’s right to vote if they’re on welfare or receiving other forms of government subsidies, including subsidies like Pell grants. In addition to my own blog entry about Harding’s statement, I commented [...]