New Arts Organization Opening On Mitchell Street

Mitchell Street Arts sign. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

A former furniture store on Mitchell Street will soon house a new arts organization that aims to fill “a hole in Milwaukee’s quilt.”

Mitchell Street Arts (MiSA) will host an open house Friday evening starting at 6 p.m., the first in a series of openings as it ramps up its offerings.

The goal of the organization, led by executive director and founder Rew Gordon, is to promote “creative abundance.”

“The thing that really separates us as a nonprofit and as an organization is our makerspace,” said Gordon during a tour. But it’s just one of several things the organization hopes will make it stand out.

People enter the 11,000-square-foot space, located on the first floor of the Kunzelman Esser Building, by passing through the gallery that fills the large storefront windows. A large, flexible room, the “public stage,” occupies the center of the facility and can be used for events, parties or collaborative work. It also can accommodate co-working. To the side is a future cafe space for Rise & Grind Cafe, which is expected to open in the coming month. At the rear of the space are rooms for the four artists in residence. The makerspace, which includes a woodshop, kiln and ceramics area, photography darkroom, classroom and street art room, is located in the basement.

“I always wanted to open a community arts studio since I was in high school,” said Gordon, a Chicago native. They originally moved to Milwaukee to work on a political action committee focused on electing Joe Biden.

He was drawn to the space, 710 W. Historic Mitchell St., after seeing a request for proposals (RFP) for the storefront, which has only had two other tenants in its history. Gordon said they was already a fan of the neighborhood. “The way I like to joke about it is Mitchell Street had some of the best eavesdropping.” But they noted you would need to be fluent in three or four languages to understand everything you are hearing. They not only won the RFP, but moved to the neighborhood.

Mitchell Street Arts’ first gallery show, “The Art of Limitless Scale,” will launch on Aug. 24. Curated by Isabel Castro, the exhibition will feature the work of muralists and aims to give a behind-the-scenes look at how their work comes together.

The artists in residence program is to launch the next day. The initial cohort includes photographer Jovanny Hernandez and fashion designer Nohemí Chávez, artist Bill Walker, Muslim women’s artist collective Fanana Banana and interdisciplinary artist Mikal Floyd-Pruitt. Each has a dedicated workspace. “We try to ask as little as possible and use it as a resource for them,” said Gordon. The artists are asked to teach four classes to members of the public. They can also participate in gallery shows and host events in the space.

Come Sept. 8 and 9, MiSA will be engulfed in light. Nitelite, an event from Joy Engine, will turn the Kunzelman Esser Building into a canvas for a “4D projection mapping technology.” MiSA is a community partner on the event, which will see Mitchell Street closed to traffic for a festival accompanying the light exhibit.

The organization is staffed by Gordon and creative events director Nicole Acosta. A new part-time employee will start in September. Gordon said volunteers have also been important in building the organization and building out the space.

Membership, said Gordon, will start at $40 per month and includes access to the makerspace. They said the specific equipment included in the makerspace and other uses for the facility were selected as a result of discussions with community members throughout a six-month process. As a result, none of the equipment in the MiSA makerspace is a duplicate of that in the Historic Mitchell Street Library two blocks west.

Gordon estimates that the funding mix for the organization will be 60% philanthropic support and 40% earned revenue, including membership fees. They quickly pointed to one quintessential revenue example for a Milwaukee organization, a bar. The organization has a liquor license that will enable it to sell drinks at events. Rise & Grind’s rent payment will also help sustain the organization. Initial support has come from the Herzfeld Foundation, Greater Milwaukee Foundation, Bader Philanthropies and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.

Beyond the large storefront windows, a handful of vestiges of the former Kunzelman Esser furniture store, including a wood-paneled room, can be found in the space. The only other tenant known to occupy the first floor was Mitchell Street Men’s Wear, which had a decade-long run that ended in 2018. The oldest part of the eight-story building, built in phases, dates back to 1910.

The property, which now includes several floors of apartments above the first floor commercial space, is owned by an affiliate of Evanston, IL-based Arnel Inc.

Want to learn more about MiSA? You can follow the progress on Instagram or sign up for its newsletter. Or simply stop in at one of the opening events.

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