Artists Working in Education (A.W.E.) is a Milwaukee non-profit (and member of Local First Milwaukee) whose mission is to bring positive art experiences to the children of metro-Milwaukee. I’ve got much affection for the work A.W.E. does, as I spent a number of years on the board of directors. One of the org’s founders was one of my college drawing instructors – Barbara Manger. A number of years ago, she encouraged me to be a part of A.W.E., and I joined, serving for 8 years.
During that time, I learned a lot about A.W.E.’s two main initiatives – the School Studio, where professional artists are contracted to go into Milwaukee schools that have little to none art education opportunities, and give the students a positive art experience. The Truck Studio, the focus of today’s blog-post, is unique in that is staffed by passionate young adults. These young men and women go out to Milwaukee’s parks and give free art opportunities to the children frequenting the parks. Each of A.W.E.’s four vans go out to specific Milwaukee parks, providing free art education from 1:00-4:00p five days a week, for SIX weeks!
I wanted to draw some attention to these women and men because you can easily see the energy they bring to their summer’s mission. THESE are the people who are going to make a difference in Milwaukee’s community. They need our respect, our encouragement, and most of all our thanks. These people ARE making a difference in Milwaukee.
