Create Wisconsin is a statewide community and cultural development organization,
advocating, speaking up for, assisting and celebrating everything connected to arts, culture,
and creativity. Here in the studio to tell us about Create Wisconsin and what they're up to is
director and cats, and welcome to Maxine Gradio. Thanks for having me.
And, you know, we'll hear about Create Wisconsin in a moment, but how did you get into the arts?
What is your backstory?
Well, I saw that you had a question about, you know, did my parents encourage me to be in the arts,
and so I'll answer that first because I was very fortunate to grow up in the family of
musicians and artists. My mother's family were all classically trained pianists. I learned how to
sing show tunes standing around the piano with my grandfather playing after family dinners,
and I grew up in the suburbs of New York City, so I was fortunate that I had people, I knew people
involved in the theater. I had a cousin who was stage manager, so we took advantage of everything
New York City had to offer, and we did the arts. I did the arts, so I've always been in the arts
my whole life. Wow, that's pretty incredible. I guess, why is it so important to support the arts?
You know, what are the benefits? Oh my gosh, how much time do I have?
You know, I guess, so let's see, the arts make us human. You know, I guess that's the basic
statement that I try to start with. Humans have been expressing themselves creatively since the
beginning of time, and everybody is creative in some way, even though most people don't think of
themselves as artists, or they play, they might sing in the church choir, but they don't think of
themselves as musicians, but everybody has some kind of creative streak, and you can't stop that,
that is what makes us human. And so creativity is that resource that we need to make sure everybody
has access to, and that we nurture in every kid, every adult, everybody, and I can tell you from
almost 40 years of traveling around Wisconsin, that it's an amazing state filled with amazingly
creative people. And so the things that people are doing in their communities, whether it's
landalakes, Wisconsin, which is all the way up at the top of the state, or it's Milwaukee,
are all about being creative themselves, but also making sure that creativity exists in their
community. And so when the question is, why is it important to support the arts, it's really an
investment, that's the word, that's the word that we use. It's an investment in people, businesses,
organizations, and communities. And in a world where things are more and more like Starbucks,
Starbucks, and Walmart, people are really hungry for that authentic, unique community. And so
that's what we try, that's what we try to nurture and to assist. Now for our listeners who
probably are not familiar with create Wisconsin, tell us about this organization, the mission,
and what your roles are. Well, I'm the chief cook and bottle washer, that's for sure.
So create Wisconsin has been around since the early 90s and the Wisconsin Arts Board,
which is the state agency brought people together to kind of have this network of creativity.
Wisconsin has always been a place where creativity springs from the grassroots. It has to do with our
progressive traditions and the Wisconsin idea. And maybe it's because I know Wisconsin so well,
but we're all kind of connected. And so this organization was meant to, is meant to, as I said,
nurture and celebrate that. And so create Wisconsin is our fourth name. We were arts Wisconsin for
a long time, but we changed the name two years ago, almost two years ago, because it is about
the arts, but it's not just about the arts is something that's separate over here and only a
few people get to do it. It's about the arts as essential to everyone's lives. And so creativity
is really the word that we use now. So we're not a producing or presenting organization,
and we're standing across the street from the overture center and the comedy club is downstairs.
We help those kinds of organizations and the people that make the arts happen, artists,
performers. We help them try to figure out how to raise money. That's always the big thing.
We lobby the legislature. That's fun. We help people. It's very interesting. That's for sure.
And you'd be amazed. Everybody is creative. Everybody is creative. And so the legislature
just as much as anybody. And we do a lot of training about fundraising, about promotion,
about advocacy, about why it's important to have the arts in your community. And more and more,
we work not only with the arts world, but with local government and economic development and
those kinds of people because sometimes they're artists themselves. And everybody wants their
community to be vibrant and healthy and have people visit and live there. And so we try to figure out,
we try to help people figure out what they need. And then we figure out how we can help them.
Do you think Robin Voss sings in the choir then?
I am not going to surmise anything. I'm not going to even think about that. But you know what?
Maybe. Now you mentioned though the Wisconsin idea. And how can you tell us a little bit about that?
Yes. So in the first years of the 20th century, the early 1900s, the Chancellor of the University
and the governor of the state came up with this idea that they called the Wisconsin idea,
which is that the borders of the university were the borders of the state.
And it means that we have this hopefully still great university system that is a resource for
everyone. And it sort of means that we're all in this community, this statewide community together.
So, you know, we don't talk about the Wisconsin idea on a daily basis, but it is something that links
all of us. And, you know, one of the interesting, interesting parts of my job is that, you know,
I can see that there are commonalities between Milwaukee and between the smallest town up in
in northern Wisconsin. And we have to really all come together around those commonalities of
the arts, creativity and community for, you know, for everyone. And so really, everyone everywhere,
that's, you know, we work for everyone everywhere. And, you know, the Wisconsin idea is kind of
wrapped up around that. Wow. Sounds like horizontal thinking. It's sort of a galaxy of thinking,
really. Now, you're listening to Maxing Gradio. And we're here in the studio with Create
Wisconsin director and cats. And tell us about the creative economy, entrepreneurship,
and investing in Wisconsin's creative sector. I love that. You say that. So again, the reason
that the arts are important is because the arts are important. You know, that's the fundamental
basis of everything. And I won't say but and the arts according to the US Department of Commerce
is a 10.8 billion billion with the B dollar industry. And so when you go to something at the
comedy club or the Overture Center or the community theater or you sing in the church choir and then
go out to eat after all of that is kind of a churn of the economy that is really community-based.
And so, you know, Wisconsin is that we still have a strong manufacturing sector in Wisconsin. But
we don't really make much paper here anymore. And we don't make cars here anymore. And, you know,
the world is changing. And so we have authentic, unique communities that people make their living
as artists or as arts administrators or as graphic designers or, you know, some other kind of
creative business. And all of that is the creative economy. And I'll add one more statistic.
The jobs that are in the creative economy, everything from media to non-profit organizations
to self-employed entrepreneurs, there are more jobs in that in those industries than in the
beer biotech and paper making industries in Wisconsin. Over 87,000 jobs.
Wow, more than beer? More than beer.
Yes, amazingly. So, you know, our advocacy call to action is that we should be investing in that
because that is the future. People want to live in communities where there's stuff to do.
They want to be able to have their kids get a good education, which includes the arts.
And every community in Wisconsin has that and can do more with it. We just have to keep remembering
that it's an investment. Wow. This is just amazing. Creative Wisconsin is hosting Creative
Wisconsin Day on February 21st at the Overture Center and a pre-conference is happening.
February 20th at the state capital. Tell us about this important upcoming conference.
So, true effective advocacy, which means you make you have a relationship with the
person you want to influence, is really a daily activity. You know, you have to know,
you have to be able to say hello to your legislator or your mayor or, you know, you have to have
some kind of relationship with them to be able to say to them, we need you to invest in the arts
economy. So, that's a daily thing. And every once in a while, it's great to come to Madison and
I won't say store them the capital, but you know, go to the capital and have me and meet with
the decision makers and say, you know, we've come here to tell you that this is important.
So, that's Create Wisconsin Day. It's on February 21st at Overture. And then the pre-conference,
it's actually, so we'll be at in the capital and at Overture onto the 21st. And then it's actually
very exciting on the 20th. We're going to be at the new Center for Music, which is down on East
Wash. The Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra is just opening that new music center. It's where
the avenue bar used to be. And we're very excited that we're going to be able to use that space
for our pre-conference. Wow. Did was anything included in there with the avenue? Actually,
there is a beautiful conference table that is made out of the bar. I saw, I took a tour last
week and I saw that. Wow, that's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. And you've got to love that.
I love it. If people want to find out more about Create Wisconsin and the upcoming conference,
where can we find out more information? CreateWisconsin.org and Create and Wisconsin,
all written out. So CreateWisconsin.org and all the information is there. And I can give my
email address. It's info at CreateWisconsin if anybody wants to find that. We're also on Facebook,
Instagram, LinkedIn. So just Google Create Wisconsin and you'll find us.
Excellent. Well, we love what you do. It was so great hearing about all this.
Director of Create Wisconsin and Cats. And thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us
tonight on Maxing Gradio. We really appreciate it. Thank you.
People Brothers Band Down on Maxing Gradio.
