Multicolored Post-it notes and a spirited discussion about the arts filled a meeting room at Bader Philanthropies on Tuesday, Sept. 30.

Around 15 community members met with the Bronzeville Center for the Arts team to brainstorm what kind of art programming they would like to see on the center’s new African American art museum lot, located at the site of the former Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources building at West North Avenue and North King Drive.

“This has the potential to involve as many kids as possible,” said Jarrett English, a community member in attendance. “There are so many who are artists and they don’t even know it.”

The arts center, which is currently headquartered at Gallery 507 on West North Avenue, has been collecting community input on the new art museum since 2021, according to its website, but now the center, and the construction firm Emem Group LLC, want to hear ideas on how to activate the site of its future art museum before construction begins.

Attendees at Tuesday’s meeting shared several ideas for how to engage the community early on, including art installations, movie nights, youth programming and musical performances.

The art projects and events suggested at the meeting would take place once the lot is leveled. Before construction, the cleared lot will include green space and art displays, according to Robyn Cherry, BCA’s communication manager.

Once the 50,000-square-foot redevelopment is complete, it will be home to Milwaukee’s first official museum dedicated to African American art, featuring immersive artistic programming, exhibitions and educational opportunities, according to the website.

BCA has not released a timeline for when the construction will begin, according to Cherry.

In the meantime, BCA and its team of developers are looking to partner with community members to build anticipation around the new arts and culture museum.

“We want to keep that lot busy with positive activity,” Cherry said.

Della Wells, vice president of the BCA board of directors, believes this is an opportunity to start discussions around African American art.

“I want us to talk about African American art and the African American diaspora,” Wells said. “What is going on now, and what went on in the past with our community?”

BCA staff will review neighborhood recommendations from the Tuesday meeting and put together a collection of ideas to consider as they begin to program the space.

There is no set number of events BCA will do leading up to construction, Cherry said, but the center would like to engage with the surrounding neighborhoods, including emerging Black and brown artists in the Harambee neighborhood and around the city.

“There is a lot that goes into making a career as an artist,” Wells said. “It isn’t just them; it takes a whole village.”

The center is still in the planning stages for construction, but project milestones are being met.

Gov. Tony Evers allocated $5 million to the Bronzeville Center for the Arts from the American Rescue Plan Act, $800,000 of which paid for the demolition and lot scaping for the planned art programming.

According to BCA, the programming in the lot will not interfere with future construction.

If community members are interested in sharing their ideas for how to program the lot before construction for the museum starts, they can submit their ideas by taking BCA’s Community Talkback Survey.

View the full article and video at Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.