Siting and Funding: Situating Milwaukee's Performing Arts Ecosystem

Abstract

Wisconsin ranks at the bottom of nationwide public arts funding, and Milwaukee is the only city of its size without a public department focused on the arts and culture sector. Performing arts non-profit organizations in Milwaukee are therefore reliant on a complex web of private funding networks to sustain programming and live performance. Geography literature on performing arts organizations tends to emphasize either the urban political economic implications of the arts or the cultural and aesthetic dynamics of community networks and performance. Yet, the impact of economic factors on the content and location of live performance has been under-explored, with a particularly notable absence of research on arts fundraising considerations. Using a mixed methods research approach, I examine Milwaukee’s performing arts landscape through the lens of the United Performing Arts Fund, a local funder and advocate organization, and two local governmental funders, the Milwaukee County Cultural, Artistic & Musical Programming Advisory Council and the City of Milwaukee Arts Board. I combine qualitative interviews with performing arts leaders and quantitative analysis of publicly available financial and location data to examine the geography of Milwaukee’s performing arts landscape. My findings are contextualized with local reporting on competition and health in the sector. Analysis reveals temporal consistency indicating strong financial support for performing arts organizations located in the downtown Milwaukee area, but these downtown locations conflict with funder expectations around equity and access. These findings can help funders of the performing arts in Milwaukee understand location constraints and opportunities for the organizations they support.