ABOUT
Over 300 community partners (including those from MPS, choice and charter schools, higher education institutions, community based organizations, businesses, as well as artists, researchers, elected officials and funders) came together to brainstorm and collaborate during three community gatherings in 2014 & 2015. This dedicated network chose to continue working together to ensure that all K-12 students in Milwaukee have access to high quality arts education experiences both in and out of the school day.
​
Through their report “Every Child is An Artist,” the Public Policy Forum, a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research organization, laid the groundwork for our initiative to understand how other communities have been successful in similar efforts. The first step for many other communities, and one of our first steps, is a research and strategic planning process that will help us better understand the existing arts education landscape and build on the work of the community gatherings. We hope to officially launch the initiative by defining concretely on time-specific priority objectives and creating a multi-year action plan to reach those objectives.
Public Policy Forum's Anne Chapman provided an update (April 2016) on Cre8MKE's efforts as a result of the "Every Child is An Artist" here.
Image above courtesy of Artists Working in Education, a Cre8MKE partner.
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
Cre8MKE is aimed at engaging as diverse a network of partners as possible through a collective impact model influenced by the work of the Collective Impact Forum. The structure of the initiative is as such:
​
The Coordinating Committee is made up of community leaders that were the initial drivers of the initiative (representatives from Milwaukee Public Schools, UW-Milwaukee Center for Urban Initiatives and Research, Public Policy Forum, and Herzfeld Foundation) as well as the Co-Chairs of each of the four existing working groups. The Coordinating Committee meets at least quarterly and is charged with major decision making, guidance, and troubleshooting as defined by the Working Groups.
The Working Groups are made up of individuals from partner organizations, funding agencies, schools, other Milwaukee initiatives, etc. who self-appointed and/or were appointed by their working group based on interests, expertise, and time commitment. Each Working Group meets once every 4-6 weeks. Working Group chairs are elected and serve at least one year terms with the possibility of renewing.
​
There are currently no paid staff at Cre8MKE and there is no formal organizational structure (in the form of an LLC, 501c3, etc.) or organizational budget. Cre8MKE's partners have committed to supporting the initiative through in-kind contributions of staff time and other goods and services as needed.