Wisconsin Arts Board panel recommends five Creative Communities grants for board ratification

A Wisconsin Arts Board review panel recommended that the full board consider funding five Creative Communities grant applications after a day of presentations and discussion during a public panel session.

The recommendations, delivered by panel chair Brian Kelsey at the session, will be reported to the Wisconsin Arts Board for ratification at its upcoming meeting. Staff told panelists that applicants will be notified of final grant decisions by June, pending ratification and available funding.

Why this matters: The Creative Communities program distributes state and National Endowment for the Arts funds to community-based cultural projects across Wisconsin. Panelists said the five recommended projects would expand local access to traditional and multicultural arts and help sustain artists and community programming.

Panelists praised the proposed projects’ community orientation but raised questions about planning details and long-term sustainability. The panel’s recommendations cover:

- Bembe Drum & Dance (Milwaukee): $6,000 requested for monthly community cultural celebrations rooted in Afro–Puerto Rican bomba and related traditions. Panelists called the work “high value to the community” but asked for clearer plans for deeper community-engagement strategies and sustainability beyond grant support.

- UW–Green Bay Viking Festival (Green Bay): $2,772 requested to diversify programming with Finnish and Sámi storytelling and workshops that would add Indigenous Nordic perspectives to an existing Iron Age educational festival. Panelists welcomed the educational reach but asked for clearer explanation of how artists were selected and how local Indigenous communities would be involved.

- Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition (Milwaukee): $6,000 requested for a second-annual Celebrating Palestine festival featuring art, music, food and youth engagement. Reviewers noted strong planning but asked for more detail on which artists would participate and whether activities would include interactive or hands-on elements.

- Oshkosh Public Museum (Oshkosh): $5,500 requested to continue a “Bridging Past and Present” series that highlights Native American cultural heritage through talks, workshops and demonstrations. Panelists welcomed one-on-one activities and an Indigenous chef but urged broader Indigenous participation on planning committees and more time for hands-on workshops.

- UW–Oshkosh Department of Chicana/Chicano/Latinx Studies (Oshkosh): $6,000 requested to support a second-year mariachi initiative of performances, school workshops, oral histories and roundtables. Reviewers said the project had strong curriculum goals and K–12 outreach potential, and suggested adding more local Fox Valley performers.

Panel discussion and follow-up: Panelists will send written and verbal comments on each application to staff for inclusion in the applicant feedback packets. Brian Kelsey, the panel chair, reminded members that the chair is a nonvoting facilitator whose role is to keep deliberations focused on the board’s review criteria.

What happens next: Staff will include the panel’s recommendations and summary comments in the board materials for the full Wisconsin Arts Board meeting; the board will ratify awards if funds are available. Applicants will be notified of final decisions after that meeting.

Speakers quoted in this article are drawn from the review session: Brian Kelsey, panel chair; Caitlin Burrell, folk and traditional arts coordinator; and Dale Johnson, grants and information specialist.

Ending: Panelists said they hoped their written feedback would give applicants technical guidance to strengthen programming and sustainability regardless of final award decisions.