Projects and Engagements
Mitchell Street Arts
A community X contemporary art center based in Milwaukee, WI. As the Founder and Executive Director, I brought the organization from 0-1, securing over $1M in funding from federal, state, municipal, private and foundation sources. I served as the general contractor for the build out of the 12,000 sqft center and hired a robust team. Together we built the organization to host award winning exhibitions, two competitive residency programs, and 500 pay-what-you-want programs a year. During my leadership, the organization held a $300,000 annual budget and grew into an important part of the city’s arts ecosystem. I exited the organization in 2025 to pursue my Masters degree and trained a new Executive Director to replace me. Since then, the organization has continued to grow.
Press: Arts Midwest, On Milwaukee, Urban Milwaukee, Imagine MKE, Milwaukee NNS, Journal Sentinel, Design Award Announcement
Founder and Executive Director. Est. 2021
The Token Institute
A culture and ideas conference based in Chicago, IL, Token was born from an impulse to deepen the conversation around AI ethics. In collaboration with Northwestern University and the Wirtz Center, the organization hosts an annual conference exploring how new technologies are affecting the creative industries both positively and negatively.
My cofounders and I know it’s difficult to know where this technology is headed, but hope that the reality lies between these two binaries of reckless innovative progress and total devastation. Here, experimentation is encouraged, contradictions are visible, and creative expression remains the north star. Our willingness to engage with the unknown reveals as much about us as it does about the future we’re building.
Cofounder & Creative Strategist. Est. 2025
In The Realm Of Senses
ITROS aims to make people of all ages feel more alive. Working at the intersections of performance, sensory design, and immersive experience, we inspire adults with our acts and educate students through hands on arts programs in schools. Our performances are designed to be difficult to explain, equally synthesizing music, visual art, olfactory & gastronomic art.
As a working board member and treasurer, I support the organization through both hands on support of our programs as well as overseeing our bookkeeping.
Board member and Treasurer. Est. 2018
Common Good Earth
Board member and ex Community Development manager. Est. 2018
CommonGood.Earth is an alternative currency designed to create a more just world. The organization envisions a society in which people gather locally to decide for themselves what their funding priorities should be, to advance a Common Good Economy. Our mission is to design and establish the framework for that new economy by integrating a fast-growing mutual credit system with traditional bank accounts, to shift power from big business and big government back to communities.
As a previous employee and now board member, I’ve supported the organization through an executive leadership transition and guide the organization’s expansion into new geographic areas.
Curatorial Projects
Southside Miniature Project
The Southside Miniature Project was designed to be a reflection point on the Southside's present, past, and future.
In 2023, I collaborated with Milwaukee’s Urban Anthropology to canvas the near Southside. The team walked every block between Greenfield and Becher from 6th to 13th. Based on the facades of the homes and some other characteristics, we narrowed it down to about 20 contenders. The team then took those addresses and went to the Milwaukee County Historical Society to find out the names of everyone who had lived in those homes since they were built. We then plugged those names into ancestry.com to develop a rich information set on the history of the home. After talking with the residents of the finalists - we've selected a final home to build a miniature of at 1:12.
The miniature was a classic Milwaukee duplex. The lower level of the miniature represents the 1950s, when the Polish-American Golec family lived there. Catherine Golec, a widow, shared the home with three of her six children. The upper level depicts the 1985 home of the Acevedos, a Mexican-American family who lived in the house until 2010. The floors are filled with miniature furniture, outfitted to match each family’s story.
The exhibition served as the backbone for a series of convenings focused on gentrification, neighborhood change, and family histories.
Mitchell Street Soundscape
The Mitchell Street Soundscape is an outdoor exhibition that ran from April - November 2024. The exhibition was designed to remind community members of home - wherever that may be.
The project began with a series of community gatherings with residents who live and work along Milwaukee’s Mitchell Street corridor. The central question posed: “what sounds remind you of home?”
I partnered with Experiential Technologies to build a custom “pirate radio station”, that allowed us to mount solar powered speakers on street lights between 6th and 9th street. During select hours of the day, we played a curated list of sounds based on the feedback we received in community sessions.
Soundscapes focused exclusively on natural environments. The project highlighted bird calls in the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve of Mexico’s Yucatan, and a live feed of ocean waves off the coast of Puerto Rico.
The project was made possible by Bader Philanthropies and The City of Milwaukee.
