Several alums and faculty are screening films this spring as part of the 2025 edition of the Milwaukee Film Festival. The Peck School of the Arts is excited to highlight the incredible work that our filmmakers and artists are bringing to the Milwaukee community. We’ve rounded up some PSOA connections among the festival selections.
Civic Music Milwaukee has announced its 2025 award recipients, and there are several honorees with ties to the Peck School of the Arts. Timothy Klabunde and Dr. Zachary Durlam will receive Citizen Awards, while Trinny Schumann and Cassie Wilson were …
Victoria (Tori) Isaac (’21 BA Dance/BA Sociology, ’23 MA Sociology) was recently awarded the Graduate of the Last Decade (GOLD) Award by the UWM Alumni Association. UWM’s GOLD Awards reflect on the contributions and accomplishments made by the most exceptional UWM alums.
The Peck School of the Arts is once again well represented among this year’s Mary L. Nohl Fund Fellowships, with alum Michelle Grabner (BFA 1984; MA 1987) and alum/lecturer Sarah Ballard (MFA 2024, Cinematic Arts) receiving fellowships. The Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s Mary L. Nohl Fund Fellowships for Individual Artists program awards funds for artists across a variety of visual arts fields. These funds aim to help artists create or finish work in the greater Milwaukee area.
Milwaukee Film’s Black Lens series is programmed this year by Peck School of the Arts alum Ty Williams (BFA 2020, Film). Williams, who is also an assistant cinema manager, has worked with MKE Film since 2019 while he was a student at UWM. Prior to that, Williams worked at UWM’s Union Cinema. The ongoing series is a favorite among viewers of all backgrounds but aims to showcase diverse identities and perspectives from the Black community.
A team of five Milwaukee artists with strong PSOA connections have pursued a new web startup called ArtsConnect. This project helps up-and-coming artists connect with one another and receive mentorship.
Alum, 2023 Nohl Fellow, and filmmaker Janelle VanderKelen (MA 2014, MFA 2016) will return to campus on Nov. 7 for “Green Imaginaries,” a free event showcasing some of her recent work. This event, which is presented by Union Cinema and co-sponsored by the Mary L. Nohl Fund Individual Artist Fellowship Program, will feature 45 minutes of short films by VanderKelen followed by a Q&A with students.
A solo exhibition by J. Celeste Contreras Skierski (MFA 2022, Art: Print & Book Arts; Lecturer, Art & Design) is currently on view at Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum in Milwaukee, a culmination of her six-month residency at the cultural landmark in Milwaukee. During her residency, Skierski carved and stamped a rubber stamp daily, called a “reflection,” which she then used to create the pieces now on display in “We Are Reflections.”
The UWM Union Art Gallery presents a new exhibition entitled “Working for the Water, Working for Each Other: Work by Melanie Ariens.” Melanie Ariens (BFA 1993, Painting Drawing and Printmaking) is a multi-media artist and water activist. Ariens’ work focuses on the Great Lakes and freshwater issues. She uses art as a tool to create awareness and capture peoples’ hearts around water issues.
During the summer of 2024, PSOA guitar students took center stage at a variety of festivals throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Everywhere our students went, they found great success and brought accolades back to Milwaukee. Leonela Alejandro (BFA 2020, Music) took first prize at the Guitar Foundation of America, widely considered the biggest international guitar competition. Meanwhile, at Festival Internacional de Guitarra de Mexico, second-year master’s student Alberto Daniel Quintanilla walked away with first prize.
MFA student Mich Dillon has been named a recipient of the International Sculpture Center 2024 Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award for the piece Supporting Dreams, 2023. The award recognizes young sculptors as well as their faculty sponsors and institutions. According to Glenn Williams (Associate Professor and Area Head, Sculpture), who served as Dillon’s faculty sponsor, Dillon was one of thirteen recipients out of nearly 200 nominees across 98 schools.
In May, UWM celebrated its latest group of graduates moving on from academia and into their next chapter. For some graduates, it has not taken long to receive recognition that provides a valuable boost to the start of their professional careers. Recent graduate Gisselle Dominguez (BFA 2024, Design & Visual Communication) has since been recognized by the American Advertising Federation with a Silver ADDY Award in Student Packaging at their national competition for her brand campaign entitled Endiablada.
For nearly 50 years, music fans and spectators from around the world benefited from the work of UWM alum Bob Babisch. As Summerfest’s top talent booker from 1976 to 2022, Babisch brought names such as The Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga, and Prince to Milwaukee’s—and perhaps the world’s—biggest music festival. Now in retirement, Babisch (’74 BFA Theatre) is being honored by his former employer, Milwaukee World Festival, Inc., and his alma mater with a named scholarship to support Peck School of the Arts students. Imanol Ruiz is one of those students. As a result, Ruiz graduated debt free, allowing him to explore opportunities in his field.
Following a successful first installment, the biannual Milwaukee Illuminate Film Festival (miff.) returns June 14-15 at The Fitzgerald. Predominantly run and juried by graduates of the film program at the Peck School of the Arts, the festival seeks to illuminate the work of a wide range of marginalized communities. Alum Amber Rose McNeill ’23 started miff. with a desire to do something with her BFA that would be inclusive for artists and filmmakers whose work is often overlooked.
Milwaukee artist and PSOA alum Fred Kaems (BFA 2016, Art) was recently featured in CBS 58’s ongoing “Art in MKE” series that highlights the work of local artists. Kaems has become a recognizable name in the Milwaukee art scene with murals of his being commissioned throughout the city. He describes his pieces as bringing color to what he feels was previously a “pretty gray” place to be.
