Story Cart with Symphony Swan – (W)rites of Spring

• Saturday, March 21, 12:00 – 2:00 PM
• Havenwoods State Forest
• Free and open to the public

Event Details

C21’s Story Cart project and Symphony Swan, ’25-’26 Story Fellow present W(rites) of Spring, a radical attention workshop with artist Mia Rimmer.

As the land transitions out of winter into bloom, W(rites) of Spring calls us to communicate at the speed of a flower’s unfurling. Rooted in the implosion work central to Mia Rimmer’s interdisciplinary practice, the project invites us to notice the changing of season as both external and internal ritual. The project halts the urgency of our technological correspondence, asking us to instead transcribe emotion to paper in three forms: long form letter writing, found object collage, and postcards featuring artwork from THE CR8TV HOUSE pen pal project.

This activation aims to step out of the anthropocene’s blurred speed and walk in tune with the pace of nature; a sentiment echoed across each component of the project, down to our chosen site of a NorthWest Side urban forest. (W)rites of Spring engages the participant as the creator and revealer of the rich layers of our inter-personal and -species relations.

The open and close of the space gathers participants together to reflect upon the weight and shape of words left unsaid— to a loved one, a lost one, and/or the self. In between, each person will explore the grounds and let these messages surface in conjunction with the forest’s reawakening; they are also invited to mindfully gather resonant ephemera for collaging.

The duration of (W)rites of Spring will be accompanied by a soundbath, commissioned from memory worker and sonic griot Harlem Masimba.

About Symphony Swan

Symphony Swan Zawadi is an artist, cultural strategist, and founder of THE CR8TV HOUSE, an arts and community institution reimagining space, storytelling, support and memory keeping for Black and Brown creatives. With over a decade of experience spanning arts education, nonprofit leadership, and philanthropy, Symphony brings a deep commitment to equity, imagination, and community care.  

Symphony channels her interdisciplinary expertise into building creative ecosystems that honor legacy, foster healing, and invest in future generations. Her work has earned her recognition as the 2023 Milwaukeean of the Year by Shepherd Express, 2024 Gener8tor Art Fellowship Recipient and most recently the 2025 City of Milwaukee Friends of the Arts. She also serves as a trustee for the Milwaukee Art Museum. She continues to advocate for artist-led systems change that reflect the communities they serve. 

About Mia Rimmer

Mia Rimmer is a Milwaukee-based multidisciplinary artist digging in archives, crates, and occasionally the nose. Their self-taught practice utilizes personal and heritage material histories to examine themes of remembrance and permanence. Through analog collage and the pen, Mia activates nostalgia as a speculative tool for imploding and reconstructing memories.

Mia’s work has been exhibited in Tooth + Nail Gallery, the Logan Center for the Arts, and the Charles Allis Art Museum, featuring recent collaborations with Black Girls in Archives and Chicago Public Art Group. Mia currently serves as the Resident ART Curator and Writer at THE CR8TV HOUSE. You can follow Mia on Instagram at @snottystudio.

About Story Cart

Story Cart is a mobile story collection program that travels to community spaces and engages Milwaukeeans in conversations about their lived experiences. Our Story Fellows craft questions related to the current C21 research theme, record participant responses to those questions, and add them to our Story Cart digital archive (forthcoming). Supported by the Wisconsin Institute for Citizenship and Civil Dialogue, Story Cart’s current run introduces Milwaukeeans to practices of radical attention. From September 2025 through May 2026, our community Story Fellows will lead workshop pop-ups throughout the city and will record discussions with participants about the experience of paying attention.