Center for 21st Century Studies

Research Fellowship Applications Due
2024-12-06 08:00 - 23:59 (America/Chicago)
Application Deadline:   Friday, December 6, 2024

Background

A UW System Center of Excellence, UWM’s Center for 21st Century Studies (C21) builds a community of scholars to address the pressing issues of our time. Each year, C21 offers fellowships to UWM faculty and academic staff, as well as UW System faculty, that provide the time, space, and collegial support to generate new knowledge and ideas. C21 centers the humanities in its belief that innovation comes from diversity of opinions, disciplines, and experiences.

Theme

In dialogue with our advisory council and community partners, C21 has identified SLOW as the theme that will inform our offerings for three years (2024-2027). Slow movements—across food, cities, science, scholarship and beyond — call attention to embodied processes of building and maintaining collective life that resist the fast-paced efficiency models, rapid rewards, and short attention spans that increasingly dominate human responses to 21st century social, political, and ecological challenges. The theme is intentionally broad to capture a wide range of scholarship and practice while encouraging innovative methodologies.

C21’s 2025-2026 programming focuses on SLOW CARE. Across health, climate, labor, technology and more, we ask how pacing affects the institutions, policies, cultural infrastructures, and social and political processes that support or disassemble an ethic of care. We welcome multiple interpretations of this open topic, including explorations of time, pace, and speed as they relate to pressing issues of our time and/or work inside and outside the university. Methodological, pedagogical, and research topical interests are all welcome in relation to this theme.

Research Projects

Applicants should propose a research project related to this thematic area.  Projects can be individual or collaborative.  Examples of projects include:

Researching / preparing syllabi for innovative, interdisciplinary team-teaching initiatives or credit-bearing programs such as certificates, minors, degrees.

Researching / preparing material for public presentation in a wide variety of forms including (but not limited to) monographs, essays, podcasts, performances; art installation/exhibits, community programs; digital interfaces; archives or artifacts.

Researching for / development of large-scale collaborative projects (grant proposals, building networks etc.).

UW System Faculty Lecture Series: Derek Handley
2024-12-06 12:00 - 13:00
This virtual event is free and open to the public. Registration is required. Click here to register.

The UW System Faculty Lecture Series and The Center for 21st Century Studies at UWM proudly present Derek Handley: Struggle for the City: Rhetorics of Citizenship and Resistance in the Black Freedom Movement.

The urban renewal policies of the 1950s and 1960s destroyed the economic centers of many Black neighborhoods in the United States. Struggle for the City recovers the agency and solidarity of African American residents confronting this diagnosis of “blight.” This presentation discusses how African American residents in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, the Bronzeville neighborhood of Milwaukee, and the Rondo neighborhood of St. Paul enacted Black Rhetorical Citizenship to fight for their communities. By centering the residents in their own narratives of displacement, this presentation demonstrates how local organizers, leaders, and residents used rhetorics of placemaking, community organizing, and critical memory to resist the bulldozing visions of urban renewal.

Derek G. Handley is an assistant professor in the English Department, affiliated faculty in African and African Diaspora Studies department, and affiliated faculty in the Urban Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is co-director of the Mapping Racism and Resistance in Milwaukee County (MRR-MKE) project, which comprehensively maps racial covenants and uncovers Black resistance to such discrimination.

The UW System Lecture Series is co-hosted by C21 and UW-Madison’s Center for the Humanities and highlights faculty research across the Universities of Wisconsin.

Spring Hangout
2025-01-30 16:00 - 19:00 | 939 Curtin Hall, 3243 N Downer Ave, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53211, United States
Curtin Hall, 9th Floor

“…mutual aid and pleasure are linked, that the ties that bind are grounds for celebration as well as obligation.” ― Rebecca Solnit, A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster

We get it. The weather is cold. The news is yikes. The days are short and dark.

But strong social ties are good for you. In-person friendships are even better. Just ask science.

C21 is kicking off the new semester with an event that puts the human in humanities. Join us on the 9th floor of Curtin Hall for some face time, skyline views, collaborative actions, snacks, and lunar new year gifts. We miss you. Come say hi.

Want to talk shop anyway? Come by and have a chat about our spring events, Kyle Whyte, attention activism, and our next call for collaboratories.

This event is free and open to the public.

Slow Knowing: An Immersive Podcast
2025-02-13 15:00 - 16:00 | Manfred Olson Planetarium, 1900 E Kenwood Blvd #139, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53211, United States
Join the Center for 21st Century Studies and the UWM Planetarium for an immersive podcast release party under a simulated starry sky.

Listen to a conversation C21 recorded with Mark Freeland, Director of the Electa Quinney Institute, who discusses the Anishinaabe worldview, and unpacks how language and cultural specificity can shape a person’s relationship to time, space, and even the moon and stars.

Dr. Freeland will be present to take audience questions post-podcast.

The podcast episode release will be accompanied by an exploration of moon phases, tides, and moon gazing with Planetarium Director Jean Creighton, including an interactive activity to engage directly with the phases of the moon.

This event is free and open to the public.

Mark Freeland is the Director of the Electa Quinney Institute and an Associate Professor of Anthropology at UWM. His research critically identifies the role of Indigenous worldview as an integral component of cultural and linguistic translations.

The Center for 21st Century Studies (C21) fosters innovative research and community engagement at the intersection of the humanities, arts, and sciences. C21’s theme for 2024-2025 is Slow Knowing: The Pace of Being Human, with programming and sponsored research that calls attention to embodied processes of building and maintaining collective life that resist the fast-paced efficiency models and short attention spans that increasingly define human responses to 21st century social, political, and ecological challenges.

C21’s podcasts are produced by Graduate Fellows Jamee Pritchard and Yuchen Zhao.

The UWM Planetarium connects the community to the beauty of the night sky and the wonders of the cosmos through live, interactive programs that engage audiences in entertaining, innovative, and accessible ways. By bringing people together, we spark curiosity and share science in a welcoming atmosphere for all.

Slow Film Series: Twilight
2025-02-14 19:00 - 20:30 | UWM Union Cinema, 2200 E Kenwood Blvd, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
After discovering the murdered body of a young girl deep in a mountainous forest, a hardened homicide detective pushes himself to increasingly obsessive ends in his quest to catch the serial killer — known only as “The Giant” — responsible for the crime. A much admired but long unavailable masterpiece by influential Hungarian auteur and regular Béla Tarr collaborator György Fehér, Twilight (Szürkület) is at once an existential murder mystery and an expansive meditation on time and space.

(György Fehér, Hungary, 1990, Hungarian w/ Eng sub, 105 min, DCP)

The screening includes an introduction by Slow Film Series curator Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece, Associate Professor of English and Film Studies, and Director of UWM’s Film Studies Program.

Free for members (Includes UWM students) $5 admission for all others.

This screening of György Fehér’s Twilight is part of C21’s Slow Film Series, featuring movies at Union Cinema throughout the chilly months of the fall and spring academic terms that invite you to chill out, cozy up, and contemplate the cinematic riches of slow-paced films.

Collaboratory Application Webinar
2025-02-28 09:00 - 10:00
C21 Director Jennifer Johung will host a virtual information session via Teams at 9:00 AM on Friday, February 28, covering C21’s 2025-2026 Call for Collaboratories and Working Groups.

Prior registration is required. Register here.

This session will cover:

Changes to eligibility and requirements for Collaboratories

Changes to application review and acceptance policy for Working Groups

Application changes for both Collaboratories and Working Groups

An overview of C21’s 2025-2026 theme, Slow Care

Tips on writing a strong proposal

Frequently asked questions

Dr. Johung will take questions after the presentation. Attending this webinar is not required to apply for Collaboratory/Working Group funding, but it is strongly encouraged. A recording of the webinar will be made available in March.

All applicants are strongly encouraged to review the Call for Collaboratories in full before attending this webinar.

Slow Silencing: Panel Discussion
2025-03-12 18:30 - 19:30 | Center for 21st Century Studies, 3243 N. Downer Ave., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Curtin Hall, Room 939, 3243 N. Downer Ave.

Join the Center for 21st Century Studies and the Muslim Milwaukee Project for a panel discussion with Milwaukee artists Amal Azzam and Liala Amin.

This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

Prior registration is requested for the purposes of estimating attendance. Please complete the form below. No personal information will be collected.

Panelist Amal Azzam is a Muslim American Artist from the Midwest. Her work reflects the layers of trauma, freedom and misconceptions she carries within her identity. Amal experiments with wearables, screen printing, found objects and photography to express her ideas on the inner struggles of her identity.

Liala Amin is a multidisciplinary artist, and current artist-in-residence at Var Gallery, who focuses on themes of faith, spirituality, personal identity, and symbolism. She views her practice as healing, emphasizing art as an outlet to express personal narratives.

The Muslim Milwaukee Project aims to further understanding of the Muslim communities in the Milwaukee area, to highlight the diversity of identities and experiences and challenge anti-Muslim racism, and to build networks among scholars, artists, and community members who share these goals.

Slow Film Series: Nainsukh
2025-03-13 19:00 - 20:30 | UWM Union Cinema, 2200 E Kenwood Blvd, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
Experimental filmmaker Amit Dutta is a singular presence in Indian cinema… This debut feature, shot on 16mm film, is an imagined biopic of Nainsukh, an 18th-century miniature painter from the Himalayan Kangra Valley. Taking inspiration from that age-old visual form, which privileges traditional Indian epistemological perspectives over visual and temporal realism, Dutta creates an unparalleled piece of cinema with a unique approach to image, depth, space, time, and storytelling. (Summary from Museum of Modern Art)

The screening includes an introduction by Slow Film Series curator Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece, Associate Professor of English and Film Studies, and Director of UWM’s Film Studies Program.

This screening is free and open to the public. See Union Cinema listing.

(Amit Dutta, India, 2010, Dogri w/ Eng Sub, 90 min, DCP)

This screening of Amit Dutta’s Nainsukh is part of C21’s Slow Film Series, featuring movies at Union Cinema throughout the chilly months of the fall and spring academic terms that invite you to chill out, cozy up, and contemplate the cinematic riches of slow-paced films.

Collaboratory & Working Group Applications Due
2025-03-28 00:00 - 23:59
Application deadline: Friday, March 28, 11:59 PM

Access complete application instructions here.

Virtual information session: Friday, February 28, 9:00-10:00 AM | Register here.

About

C21 believes that the complex challenges we face in the 21st century are best met through collaborations across areas of expertise and experience, and that the humanities are a vital part of addressing these challenges.

Collaborative project funding provides an opportunity to bring together teams of scholars across disciplines, across university and community partnerships, and across emerging and established scholars (students / staff / faculty) to generate new ideas and knowledge.

C21 Collaboratories provide opportunities to bring new, humanities-informed ideas and knowledge to many different audiences both on and off campus. Collaboratories are also foundational to the Center’s annual programming.

Funding Tiers: Collaboratories and Working Groups

C21 offers two distinct funding tiers for collaborative research projects:

Collaboratories are collaborative projects developed with a specific project or public outcome in mind. These collaboratives are eligible for up to $10,000 in funding, though most projects receive around $5,000. Awarded funds can be used as seed funding to establish proof-of-concept or complete research legwork to find additional funding or sustainable support structures. Or, funds can support short-term research projects that include a specific public programming component or culminate in a public presentation of some form. Preference will be given to project proposals that 1) address the pressing issues of our time and correlate with C21’s annual theme of Slow Care1 for the granting period, 2) include team members with expertise in disciplines outside of the humanities, 3) experiment with new formats for presenting, conveying, or disseminating humanities research, 4) demonstrate potential for longevity beyond the grant period, and/or 5) engage the public in meaningful ways. All project proposals MUST include a public-facing component or other tangible final deliverable. Funded Collaboratories will be required to submit a brief final report at the end of the grant cycle.

Working Groups are groups that gather for ongoing discussions, networking, and idea generation. Theses groups are eligible for $500 in funding, and may be newly formed or pre-existing groups with an ongoing dialogic process or collaborative project. They do not necessarily have to have a fully formed project plan with a final deliverable in mind, nor must their proposed project cohere with C21’s annual theme. Working Group funding presents an opportunity to build momentum towards a Collaboratory project proposal or an externally funded project. For FY26, C21 will fund a maximum of three proposals from returning Working Groups (Working Groups that have received Collaboratory funding from C21 in the past) and two proposals from new Working Groups (groups that have never before received Collaboratory funding from C21).

Questions?

C21 strongly encourages questions and inquiries in advance of proposals. Please review application details in full and contact C21 Managing Director Katie Waddell with questions at waddelke@uwm.edu.

Slow Growing in the Time of Trees: Carving Workshop with Daniel Minter
2025-03-29 13:00 - 15:00 | Lynden Sculpture Garden, 2145 West Brown Deer Road Milwaukee, WI 53217
Call & Response artist-in-residence Daniel Minter pays a visit to Lynden Sculpture Garden as part of Slow Growing in the Time of Trees, a C21 Collaboratory.

The Collaboratory brings together Lynden artist-in-residence Yevgeniya Kaganovich, her collaborators—Lisa Moline, Lane Hall, Kate Beutner and Jim Charles—and their guests to cultivate an interdisciplinary creative space that examines the durational nature of trees, mushrooms, and humans, and the symbiosis between trees and human and non-human partners.

Minter will revisit sites of importance from his two-year residency, IN THE HEALING LANGUAGE OF TREES: a natural act of transformation restructured for curing many ills. The walk-and-talk will be followed by a wood-carving workshop suitable for carvers of all levels.

Free and open to the public. Space is limited. Prior registration is required.

—

Daniel Minter is an American artist known for his work in the mediums of painting and assemblage who works in varied media. His overall body of work deals with themes of displacement and diaspora, ordinary/extraordinary blackness; spirituality in the Afro Atlantic world; and the (re)creation of meanings of home. Minter’s work has been featured in numerous institutions and galleries including the Portland Museum of Art, Seattle Art Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, Bates College, University of Southern Maine, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, The David C. Driskell Center, and the Northwest African American Art Museum. As founding director of Maine Freedom Trails, he has helped highlight the history of the Underground Railroad and the abolitionist movement in New England. In 2018, Minter co-founded the Indigo Arts Alliance, a creative center in the city of Portland, Maine, dedicated to increasing the visibility of, and support for, Black and Brown artists. Indigo is the manifestation of a lifelong dream to create a place where art, ingenuity, social justice, and diasporic collaboration is seeded and nurtured. Minter was a Call & Response Artist-in-Residence at Lynden from 2021-2023.

Artist-in-residence Yevgeniya Kaganovich is a Belarus-born, Milwaukee-based artist, whose hybrid practice encompasses jewelry and metalsmithing, sculpture and installation. Yevgeniya received an MFA from the State University of New York at New Paltz and a BFA in Metal/Jewelry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Yevgeniya has been an active art practitioner since 1992, exhibiting her work nationally and internationally. Her work has received numerous awards and has been published widely. Yevgeniya’s interest in craft scholarship and pedagogy lead her to undertake curatorial projects, panel and symposium organizing, and other contributions to contemporary craft discourse. Yevgeniya has worked as a Designer/Goldsmith at Peggie Robinson Designs, Studio of Handcrafted Jewelry in Evanston, Illinois and has taught Metalsmithing at Chicago State University, Chicago, Illinois, and Lill Street Studios, Chicago Illinois. Currently Yevgeniya is a Professor in the Department of Art and Design, Peck School of the Arts, at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, heading a thriving Jewelry and Metalsmithing Area with a graduate and undergraduate programs.

In 2019, Kaganovich planted trees on the Lynden grounds for her tree intuits chair residency project. They have continued to grow in and out of the shape of chairs ever since. Slow Growing in the Time of Trees considers and contextualizes the time and materiality of the trees themselves, as well as the trees in relation to the human and non-human species that come into contact and engage in transformations with them. It focuses on the aesthetic possibilities of intermixing human and nonhuman processes in complex webs of entanglement inherent in durational processes. Throughout the growing season, Kaganovich and her collaborators will create speculative forms out of reused plastic bags and cardboard, inoculate grain and straw medium with three varieties of oyster mushroom spores, and situate the forms in and around the trees on the grounds of Lynden Sculpture Garden, documenting the ways in which these cultivated fruiting bodies develop and distort Kaganovich’s fabricated forms.

C21 is the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee College of Letters & Sciences Center for 21st Century Studies. C21 believes that the complex challenges we face in the 21st century are best met through collaborations across areas of expertise and experience, and that the humanities are a vital part of addressing these challenges.Collaboratory funding is an opportunity to bring together teams of scholars across disciplines, across university and community partnerships, and across emerging and established scholars (students / staff / faculty) to inspire the generation of new ideas.

Part of C21’s Slow Knowing program series.

What Winter Did to Us: A Nature & Poetry Walk
2025-04-03 15:30 - 17:00 | Curtin Hall, 3242 N. Downer Ave., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53211, United States
Join Sociocultural Programming and the Center for 21st Century Studies for a nature and poetry walk celebrating the work of Ada Limón, 24th Poet Laureate of the United States.

Spring is coming to Milwaukee. So is Ada Limón. Prepare for both with a patient, plodding ramble through Downer Woods, featuring reflective writing exercises, group poetry readings, and acts of radical attention. The walk will commence at 3:30 sharp at Curtin Hall‘s 1st floor lobby and will end with a fire circle outside of Merill Hall. Bring a pen, warm clothes, sturdy shoes, and a willingness to be here, with poetry in the natural world.

This event is free and open to the public.

—

…the leaves come. Patient, plodding, a green skin growing over whatever winter did to us, a return to the strange idea of continuous living despite the mess of us, the hurt, the empty. Fine then, I’ll take it, the tree seems to say, a new slick leaf unfurling like a fist to an open palm, I’ll take it all.

– From “Instructions on Not Giving Up,” Ada Limón

—

Ada Limón the author of six books of poetry, including The Carrying, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. As the 24th Poet Laureate of The United States, her signature project is called You Are Here and focuses on how poetry can help connect us to the natural world. You can catch Ada Limón, the Spring 2025 speaker for UWM’s Distinguished Lecture Series, at the Student Union on April 15, 7-9 PM.

UWM students can also submit their original poems inspired by the theme “Poetry in the Natural World,” as curated by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limon. These poems will be compiled into a special anthology, As We Are, representing the UWM community in all its natural habitats. The collection will be presented to Ada Limon during her lecture and reading on Tuesday, April 15th.

—

The Center for 21st Century Studies (C21) fosters innovative research and community engagement at the intersection of the humanities, arts, and sciences. C21’s theme for 2024-2025 is Slow Knowing: The Pace of Being Human, with programming and sponsored research that calls attention to embodied processes of building and maintaining collective life that resist the fast-paced efficiency models and short attention spans that increasingly define human responses to 21st century social, political, and ecological challenges.

Attentive or Absentminded: Habits of Mind in the Age of AI with Meghan O'Gieblyn
2025-04-10 16:00 - 17:00 | Golda Meir Library, 4th Floor Conference Center, 2311 E Hartford Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
Golda Meir Library, 4th Floor Conference Center

Join the Center for 21st Century Studies and the AI and the Humanities Collaboratory for lecture by Meghan O’Gieblyn, author of God Human Animal Machine and the essay collection Interior States, which won the 2018 Believer Book Award.

At a moment when we are outsourcing many intellectual and creative tasks to machines, it’s worth thinking about the point of thinking itself. Is it a means to an end, or an end in itself? Are humans just “stochastic parrots,” mindlessly producing language in a way that is not so different from AI, as some tech luminaries contend, or is there something more going on in our minds?

While these questions may seem new, they harken back to older debates about the relationship between thought and language, freedom and necessity, and the fine line that exists between attention and automaticity. Long before the advent of digital technologies, two twentieth century philosophers, Hannah Arendt and Simone Weil, wrote about some of these questions through the lens of the technologies of their times. Their writing anticipates many of the challenges of the age of AI and calls attention to the more ordinary and insidious ways that consciousness becomes ossified by social convention, as well as the moral and political risks that arise when we fail to “think what we are doing.”

Free street parking available in neighborhoods near venue. Paid parking available at the Union Garage (Lot #22).

Refreshments will be served at 3:30 PM. Lecture begins at 4 PM. This event is free and open to the public.

Prior registration is requested for the purposes of estimating attendance. Please complete the form below. No personal information will be collected.

This event was organized by AI and the Humanities, a C21-sponsored collaboratory formed to consider one of the most pressing questions for higher education: what is the future of humanities in the context of AI?

Part of C21’s Slow Knowing program series.

Slow Growing in the Time of Trees: Writing Workshop
2025-04-17 15:00 - 16:00 | Center for 21st Century Studies, 3243 N. Downer Ave., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
We’ll engage in a generative writing workshop about art and the most generative of living things: fungi. Come with a writing implement and paper, or birch bark, or whatever material you want to use for composition (and perhaps decomposition).

Workshop led by Katharine Beutner.

Space is limited. Registration is required.

—

This event was organized by Slow Growing in the Time of Trees, a C21-sponsored collaboratory formed to cultivate an interdisciplinary creative space that examines the long duration of tree-time in the face of human and non-human interventions.

Part of C21’s Slow Knowing program series.

Kyle Whyte: Kinship, Our Experience of Time, and Environmental Responsibility
2025-04-24 17:30 - 18:30 | Golda Meir Library, 4th Floor Conference Center, 2311 E Hartford Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
C21 Spring Lecture with Kyle Whyte

Golda Meir Library 4th Floor Conference Center

Join the Center for 21st Century Studies for our featured 2024-25 lecture with Kyle Whyte, the George Willis Pack Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan.

Overview

We are often given mixed signals about the relationship between our responsibility to take action to address climate change and our sense of time. Is there a climate crisis that is so urgent that we must take whatever measures are necessary to lower carbon footprints? Or will buying too much into emotions of urgency generate hasty solutions that actually stymie progress? Some Indigenous traditions offer ethics based on responsibility and kinship that present ways in which time and ethics can be aligned, allowing us to be urgent but moral, and address the physical causes of climate change while fostering solidarity with the communities who experience climate injustice.

Dr. Whyte’s research addresses moral and political issues concerning climate policy and Indigenous peoples, the ethics of cooperative relationships between Indigenous peoples and science organizations, and problems of Indigenous justice in public and academic discussions of food sovereignty, environmental justice, and the anthropocene. He is an enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation.

The Center for 21st Century Studies (C21) fosters innovative research and community engagement at the intersection of the humanities, arts, and sciences. C21’s theme for 2024-2025 is Slow Knowing: The Pace of Being Human, with programming and sponsored research that calls attention to embodied processes of building and maintaining collective life that resist the fast-paced efficiency models and short attention spans that increasingly define human responses to 21st century social, political, and ecological challenges.

Free street parking available in neighborhoods near venue. Paid parking available at the Union Garage (Lot #22).

Doors open at 5:00pm. Refreshments will be served before and after the talk.

This event is free and open to the public. Prior registration is requested.

Questions? Email C21 at c21@uwm.edu.

Attend Virtually

Can’t make it in person? You can join us via Teams by clicking the button below.

ATTEND VIRTUALLY NOW

Meeting ID: 272 140 071 995 7

Passcode: [REDACTED]

Dial in by phone

+1 414-253-8850,,549903673# United States, Milwaukee

Find a local number

Phone conference ID: 549 903 673#

Slow Growing in the Time of Trees: Panel
2025-05-02 14:00 - 16:00 | Lynden Sculpture Garden, 2145 West Brown Deer Road, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53217, United States
Yevgeniya Kaganovich, Lisa Moline, Lane Hall, Katharine Beutner, and Jim Charles will discuss the outcomes of the speculative projects undertaken by the Slow Growing in the Time of Trees Collaboratory. Katharine Beutner will do a reading of work produced during the Collaboratory.

—

The Lynden Sculpture Garden offers a unique experience of art in nature through its collection of more than 50 monumental sculptures sited across 40 acres of park, lake and woodland.

This event was organized by Slow Growing in the Time of Trees, a C21-sponsored collaboratory formed to cultivate an interdisciplinary creative space that examines the long duration of tree-time in the face of human and non-human interventions.

Part of C21’s Slow Knowing program series.

Attention Activism with the Strother School of Radical Attention
2025-05-03 09:30 - 16:30 | Turner Hall, 1040 N Vel R. Phillips Ave, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53203, United States
Palmer Room @ Turner Hall, 1040 N Vel R. Phillips Ave, Milwaukee, WI

Overview:

Join C21 and the Milwaukee Turners for a day-long series of workshops led by the Strother School of Radical Attention (SoRA), an organization that promotes human well-being through attention activism.

As the 21st century waxes, our attention wanes. Digital platforms drown us in endless noise, diverting our awareness from the real people and spaces around us to a haze of information overload, hot takes, and commodity-over-community. We’re losing the focus required to nurture embodied connections and create the vibrant spaces of care that enliven our city.

How might our capacity for sustained attention affect how we see each other and our city, and how might these perceptions lead to actions that reshape our respective communities and environments? What happens when we get quiet, stay still, and take it all in? Do we miss the world beyond the screen?

During this day of attention activism, SoRA facilitators will lead participants through two of their signature attention-cultivation workshops—an Attention Lab and Sidewalk Study.

Attention Labs are an experiential, participatory workshop curriculum dedicated to the exploration of radical human attention. Through group attention practices and guided discussions, participants create and test tools to build sanctuaries of attention — as well as networks of solidarity to sustain them.

Sidewalk Study is a form of group inquiry combining theory, practice, and public space. Participants meet at a predetermined location where they read through a selected text. They are then given the address of a second location along with an exercise that activates questions posed by the text, to be performed en route and in relation to the streets and sidewalks around them. Upon arriving at the destination, participants share their experiences in an open-ended discussion.

Free and open to the public, but space is limited. Prior registration is required.

Workshop Schedule:

9:00 AM – Doors open

9:30 AM – Coffee, tea, and opening remarks

9:30 AM to 12:00 PM – Attention Lab

12:00 to 1:00 PM – Lunch (provided)

1:00 to 3:30 PM – Sidewalk Study

3:30 to 4:30 PM – Reconvene for discussion at second location (TBD)

4:30 PM – Event end

About:

The Strother School of Radical Attention (SoRA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to Attention Activism: the movement to push back against the fracking of human attention by coercive digital technologies. We advance this mission through the study and practice of radical attention, or those diverse forms of attention which resist commodification. SoRA’s seminar courses, experiential Attention Lab workshops, and other hybrid forms of group teaching and learning seek to deepen our shared understanding of attention’s relation to human flourishing.

The Center for 21st Century Studies (C21) fosters innovative research and community engagement at the intersection of the humanities, arts, and sciences. C21’s theme for 2024-2025 is Slow Knowing: The Pace of Being Human, with programming and sponsored research that calls attention to embodied processes of building and maintaining collective life that resist the fast-paced efficiency models and short attention spans that increasingly define human responses to 21st century social, political, and ecological challenges.

Founded in 1853, the Milwaukee Turners are the oldest civic group in the city with a rich history of civic engagement; they offer non-partisan civic educational programs and mental and physical wellness programming for all Milwaukeeans.

Humanities Under Threat:

The Center for 21st Century Studies was awarded a Major Grant from the Wisconsin Humanities to support this event.

On April 2, Wisconsin Humanities, which relies on the National Endowment for the Humanities, received notice from the Acting Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities that effective April 2nd all awarded grants — including their 5-year General Operating Grant and other program-specific awards — were canceled in their entirety. As a result, C21 lost the Major Grant, but we were able to make alternative arrangements to cover the costs of this event just in time to ensure it’s continuance for the May 3 date.

C21 leadership believes that the erosion of attention, or attention fracking — a term coined by members of the Strother School — is one of the most pressing issues of our time, and is a major contributor to the precarious political, social, economic, and media environment that we must now not only fight, but survive. It is our great pleasure to welcome Peter and Quinn from the Strother School of Radical Attention to Milwaukee to share the attention-building tools SoRA has developed over many years of practice.

We hope you will join us on May 3, as we work together to build sanctuaries of attention.

Wisconsin Humanities, unfortunately, will not be able to sustain the loss of NEH funding, and will close its doors very soon. State agencies across the country share their fate. We urge you to learn more about the scope of this loss. If your work is being impacted by DOGE’s actions against NEH, please, share your story with the National Humanities Alliance.

Critical Making Residency: Critical Workshop with Jennifer Johung
2025-05-29 10:00 - 12:00 | Kenilworth Square East Gallery, 2155 N. Prospect Ave., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Critical Making Residency brings together UWM hosts Yevgeniya Kaganovich and Erica Meyer, visiting artists Cappy Counard, Susie Ganch, Anya Kivarkis, Heidi Lowe, Mary Pearse, and Lori Talcott with scholar Jennifer Johung for a week of critical dialogue and speculative making from May 23 to May 30.

The residency concludes with Critical Workshop, during which Jennifer Johung and the residency participants will discuss their exhibition, work accomplished during the residency, and group’s future endeavors.

Critical Making Residency: Workshop Reception
2025-05-29 17:00 - 19:00 | Kenilworth Square East Gallery, 2155 N. Prospect Ave., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Join us for this reception for the Critical Making Residency’s Critical Workshop.

The Critical Making Residency UWM hostsYevgeniya Kaganovich and Erica Meyer, visiting artists Cappy Counard, Susie Ganch, Anya Kivarkis, Heidi Lowe, Mary Pearse, and Lori Talcott with scholar Jennifer Johung for a week of critical dialogue and speculative making.

C21 Open House
2025-09-18 16:00 - 19:00 | 939 Curtin Hall, 3243 N Downer Ave, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53211, United States
Join us for C21’s annual open house! Come for the snacks, stay for the conversation about slow care, attention activism, making art with machines, the state of the humanities in Milwaukee, and the latest news from C21’s fellows, collaboratories, and community partners.

*Plus*

Are you a human? Pass the c21CAPTCHA to be inducted into Human Club, C21’s newest initiative for humans and other people.

Light refreshments will be provided. This event is free and open to the public.

Not familiar with UWM’s campus?

We recommend parking in the UWM Student Union parking garage or the Lubar Business parking garage, which are $3 for the first hour, then $1 for each additional hour. The Zelazo Surface Lot offers limited free parking after 3PM. Free, time-limited street parking is available in the neighborhoods near Curtin Hall.

Curtin Hall is the tall, Brutalist building located just off Downer Ave. You can find us on this interactive campus map.

Story Cart: Attention with Adam Carr - Beach Class
2025-09-27 09:00 - 12:00 | Klode Park, 5960 N Lake Dr, Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, 53217
Welcome to Beach Class!

Among the waves, sand and stones, this morning will be devoted to “attention experiments” along Lake Michigan. Our time together will include a series of facilitated beach combing activities — inspecting what’s on the beachfront, spending time with lake rocks and other treasures, cleaning up after the flood and more.

After time spent noticing and seeking, we will chat about our experiences, sharing where our attention and curiosity was drawn.

Please bring your curiosity, playful spirit and beach-appropriate footwear.

This event is free and open to the public. Questions? Email c21@uwm.edu.

Adam Carr is an independent writer, artist, journalist, community historian and organizer based in Milwaukee. Carr was director of strategic partnerships at Milwaukee Park Foundation from 2022-2025 and producer at 88Nine RadioMilwaukee from 2008-2011. Working in communities throughout Milwaukee, his work ranges from journalism to public art, film/photography to coalition building, dialogue facilitation to community history, writing to in-depth tours.

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.

Book Talk: Mountain Dharma by David DiValerio
2025-10-02 15:30 - 16:30 | 939 Curtin Hall, 3243 N Downer Ave, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53211, United States
C21’s Critical Asian Humanities Reading Group presents a book talk by UWM History professor David DiValerio about his newly published book Mountain Dharma.

This event is free and open to the public.

Thursday, October 2, 3:30 PM

939 Curtin Hall, 3243 N Downer Ave

About Mountain Dharma: Meditative Retreat and the Tibetan Ascetic Self

A groundbreaking exploration of individual long-term meditative retreat in Tibetan Buddhism, Mountain Dharma tracks developments in ascetic discourse and practice from the twelfth century to the twentieth. David M. DiValerio provides a comprehensive reading of texts that offer instruction on the eremitic endeavor, comparing how dozens of authors have treated six key orienting concerns: place, people, food, sources of danger, the spiritual lineage, and time. The book traces a genealogy of the Tibetan ascetic self, demonstrating an increasing tendency to adopt practices that contrast the meditator with earlier generations of enlightened masters, defining the latter-day retreatant as a being in time. By viewing instructions for how to live in retreat as technologies of self, this book sheds new light on how the history of this tradition has been driven by evolving notions of personhood.

Methodologically innovative and richly sourced, Mountain Dharma sets a new standard for the historical study of asceticism.

About the Author

David M. DiValerio is associate professor of history and religious studies at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. He is the author of The Holy Madmen of Tibet (2015) and translator of The Life of the Madman of Ü (2016).

Story Cart: Attention with Madeleine Doelker Berlin – Open Attention Walk
2025-10-04 13:00 - 19:00 | Cactus Club, 2496 S Wentworth Ave, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53207, United States
In the middle of a neighborhood block party, we’ll send people on undirected wanders. If they come back, we’ll ask them how it went.

Madeleine will be taking interviews from 2:00 – 5:00 PM.

C21 will be present to vibe and distribute C21 info from 1:00 – 7:00 PM.

This event is free and open to the public.

Madeleine Doelker Berlin (LPC-IT) is an Associate Licensed Professional Counselor, Social Scientist, and a few other things—like an immigrant, a parent, and someone who’s lived through big transitions. Born, raised, and partially professionally trained in Germany, she has a background in social inequality research and a professional path that weaves through mental health, public service, and community advocacy. In both her life and work, Madeleine brings an intersectional, systems-aware lens to understanding how people move through the world. Her current work draws on liberation psychology, existentialist psychology, and feminist psychology to explore how personal healing is connected to social context, meaning-making, and resistance. She’s especially interested in the stories we carry, the cultures that shape us, and the quiet, radical act of paying attention. Madeleine holds graduate degrees in Social Sciences and Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Her approach is grounded, curious, and deeply human.

Beet Street Fall Festival is the Cactus Club’s annual, all-ages block party, featuring bands on an open-air stage and community organizations and local vendors along the streets.

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.

Human Club: Disappearance Jail Wisconsin discussion and workshop
2025-10-09 17:00 - 18:00 | Marquette Haggerty Museum of Art, 530 N 13th St, Milwaukee, WI, 53233, United States
Take a trip with Human Club to the Haggerty Museum of Art for a discussion and workshop about art and the impact of incarceration with artist Maria Gaspar along with Dr. Robert S. Smith, Director of the Center for Urban Research Teaching & Outreach (CURTO), and members of the CURTO Education Preparedness Program staff.

Free and open to the public. Space is limited. Prior registration required (below).

“Disappearance Jail Wisconsin” discussion and workshop is part of the Haggerty Museum of Art‘s No One Knows All It Takes, an exhibition of work by four artists (Bryana Bibbs, Raoul Deal, Maria Gaspar, and Swoon [Caledonia Curry]) who explore the effects of concealed trauma and the inextricable ties between personal health and collective wellness. By addressing issues like addiction, incarceration, immigration, and a lack of systemic support for caregivers, the artists emphasize the power of personal stories to illuminate problems that are often overlooked or purposefully hidden from view. Moving beyond self-care and individualized treatments, the work directs us to some of the root causes of trauma and highlights systemic issues that undermine societal well-being.

Maria Gaspar is a Chicago-born, first-generation, interdisciplinary artist negotiating the politics of location through installation, sculpture, sound, and performance. Gaspar’s body of work addresses issues of spatial justice in order to amplify, mobilize, or divert structures of power through individual and collective gestures. For the past decade, Gaspar has been recognized nationally for her multi-year projects that attempt to dismantle borders, transcend penal matter, and turn places of precarity into places of possibility. Formative works like “Radioactive: Stories from Beyond the Wall” and the “96 Acres Project” include site interventions at the largest single-site jail in the country, the Cook County Department of Corrections, in her childhood neighborhood.

Dr. Robert S. Smith is the Director of the Center for Urban Research, Teaching & Outreach (CURTO) and Harry G. John Professor of History at Marquette University. His research and teaching interests include African American history, civil rights history, and exploring the intersections of race and law. Rob is the author of Black Liberation from Reconstruction to Black Lives Matter in the Debating American History Series, and Race, Labor & Civil Rights: Griggs v. Duke Power and the Struggle for Equal Employment Opportunity. Rob also serves on the Board of Curators for the Wisconsin Historical Society, is the Resident Historian for America’s Black Holocaust Museum, and is Chair of the Milwaukee County Human Rights Commission.

Human Club, C21’s newest initiative, features free field trips around Milwaukee and humanities gatherings with your fellow humans. Comes with a membership punch-card!

State of the Humanities MKE
2025-10-30 16:00 - 18:30 | Curtin 175, 3243 N Downer Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
REGISTER NOW

Thursday, October 30, 4:00 – 6:30 PM

175 Curtin Hall

3243 N Downer Ave, Milwaukee, WI

Overview

Join the Center for 21st Century Studies (C21) at UW-Milwaukee for a panel discussion that explores how Milwaukeeans and Milwaukee organizations might sustain, expand, and care for the humanities across our city.

In October 2024, the Consortium for Humanities Centers and Institutes’ World Humanities Report warned of extinction risk to human knowledge. In the year that’s passed since that report’s publication, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting lost its federal funding, the National Endowment for the Humanities was radically restructured, causing state humanities agencies to lose funding to the point of near closure, and multiple U.S. universities have taken steps to shrink, pause, or shutter humanities degree-granting programs.

But the resilience of humanities practices and institutions in the face of so much uncertainty evinces their value, and merits further dialogue.

The State of the Humanities MKE panel, moderated by C21 Director Jennifer Johung, invites four Milwaukee-based humanities advocates—Michael Carriere (MSOE), Art Derse (MCW), Jodi Eastberg (MIAD), and Maggie Nettesheim Hoffmann (Marquette)—to discuss:

What’s important about the humanities in Milwaukee, especially in our current moment?

What are we fighting to sustain, expand, or ideate?

How can we care for the humanities in MKE? What does this look like?

This event is free and open to the public. Space is limited. Prior registration is required.

After the panel, guests are invited to head upstairs to C21’s headquarters for a reception with light refreshments and breakout discussions about actionable steps everyone can take to make Milwaukee a haven for humanists.

About the Panelists

Michael H. Carriere is a professor of history at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE), where he also serves as director of the MSOE Honors Program. His work has appeared in such publications as the Journal of Urban History, the Journal of Planning History, Cultural History, Reviews in American History, Pitchfork.com, and Salon.com. He is the co-author, with David Schalliol, of The City Creative: The Rise of Urban Placemaking in Contemporary America (The University of Chicago Press, 2021). He holds a Ph.D. in American history from The University of Chicago.

Arthur R. Derse, M.D., J.D. is Director of the Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities, and is Julia and David Uihlein Chair in Medical Humanities, and Professor of Bioethics and Emergency Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). He directs the MCW Medical Humanities Program and is co-director of the school’s Bioethics and Medical Humanities Scholarly Concentration. He directs the Art of Medicine through the Humanities course. Dr. Derse is past president of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH). He is a fellow of the Hastings Center for Bioethics and of the American College of Emergency Physicians. He is a member of the American Law Institute.

Jodi Eastberg, PhD, serves as the Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. Eastberg moved to Milwaukee in 1998 as a graduate student in the Marquette University history department where she received her PhD. She then served as a professor of history and in various leadership roles at Alverno College for 20 years. In her new role at MIAD, Eastberg leads a dynamic and passionate faculty offering high quality art and design programs. As a world historian, Eastberg specializes in sites of cultural and diplomatic interaction, especially those between Great Britain and China. Eastberg serves as the Vice President of the Layton Art Collection, Inc. an independent not-for-profit organization that acts as steward of the Layton Art Collection displayed at the Milwaukee Art Museum, on the board of the Wisconsin Policy Forum, and as a Trustee of the Higher Learning Commission.

Margaret (Maggie) Nettesheim Hoffmann is the Director of Graduate School Community Initiatives and Student Experience at Marquette University. She is also the PI for a $1.3M grant from the Mellon Foundation and the Humanities Without Walls consortium to Marquette. HWW is a consortium of 16 midwestern universities headquartered at the Humanities Research Institute at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and aims to create new avenues for collaborative and interdisciplinary research, publicly engaged scholarship, and professional opportunities for faculty and graduate students in the humanities. She has consulted on humanities doctoral education reform with the American Council of Learned Societies, American Historical Association, the University of Texas, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Pittsburgh, and more. An historian by training, her research tracks the transformation of philanthropy in the Unites States during the Gilded Age and Progressive era with a special focus on political discourses critical of private giving to public institutions and has published her work with Bloomsbury, Adam Matthew, and Marquette University Press.

Panel moderator Jennifer Johung is the Director of the Center for 21st Century Studies and Professor of Contemporary Art and Architectural History at UW-Milwaukee. Her book, Vital Forms: Biological Art, Architecture, and the Dependencies of Life (University of Minnesota, 2019), focuses on the ways in which contemporary biological art and architecture actively engage in formulations of life. She is also the author of Replacing Home: From Primordial Hut to Digital Network in Contemporary Art (University of Minnesota, 2012) which considers modes of dwelling and belonging in an ever-changing world, and the co-editor of Landscapes of Mobility: Culture, Politics and Placemaking (Ashgate, 2013). She has published widely on topics across performance, visual, and urban studies as well as bio-art and biotechnology. In addition to her research, she has curated exhibitions in Milwaukee, New York, LA, and Australia. With a background in performance studies, she teaches courses in contemporary art, new media, performance, and art museum studies.

Getting Here & FAQ

We recommend parking in the UWM Student Union parking garage or the Lubar Business parking garage, which are $3 for the first hour, then $1 for each additional hour. The Zelazo Surface Lot offers limited free parking after 3PM. Free, time-limited street parking is available in the neighborhoods near Curtin Hall.

Curtin Hall is the tall, Brutalist building located just off Downer Ave. You can find us on this interactive campus map.

This event will not be livestreamed, but it will be recorded and posted to C21’s YouTube channel at a later date.

Questions? Email us at C21@uwm.edu.

This event is free and open to the public. Space is limited. Prior registration is required.

REGISTER NOW

Story Cart: Attention with Symphony Swan – Memory Activation
2025-11-08 12:00 - 14:00 | The CR8TV HOUSE
Saturday, November 8, 12-2 PM

THE CR8TV HOUSE, Old North Milwaukee

About Memory Activation

Memory Activation, led by artist and THE CR8TV HOUSE founder Symphony Swan Zawadi, focuses on the celebration and reconciliation of family histories through archival photographs, artifacts, and other forms of ephemera.

The work invites participants to tap into memory—unearthing and documenting personal and collective stories—as a way of building archives that reflect the full spectrum of the Black experience, particularly in Milwaukee. This reflective practice is intentionally slow, requiring quiet time with oneself in order to truly re-member.

We ask that participants bring photographs—old or new—from their personal collections as a starting point for their memory activation. Participants may bring original photographs, physical copies of originals, or print-ready digital images. Participants with digital images can share them with C21 in advance so that C21 staff can print them prior to the event’s start. Any original photographs brought to the workshop can be duplicated onsite to ensure the originals remain unharmed.

Beyond the act of sitting with memory, the impact of revisiting personal artifacts with others lies in sparking connection. By sharing and weaving together their experiences and stories, participants create a sense of belonging that culminates in a collective mini-exhibition for the group. As bell hooks reminds us in Art on My Mind: “the word remember (re-member) evokes the coming together of severed parts, fragments becoming whole.” (In Our Glory: Photography and Black Life, p. 64).

This event is free and open to the public. Space is limited; 7 open spots remain as of November 6. Prior registration is required (below).

Please arrive no later than 12:00 PM and plan to stay for the duration of the workshop.

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 CR8TV HOUSE & Story Cart

THE CR8TV HOUSE is a community art centered third space, providing a platform for Black and Brown artists to explore, critique, celebrate, and address community issues and triumphs through their artistic practices.

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.

Story Cart with Madeleine Doelker Berlin - The Listening / Soundbath of the Ordinary
2025-11-15 14:30 - 16:30 | Marquette Haggerty Museum of Art, 530 N 13th St, Milwaukee, WI, 53233, United States
Saturday, November 15, 2:30-4:30pm (retreat runs 12:30-4:30pm)

Haggerty Museum of Art, 1234 W Tory Hill St

Part of the Community Art & Wellness Retreat; registration requested

The Listening / Soundbath of the Ordinary

At the Haggerty Museum of Art’s Community Art & Wellness Retreat, we’ll attend to silence, noise, and everything in-between.

Then, we’ll talk about it, recording our conversations for the Story Cart’s digital archive.

About the Community Art & Wellness Retreat

The Haggerty Museum of Art invites you to become inspired, rejuvenated and reminded of the powerful role art plays in our collective well-being.

Running from 12:30 to 4:30pm, this day of overlapping programming includes a talk by installation artist Jan Tichy, a reflective artmaking activity led by art therapists Emily Drenovsky (Marquette University Wellness Center) and Jodi Brown (Mount Mary Graduate Student), contemplative dialogue with spiritual guide Heather Schmidt, printmaking with art therapist Erica Browne, weaving with artist Bryana Bibbs, a performance by Catey Ott Dance Collective, a sound bath by Melissa Blue Muhammad, and attention activism with C21’s Story Cart.

The retreat celebrates the Haggerty’s No One Knows All It Takes, an exhibition of work by four artists (Bryana Bibbs, Raoul Deal, Maria Gaspar, and Swoon) who explore the effects of concealed trauma and the inextricable ties between personal health and collective wellness. By addressing issues like addiction, incarceration, immigration, and a lack of systemic support for caregivers, the artists emphasize the power of personal stories to illuminate problems that are often overlooked or purposefully hidden from view. Moving beyond self-care and individualized treatments, the work directs us to some of the root causes of trauma and highlights systemic issues that undermine societal well-being.

This event is free and open to the public. Prior registration for the Community Art & Wellness Retreat is requested by the Haggerty Museum of Art.

About Madeleine Doelker Berlin

Madeleine Doelker Berlin (LPC-IT) is an Associate Licensed Professional Counselor, Social Scientist, and a few other things—like an immigrant, a parent, and someone who’s lived through big transitions. Born, raised, and partially professionally trained in Germany, she has a background in social inequality research and a professional path that weaves through mental health, public service, and community advocacy. In both her life and work, Madeleine brings an intersectional, systems-aware lens to understanding how people move through the world. Her current work draws on liberation psychology, existentialist psychology, and feminist psychology to explore how personal healing is connected to social context, meaning-making, and resistance. She’s especially interested in the stories we carry, the cultures that shape us, and the quiet, radical act of paying attention. Madeleine holds graduate degrees in Social Sciences and Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Her approach is grounded, curious, and deeply human.

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.

Call for Graduate Public Humanities Programming
2025-11-16 23:59
DEADLINE: November 16, 2025, 11:59 PM

APPLY NOW

Master’s and Doctoral students in any discipline at UW-Milwaukee are invited to propose an event or program to the Center for 21st Century Studies for the Spring 2026 semester. Selected submissions will be developed in collaboration with C21 staff and will be provided with a working budget of $1,000. This event programming offers a hands-on opportunity that will make a strong addition to any graduate CV. Applications may be submitted by individual students or groups. C21 reserves the right to have final approval of all projects.

C21 is seeking proposals that take up the theme of Slow Care. The theme invites graduates to investigate critical questions surrounding slowness, attention, and practices of care for the self, community health, and mutual aid. Proposals might consider how thoughtful and deliberate care can support resilience, foster collective well-being, or address the social and health needs of Milwaukee communities.

Proposals MUST:

Be rooted in, or linked to, humanities practices

Include a component that is accessible to the public

Be achievable by May 17, 2026 with a $1k budget

Must comply with UWM rules, regulations, and spending restrictions

Possible events might include (but are not limited to):

Public workshops

Symposium

Visual art exhibitions

Original live performances

Film screenings

Experimental museum education programming

Other public humanities programming

In addition to funding, C21 staff can provide in-kind support in coordinating logistics, making connections, and communicating about the project or any public events, and limited graphic design support. The event(s) will be included in C21’s event calendar and promoted as a C21-supported program. C21 can also provide a dedicated working space for programming endeavors, which may include private office space and/or access to one of three reservable meeting spaces.

Please note that funds are provided by UWM. Expenditures must therefore adhere to any regulations, guidelines, or restrictions mandated by UWM and the College of Letters & Science.

**C21’s theme for 2025-2026 is Slow Care. Across health, climate, labor, technology and more, we ask how pacing affects the institutions, policies, cultural infrastructures, and social and political processes that support or disassemble an ethic of care. We welcome multiple interpretations of this open topic, including explorations of time, pace, and speed as they relate to pressing issues oof our time and/or work inside and outside the university. Methodological, pedagogical, and research topical interests are all welcome in relation to this theme.

Slow AI: A Human Training Workshop
2025-11-21 14:00 - 15:30 | Golda Meir Library Fourth Floor Conference Center, 2311 E Hartford Ave, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53211, United States
Friday, November 21, 2:00 – 3:30 PM

Golda Meir Library Fourth Floor Conference Center

Prompting isn’t just for ChatGPT. In this workshop, we’ll return our attention to older ways of writing and thinking that get hijacked by – but are also prototypes for – contemporary productivity models.

The first ten attendees to register will receive a notebook and pen.

This event is brought to you by the Human Club, Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece, Ann Hanlon, and Anne Pycha.

Free and open to the public. Space is limited. Registration is required.

Call for Research Fellows
2025-12-05 23:59
DEADLINE: December 5, 2025, 11:59 PM

Background

A UW System Center of Excellence, UWM’s Center for 21st Century Studies (C21), builds a community of scholars to address the pressing issues of our time. Each year, C21 offers fellowships to UWM faculty and academic staff that provide the time, space, and collegial support to generate new knowledge and ideas. C21 centers the humanities in its belief that innovation comes from diversity of opinions, disciplines, and experiences.

Theme

In dialogue with our advisory council and community partners, C21 has identified SLOW as the theme that informs our offerings for three years (2024-2027). Slow movements—across food, cities, science, scholarship, and beyond — call attention to embodied processes of building and maintaining collective life that resist the fast-paced efficiency models, rapid rewards, and short attention spans that increasingly dominate human responses to 21st century social, political, and ecological challenges. The theme is intentionally broad to capture a wide range of scholarship and practice while encouraging innovative methodologies.

C21’s 2026-2027 programming focuses on SLOW ACTION. Building upon slow knowing and slow care, C21 explores the practices, methodologies, histories, and theories of collective organizing across communities and institutions, with a focus on building values-rooted systems and deliberate, actionable pathways that endure over time to support shared goals. We welcome multiple interpretations of this open topic, including explorations of attention and pace as they relate to organizing around the pressing issues of our time and/or work inside and outside the university. Methodological, pedagogical, and research topical interests are all welcome in relation to this theme.

Research Projects

Applicants should propose a research project related to this thematic area.  Projects can be individual or collaborative.  Examples of projects include:

Researching / preparing material for public presentation in a wide variety of forms including (but not limited to) monographs, essays, podcasts, performances; art installation/exhibits, community programs; digital interfaces; archives or artifacts.

Researching for / development of large-scale collaborative projects (grant proposals, building networks etc.).

Researching / preparing syllabi for innovative, interdisciplinary team-teaching initiatives or credit-bearing programs such as certificates, minors, degrees.

Terms/Eligibility for UWM Faculty*

UWM faculty who hold the rank of assistant, associate, or full professor may apply. Faculty Fellows in the College of Letters and Science receive a reduction in their teaching responsibilities by one course per semester and will be relieved of major committee work.* Applicants must seek approval from their department chairs before applying; C21 does not provide course buyouts for course reductions. C21 will provide each Fellow with access to our inspiring office spaces on the ninth floor of Curtin Hall. Fellows are expected to participate in C21 Fellows’ research seminars and to attend C21 public programs throughout the year. No one may hold a C21 fellowship more than once in a three-year period. Active C21 Fellows may not serve on the C21 Advisory Council in the same year.

*Faculty outside of the College of Letters and Science must seek pre-approval from their department Chairs and Deans to support course reductions before applying.

Terms/Eligibility for UWM Academic Staff**

UWM academic staff may apply for a fellowship. In these cases, C21 will work with academic staff in the College of Letters and Science on a case-by-case basis to determine a reduced course load.* Applicants must seek approval from their department chairs before applying; C21 does not provide course buyouts for course reductions. C21 provides each Fellow with access to our inspiring office spaces on the ninth floor of Curtin Hall. Fellows are expected to participate in C21 Fellows’ research seminars and to attend C21 public programs throughout the year. No one may hold a C21 fellowship more than once in a three-year period. Active C21 Fellows may not serve on the C21 Advisory Council in the same year.     **Academic staff outside of the College of Letters and Science must seek pre-approval from their department Chairs and Deans to support course reductions before applying.

Procedures

Application Deadline:   Friday, December 5, 2025, 11:59 PM

Submit a single PDF including the following components as an email attachment to c21@uwm.edu:

an application cover sheet

NOTE: Your chair must sign the cover sheet to confirm that they are aware and willing to have your teaching load reduced and have you released from service.

a four-page statement (roughly 1,000 words) that describes your research project and specifically addresses:

a) your project’s relation to C21’s theme

b) how it fits into your past research (if applicable) and future research plans

c) how being part of a community of scholars addressing the pressing issues of our time will benefit you and the project

a curriculum vitae/resume

a recent offprint, manuscript (article length), or example of your work that best demonstrates your capacity to complete your proposed project.

If you are applying in collaboration (two people), please follow these same guidelines (submit just one, four-page statement) and add cv/resumes and research/writing samples for each applicant.

Emailed applications should have the subject line “C21 [YEAR] Research Fellow Application – [LAST NAME].”

Questions? Email c21@uwm.edu.

Language as Collaborator: Co-Creating with Thinking Machines
2026-02-12 11:00 - 12:00 | Kenilworth Square East Gallery, 2155 N. Prospect Ave., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Kenilworth Square East Gallery, 2155 N Prospect Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53202

Free and open to the public; prior registration required

February 12, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM

About

To coincide with the exhibition Generation to Generation: Conversing with Kindred Technologies by Nathaniel Stern and Sasha Stiles, this workshop with the artists explores language as a vital creative material and as a medium for collaborative authorship. Through hands-on experimentation, participants will engage questions of imagination, translation, and meaning-making in the age of AI.

This event is part of the Center for 21st Century Studies’ Aesthetics, Art, & AI series, produced in collaboration with the Center for the Humanities at UW-Madison, with support from the Consortium for Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI).

Space is limited to 25 participants. Prior registration is required.

Sasha Stiles

Sasha Stiles is a first-generation Kalmyk-American poet, artist and AI researcher whose work bridges tradition and innovation through hybrid poetics, generative imagination and collaborative intelligence. Her transmedia practice reframes poetry as both art and technology — a means of encoding human experience across space and time — and blends word, image and algorithm to explore the role of human voice in a digital age.

Since 2018, Stiles has been at the forefront of human-machine co-creation, using language as a lens to probe the promise and peril of creative technologies like machine learning and blockchain. Her experiments and insights have established her as a leading voice in creative AI, and a thoughtful contributor to the global conversation about the future of art, technology, and humanity. From Technelegy (2021) — a first-of-its-kind poetry and art collection co-authored with a personalized AI model and praised by Ray Kurzweil — to award-winning projects such as “Cursive Binary” and “Repetae,” Stiles continually pushes the boundaries of expression, situating AI within the broader question of what it means to be human in an increasingly posthuman world. Stiles’ work has been recognized by the Prix Ars Electronica, Sigg Art Prize, Lumen Prize, Women in AI Awards, and Future.Art.Awards; featured in Artforum, Christie’s, NPR, The Washington Post, and Poets & Writers; and exhibited and performed internationally, from Lincoln Center and the V&A to MoMA, Art Basel, Kunsthalle Zurich, Outernet London, New York’s Times Square, and Tokyo’s Shibuya Crossing.

Nathaniel Stern

Nathaniel Stern is an artist and writer, Fulbright and NSF grantee and professor, interventionist and public citizen. He has produced and collaborated on projects ranging from ecological, participatory, and online interventions, interactive, immersive, and mixed reality environments, to prints, sculptures, videos, performances. and hybrid forms. His first book, Interactive Art and Embodiment: The Implicit Body as Performance (Gylphi 2013), takes a close look at the stakes for interactive and digital art, and Ecological Aesthetics: artful tactics for humans, nature, and politics (Dartmouth 2018) is a creative and scholarly collection of stories about art, artists, and their materials, which argues that ecology, aesthetics, and ethics are inherently interconnected, and together act as the cornerstone for all contemporary arts practices. Stern’s ongoing work with startups and industry, on the other hand, has helped launch dozens of new businesses, products, and ideas. He has been featured in the likes of the Wall Street Journal, Guardian UK, Huffington Post, Daily Mail, Washington Post, Daily News, BBC’s Today show, WIRED, Boing Boing, Gizmodo, PetaPixel, M Magazine, Time, Forbes, Fast Company, Scientific American, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Leonardo Journal of Art, Science and Technology, Rhizome, Furtherfield, Turbulence, and more. According to Chicago’s widely popular Bad at Sports art podcast, Stern has “the most varied and strange bio of maybe anyone ever on the show,” and South Africa’s Live Out Loud magazine calls him a “prolific scholar” as well as artist, whose work is “quite possibly some of the most relevant around.” “Technological, thought-provoking and unexpected” (NPR) he’s been dubbed one of Milwaukee’s “avant-garde” (Journal Sentinel), called ”an interesting and prolific fixture” (Artthrob.co.za) behind many “multimedia experiments” (Time.com), “accessible and abstract simultaneously” (Art and Electronic Media web site), someone “with starry, starry eyes” (Wired.com) who “makes an obscene amount of work in an obscene amount of ways” (Bad at Sports) – both “bizarre and beautiful” (Gizmodo). According to Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing, Stern makes “beautiful, glitched out art-images,” and Caleb A. Scharf at Scientific American says Stern’s art is “tremendous fun,” and “fascinating” in how it is “investigating the possibilities of human interaction and art.”

Generation to Generation: Conversing with Kindred Technologies (Opening Day)
2026-02-12 11:00 - 19:00 | Kenilworth Square East Gallery, 2155 N. Prospect Ave., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Kenilworth Square East Gallery, 2155 N Prospect Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53202

Free and open to the public

February 12

Opening Day EventsWorkshop (registration required)11:00 AM – 12:00 PMGallery Walkthrough2:00 PM – 3:00 PMPanel Discussion (registration requested)3:00 PM – 4:30 PMOpening Reception5:00 PM – 7:00 PM

About

Artists Sasha Stiles and Nathaniel Stern install their show Generation to Generation: Conversing with Kindred Technologies for a week-long run at Kenilworth Square East Gallery from February 12 to 20. Join Stern, Stiles, and The Brooklyn Rail editor-at-large Charlotte Kent for a workshop, gallery walk, panel on AI and contemporary art, and opening reception with light refreshments on Thursday, February 12.

AI is a transformational force in human history, akin to the rise of language itself, the printing press or our harnessing of electricity, unlocking new realms of imagination and awareness. Yet its discourse is fraught with fear, misunderstanding, and disconnection. By blending Artificial Intelligence with more traditional artistic expression, Generation to Generation: Conversing with Kindred Technologies cultivates new pathways for imagination while nurturing the roots of our creative inheritance, and the always-evolving dialogue between art and innovation.

This groundbreaking exhibition illuminates the intertwined evolution of humanity and technology, inviting viewers to reconsider the relationship between humans and the tools we invent through an immersive fusion of sculptures, prints, electronics, music, movement, and poetry, all born from creative collaboration with AI.

This exhibition is part of the Center for 21st Century Studies’ Aesthetics, Art, & AI series, produced in collaboration with the Center for the Humanities at UW-Madison, with support from the Consortium for Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI).

Gallery Hours

Feb 12: 11 AM – 7 PM

Feb 13: 11 AM – 6 PM

Feb 14: 11 AM – 6 PM

Feb 17: 12 PM – 6 PM

Feb 18: 12 PM – 6 PM

Feb 19: 12 PM – 6 PM

Feb 20: 11 AM – 6 PM

About the Artists

Sasha Stiles is a first-generation Kalmyk-American poet, artist and AI researcher whose work bridges tradition and innovation through hybrid poetics, generative imagination and collaborative intelligence. Her transmedia practice reframes poetry as both art and technology — a means of encoding human experience across space and time — and blends word, image and algorithm to explore the role of human voice in a digital age.

Since 2018, Stiles has been at the forefront of human-machine co-creation, using language as a lens to probe the promise and peril of creative technologies like machine learning and blockchain. Her experiments and insights have established her as a leading voice in creative AI, and a thoughtful contributor to the global conversation about the future of art, technology, and humanity. From Technelegy (2021) — a first-of-its-kind poetry and art collection co-authored with a personalized AI model and praised by Ray Kurzweil — to award-winning projects such as “Cursive Binary” and “Repetae,” Stiles continually pushes the boundaries of expression, situating AI within the broader question of what it means to be human in an increasingly posthuman world. Stiles’ work has been recognized by the Prix Ars Electronica, Sigg Art Prize, Lumen Prize, Women in AI Awards, and Future.Art.Awards; featured in Artforum, Christie’s, NPR, The Washington Post, and Poets & Writers; and exhibited and performed internationally, from Lincoln Center and the V&A to MoMA, Art Basel, Kunsthalle Zurich, Outernet London, New York’s Times Square, and Tokyo’s Shibuya Crossing.

Nathaniel Stern is an artist and writer, Fulbright and NSF grantee and professor, interventionist and public citizen. He has produced and collaborated on projects ranging from ecological, participatory, and online interventions, interactive, immersive, and mixed reality environments, to prints, sculptures, videos, performances. and hybrid forms. His first book, Interactive Art and Embodiment: The Implicit Body as Performance (Gylphi 2013), takes a close look at the stakes for interactive and digital art, and Ecological Aesthetics: artful tactics for humans, nature, and politics (Dartmouth 2018) is a creative and scholarly collection of stories about art, artists, and their materials, which argues that ecology, aesthetics, and ethics are inherently interconnected, and together act as the cornerstone for all contemporary arts practices. Stern’s ongoing work with startups and industry, on the other hand, has helped launch dozens of new businesses, products, and ideas. He has been featured in the likes of the Wall Street Journal, Guardian UK, Huffington Post, Daily Mail, Washington Post, Daily News, BBC’s Today show, WIRED, Boing Boing, Gizmodo, PetaPixel, M Magazine, Time, Forbes, Fast Company, Scientific American, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Leonardo Journal of Art, Science and Technology, Rhizome, Furtherfield, Turbulence, and more. According to Chicago’s widely popular Bad at Sports art podcast, Stern has “the most varied and strange bio of maybe anyone ever on the show,” and South Africa’s Live Out Loud magazine calls him a “prolific scholar” as well as artist, whose work is “quite possibly some of the most relevant around.” “Technological, thought-provoking and unexpected” (NPR) he’s been dubbed one of Milwaukee’s “avant-garde” (Journal Sentinel), called ”an interesting and prolific fixture” (Artthrob.co.za) behind many “multimedia experiments” (Time.com), “accessible and abstract simultaneously” (Art and Electronic Media web site), someone “with starry, starry eyes” (Wired.com) who “makes an obscene amount of work in an obscene amount of ways” (Bad at Sports) – both “bizarre and beautiful” (Gizmodo). According to Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing, Stern makes “beautiful, glitched out art-images,” and Caleb A. Scharf at Scientific American says Stern’s art is “tremendous fun,” and “fascinating” in how it is “investigating the possibilities of human interaction and art.”

Generations and Generativity: Post-AI Aesthetics in Practice
2026-02-12 15:00 - 16:30 | Kenilworth Square East Gallery, 2155 N. Prospect Ave., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Kenilworth Square East Gallery, 2155 N Prospect Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53202

Free and open to the public, prior registration requested

February 12, 3:00 – 4:30 PM

About

Join the Center for 21st Century Studies, artist-technologist Nathaniel Stern, poet-researcher Sasha Stiles, and The Brooklyn Rail editor-at-large Charlotte Kent for a panel discussion about the boundaries between human and machine-generated cultural production.

After the panel, catch the opening reception for  Generation to Generation: Conversing with Kindred Technologies, a collaborative contemporary art exhibition by Nathaniel Stern and Sasha Stiles.

This event is part of the Center for 21st Century Studies’ Aesthetics, Art, & AI series, produced in collaboration with the Center for the Humanities at UW-Madison, with support from the Consortium for Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI).

REGISTER NOW

Sasha Stiles

Sasha Stiles is a first-generation Kalmyk-American poet, artist and AI researcher whose work bridges tradition and innovation through hybrid poetics, generative imagination and collaborative intelligence. Her transmedia practice reframes poetry as both art and technology — a means of encoding human experience across space and time — and blends word, image and algorithm to explore the role of human voice in a digital age.

Since 2018, Stiles has been at the forefront of human-machine co-creation, using language as a lens to probe the promise and peril of creative technologies like machine learning and blockchain. Her experiments and insights have established her as a leading voice in creative AI, and a thoughtful contributor to the global conversation about the future of art, technology, and humanity. From Technelegy (2021) — a first-of-its-kind poetry and art collection co-authored with a personalized AI model and praised by Ray Kurzweil — to award-winning projects such as “Cursive Binary” and “Repetae,” Stiles continually pushes the boundaries of expression, situating AI within the broader question of what it means to be human in an increasingly posthuman world. Stiles’ work has been recognized by the Prix Ars Electronica, Sigg Art Prize, Lumen Prize, Women in AI Awards, and Future.Art.Awards; featured in Artforum, Christie’s, NPR, The Washington Post, and Poets & Writers; and exhibited and performed internationally, from Lincoln Center and the V&A to MoMA, Art Basel, Kunsthalle Zurich, Outernet London, New York’s Times Square, and Tokyo’s Shibuya Crossing.

Nathaniel Stern

Nathaniel Stern is an artist and writer, Fulbright and NSF grantee and professor, interventionist and public citizen. He has produced and collaborated on projects ranging from ecological, participatory, and online interventions, interactive, immersive, and mixed reality environments, to prints, sculptures, videos, performances. and hybrid forms. His first book, Interactive Art and Embodiment: The Implicit Body as Performance (Gylphi 2013), takes a close look at the stakes for interactive and digital art, and Ecological Aesthetics: artful tactics for humans, nature, and politics (Dartmouth 2018) is a creative and scholarly collection of stories about art, artists, and their materials, which argues that ecology, aesthetics, and ethics are inherently interconnected, and together act as the cornerstone for all contemporary arts practices. Stern’s ongoing work with startups and industry, on the other hand, has helped launch dozens of new businesses, products, and ideas. He has been featured in the likes of the Wall Street Journal, Guardian UK, Huffington Post, Daily Mail, Washington Post, Daily News, BBC’s Today show, WIRED, Boing Boing, Gizmodo, PetaPixel, M Magazine, Time, Forbes, Fast Company, Scientific American, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Leonardo Journal of Art, Science and Technology, Rhizome, Furtherfield, Turbulence, and more. According to Chicago’s widely popular Bad at Sports art podcast, Stern has “the most varied and strange bio of maybe anyone ever on the show,” and South Africa’s Live Out Loud magazine calls him a “prolific scholar” as well as artist, whose work is “quite possibly some of the most relevant around.” “Technological, thought-provoking and unexpected” (NPR) he’s been dubbed one of Milwaukee’s “avant-garde” (Journal Sentinel), called ”an interesting and prolific fixture” (Artthrob.co.za) behind many “multimedia experiments” (Time.com), “accessible and abstract simultaneously” (Art and Electronic Media web site), someone “with starry, starry eyes” (Wired.com) who “makes an obscene amount of work in an obscene amount of ways” (Bad at Sports) – both “bizarre and beautiful” (Gizmodo). According to Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing, Stern makes “beautiful, glitched out art-images,” and Caleb A. Scharf at Scientific American says Stern’s art is “tremendous fun,” and “fascinating” in how it is “investigating the possibilities of human interaction and art.”

Charlotte Kent

Charlotte Kent, PhD, is Associate Professor of Visual Culture and Head of Visual and Critical Studies at Montclair State University. She is co-editor with Katherine Guinness of the book, “Contemporary Absurdities, Existential Crises, and Visual Art” (Intellect Books) and an Editor-at-Large for The Brooklyn Rail with a monthly column on Art & Technology, contributing to many arts magazines and academic journals about the intersection of contemporary art, digital culture, and ecological systems. Raised abroad and near Times Square, she most recently co-authored “Midnight Moment: A Decade of Artists in Times Square” (Phaidon Press, 2024). Her research on the social implications of contemporary art’s creative misuse of 21st century technologies continues with “Contemporary Art and Technology: Rethinking Systems, Crises, and the Absurd” (forthcoming, Routledge’s Art and Science After 1750 series). She is the recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Dangers and Opportunities of Technology: Perspectives from the Humanities (2024-2026) for research on concepts of agency as exhibited in arts intersection with “AI” as well as the term’s diverse meanings across disciplines; this research has also been supported by Google’s Artist + Machine Intelligence program (2023, 2024). In 2023, she was the inaugural Scholar-in-Residence at NXT Museum, where she co-curated with Jesse Damiani the RealTime exhibit, “Lilypads: Mediating Exponential Systems.”

Generation to Generation: Conversing with Kindred Technologies
2026-02-13 11:00 - 18:00 | Kenilworth Square East Gallery, 2155 N. Prospect Ave., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Kenilworth Square East Gallery, 2155 N Prospect Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53202

Free and open to the public

February 12-20

Feb 12: 11 AM – 7 PM

Feb 13: 11 AM – 6 PM

Feb 14: 11 AM – 6 PM

Feb 17: 12 PM – 6 PM

Feb 18: 12 PM – 6 PM

Feb 19: 12 PM – 6 PM

Feb 20: 11 AM – 6 PM

About

Artists Sasha Stiles and Nathaniel Stern install their show Generation to Generation: Conversing with Kindred Technologies for a week-long run at Kenilworth Square East Gallery from February 12 to 20.

AI is a transformational force in human history, akin to the rise of language itself, the printing press or our harnessing of electricity, unlocking new realms of imagination and awareness. Yet its discourse is fraught with fear, misunderstanding, and disconnection. By blending Artificial Intelligence with more traditional artistic expression, Generation to Generation: Conversing with Kindred Technologies cultivates new pathways for imagination while nurturing the roots of our creative inheritance, and the always-evolving dialogue between art and innovation.

This groundbreaking exhibition illuminates the intertwined evolution of humanity and technology, inviting viewers to reconsider the relationship between humans and the tools we invent through an immersive fusion of sculptures, prints, electronics, music, movement, and poetry, all born from creative collaboration with AI.

This exhibition is part of the Center for 21st Century Studies’ Aesthetics, Art, & AI series, produced in collaboration with the Center for the Humanities at UW-Madison, with support from the Consortium for Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI).

Sasha Stiles

Sasha Stiles is a first-generation Kalmyk-American poet, artist and AI researcher whose work bridges tradition and innovation through hybrid poetics, generative imagination and collaborative intelligence. Her transmedia practice reframes poetry as both art and technology — a means of encoding human experience across space and time — and blends word, image and algorithm to explore the role of human voice in a digital age.

Since 2018, Stiles has been at the forefront of human-machine co-creation, using language as a lens to probe the promise and peril of creative technologies like machine learning and blockchain. Her experiments and insights have established her as a leading voice in creative AI, and a thoughtful contributor to the global conversation about the future of art, technology, and humanity. From Technelegy (2021) — a first-of-its-kind poetry and art collection co-authored with a personalized AI model and praised by Ray Kurzweil — to award-winning projects such as “Cursive Binary” and “Repetae,” Stiles continually pushes the boundaries of expression, situating AI within the broader question of what it means to be human in an increasingly posthuman world. Stiles’ work has been recognized by the Prix Ars Electronica, Sigg Art Prize, Lumen Prize, Women in AI Awards, and Future.Art.Awards; featured in Artforum, Christie’s, NPR, The Washington Post, and Poets & Writers; and exhibited and performed internationally, from Lincoln Center and the V&A to MoMA, Art Basel, Kunsthalle Zurich, Outernet London, New York’s Times Square, and Tokyo’s Shibuya Crossing.

Nathaniel Stern

Nathaniel Stern is an artist and writer, Fulbright and NSF grantee and professor, interventionist and public citizen. He has produced and collaborated on projects ranging from ecological, participatory, and online interventions, interactive, immersive, and mixed reality environments, to prints, sculptures, videos, performances. and hybrid forms. His first book, Interactive Art and Embodiment: The Implicit Body as Performance (Gylphi 2013), takes a close look at the stakes for interactive and digital art, and Ecological Aesthetics: artful tactics for humans, nature, and politics (Dartmouth 2018) is a creative and scholarly collection of stories about art, artists, and their materials, which argues that ecology, aesthetics, and ethics are inherently interconnected, and together act as the cornerstone for all contemporary arts practices. Stern’s ongoing work with startups and industry, on the other hand, has helped launch dozens of new businesses, products, and ideas. He has been featured in the likes of the Wall Street Journal, Guardian UK, Huffington Post, Daily Mail, Washington Post, Daily News, BBC’s Today show, WIRED, Boing Boing, Gizmodo, PetaPixel, M Magazine, Time, Forbes, Fast Company, Scientific American, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Leonardo Journal of Art, Science and Technology, Rhizome, Furtherfield, Turbulence, and more. According to Chicago’s widely popular Bad at Sports art podcast, Stern has “the most varied and strange bio of maybe anyone ever on the show,” and South Africa’s Live Out Loud magazine calls him a “prolific scholar” as well as artist, whose work is “quite possibly some of the most relevant around.” “Technological, thought-provoking and unexpected” (NPR) he’s been dubbed one of Milwaukee’s “avant-garde” (Journal Sentinel), called ”an interesting and prolific fixture” (Artthrob.co.za) behind many “multimedia experiments” (Time.com), “accessible and abstract simultaneously” (Art and Electronic Media web site), someone “with starry, starry eyes” (Wired.com) who “makes an obscene amount of work in an obscene amount of ways” (Bad at Sports) – both “bizarre and beautiful” (Gizmodo). According to Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing, Stern makes “beautiful, glitched out art-images,” and Caleb A. Scharf at Scientific American says Stern’s art is “tremendous fun,” and “fascinating” in how it is “investigating the possibilities of human interaction and art.”

Story Cart With Adam Carr - Crystal Quest
2026-02-14 10:00 - 12:00 | Thomas A. Greene Geological Museum, 3209 N. Maryland Ave., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53211, United States
Saturday, February 14, 10:00am-12:00pm

Thomas A. Greene Geological Museum, Lapham Hall, Room 3663209 N. Maryland Ave.

Part of Darwin Day (10:00am-3:00pm); free and open to the public

Crystal Quest

At the Greene Geological Museum’s Darwin Day celebration, we’ll ask you to find the mineral that moves you the most. Who knows? Maybe you’ll glean some ancient wisdom from a rock of ages.

Then, we’ll ask you to talk about it with Story Fellow Adam Carr while we record your conversation for the Story Cart’s digital archive.

About Adam Carr

Adam  Carr  is an independent writer, artist, journalist, community historian and organizer based in Milwaukee. Carr was director of strategic partnerships at Milwaukee Park Foundation from 2022-2025 and producer at 88Nine RadioMilwaukee from 2008-2011. Working in communities throughout Milwaukee, his work ranges from journalism to public art, film/photography to coalition building, dialogue facilitation to community history, writing to in-depth tours.

About Darwin Day

Thomas A. Greene Geological Museum invites you to celebrate Darwin Day, a public outreach event celebrating the life and times of one of the most brilliant and influential Victorian naturalists, Charles R. Darwin. Darwin was an avid geologist and biologist who most famously developed the theory of natural selection—one of the driving mechanisms behind biological evolution—published in his seminal work: On the Origin of Species. Today, this theory forms the foundation for many of our natural sciences. Darwin Day is a national celebration of Darwin’s scientific legacy typically held on (or near) his birthday.

This event is free and open to guests of all ages. Many wonderful geological and biological specimens will be available to observe, with volunteers on hand to explain their fascinating histories. Learning tables will focus on the natural history of Wisconsin and the contributions of the Thomas A. Greene to our understanding of local geology, with many rare and beautiful samples on display in the Greene Geological Museum. Other activities will be available throughout the day, including scientific lectures presented by UWM scientists and guest speakers, coloring and crafts for young kids, and free planetarium shows. See this activities list and schedule of events for more information.

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.

Practices, Not Prophecies: An Interdisciplinary AI Conversation
2026-02-18 18:00 - 19:30
Kenilworth Square East Galley, 2155 N Prospect Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53202

Free and open to the public

February 18, 6:00 – 7:30 PM

About

In response to Generation to Generation: Conversing with Kindred Technologies, this interdisciplinary panel brings together Shana Ponelis, Nathaniel Stern, Brooke Slavens, and Ilya Avdeev for an open, practice-driven conversation about what it actually means to work with AI today. Rather than rehearsing familiar hype or fear narratives, the discussion centers on lived experience across art, design, engineering, and research—where AI creates real opportunities, introduces tangible risks, and is often misunderstood. The panel invites the audience into a candid exchange about agency, responsibility, and how we might move beyond spectacle toward more intentional and ethical engagements with intelligent systems.

Practices Not Prophecies: An Interdisciplinary AI Conversation is supported by the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center. This event is part of the Center for 21st Century Studies’ Aesthetics, Art, & AI series, produced in collaboration with the Center for the Humanities at UW-Madison, with support from the Consortium for Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI).

Generation to Generation: Conversing with Kindred Technologies
2026-02-20 12:00 - 19:00 | Kenilworth Square East Gallery, 2155 N. Prospect Ave., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Kenilworth Square East Gallery, 2155 N Prospect Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53202

Free and open to the public

February 12-20; opening reception Feb. 12

Feb 12: 11 AM – 7 PM

Feb 13: 11 AM – 6 PM

Feb 14: 11 AM – 6 PM

Feb 17: 12 PM – 6 PM

Feb 18: 12 PM – 6 PM

Feb 19: 12 PM – 6 PM

Feb 20: 11 AM – 6 PM

About

Artists Sasha Stiles and Nathaniel Stern install their show Generation to Generation: Conversing with Kindred Technologies for a week-long run at Kenilworth Square East Gallery from February 12 to 20.

AI is a transformational force in human history, akin to the rise of language itself, the printing press or our harnessing of electricity, unlocking new realms of imagination and awareness. Yet its discourse is fraught with fear, misunderstanding, and disconnection. By blending Artificial Intelligence with more traditional artistic expression, Generation to Generation: Conversing with Kindred Technologies cultivates new pathways for imagination while nurturing the roots of our creative inheritance, and the always-evolving dialogue between art and innovation.

This groundbreaking exhibition illuminates the intertwined evolution of humanity and technology, inviting viewers to reconsider the relationship between humans and the tools we invent through an immersive fusion of sculptures, prints, electronics, music, movement, and poetry, all born from creative collaboration with AI.

This exhibition is part of the Center for 21st Century Studies’ Aesthetics, Art, & AI series, produced in collaboration with the Center for the Humanities at UW-Madison, with support from the Consortium for Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI).

Sasha Stiles

Sasha Stiles is a first-generation Kalmyk-American poet, artist and AI researcher whose work bridges tradition and innovation through hybrid poetics, generative imagination and collaborative intelligence. Her transmedia practice reframes poetry as both art and technology — a means of encoding human experience across space and time — and blends word, image and algorithm to explore the role of human voice in a digital age.

Since 2018, Stiles has been at the forefront of human-machine co-creation, using language as a lens to probe the promise and peril of creative technologies like machine learning and blockchain. Her experiments and insights have established her as a leading voice in creative AI, and a thoughtful contributor to the global conversation about the future of art, technology, and humanity. From Technelegy (2021) — a first-of-its-kind poetry and art collection co-authored with a personalized AI model and praised by Ray Kurzweil — to award-winning projects such as “Cursive Binary” and “Repetae,” Stiles continually pushes the boundaries of expression, situating AI within the broader question of what it means to be human in an increasingly posthuman world. Stiles’ work has been recognized by the Prix Ars Electronica, Sigg Art Prize, Lumen Prize, Women in AI Awards, and Future.Art.Awards; featured in Artforum, Christie’s, NPR, The Washington Post, and Poets & Writers; and exhibited and performed internationally, from Lincoln Center and the V&A to MoMA, Art Basel, Kunsthalle Zurich, Outernet London, New York’s Times Square, and Tokyo’s Shibuya Crossing.

Nathaniel Stern

Nathaniel Stern is an artist and writer, Fulbright and NSF grantee and professor, interventionist and public citizen. He has produced and collaborated on projects ranging from ecological, participatory, and online interventions, interactive, immersive, and mixed reality environments, to prints, sculptures, videos, performances. and hybrid forms. His first book, Interactive Art and Embodiment: The Implicit Body as Performance (Gylphi 2013), takes a close look at the stakes for interactive and digital art, and Ecological Aesthetics: artful tactics for humans, nature, and politics (Dartmouth 2018) is a creative and scholarly collection of stories about art, artists, and their materials, which argues that ecology, aesthetics, and ethics are inherently interconnected, and together act as the cornerstone for all contemporary arts practices. Stern’s ongoing work with startups and industry, on the other hand, has helped launch dozens of new businesses, products, and ideas. He has been featured in the likes of the Wall Street Journal, Guardian UK, Huffington Post, Daily Mail, Washington Post, Daily News, BBC’s Today show, WIRED, Boing Boing, Gizmodo, PetaPixel, M Magazine, Time, Forbes, Fast Company, Scientific American, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Leonardo Journal of Art, Science and Technology, Rhizome, Furtherfield, Turbulence, and more. According to Chicago’s widely popular Bad at Sports art podcast, Stern has “the most varied and strange bio of maybe anyone ever on the show,” and South Africa’s Live Out Loud magazine calls him a “prolific scholar” as well as artist, whose work is “quite possibly some of the most relevant around.” “Technological, thought-provoking and unexpected” (NPR) he’s been dubbed one of Milwaukee’s “avant-garde” (Journal Sentinel), called ”an interesting and prolific fixture” (Artthrob.co.za) behind many “multimedia experiments” (Time.com), “accessible and abstract simultaneously” (Art and Electronic Media web site), someone “with starry, starry eyes” (Wired.com) who “makes an obscene amount of work in an obscene amount of ways” (Bad at Sports) – both “bizarre and beautiful” (Gizmodo). According to Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing, Stern makes “beautiful, glitched out art-images,” and Caleb A. Scharf at Scientific American says Stern’s art is “tremendous fun,” and “fascinating” in how it is “investigating the possibilities of human interaction and art.”

Human Club: MUD Potluck
2026-02-27 13:00 - 15:00 | Curtin 939, 3243 N Downer Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
Come eat, share, and grow with Human Club and the Milwaukee Urban Demo Farms (MUD) Network!

Guests are invited to bring a potluck-style dish or a recipe to share as we gather for food and conversation. Participants will also have the chance to plant seeds with the MUD Network and get their hands a little dirty while thinking about care and connection in Milwaukee. Optional donations of unopened, unexpired non-perishables will be collected for UWM’s campus food pantry.

Let’s mix, mingle, and dig in – literally and figuratively.

About MUD

As part of the major outreach arm of Wisconsin’s public universities, UW-Extension has offered gardening expertise and educational programming on urban agriculture topics in Milwaukee County since the early 20th century. Today, the UW-Extension Milwaukee County’s Urban Agriculture Team offers educational programming on sustainable growing practices and provides affordable land access to hundreds of Milwaukee-area farmers and gardeners across 70 acres of community garden space. With a focus on community food security, climate adaptation, and soil health, Extension Milwaukee County Urban Agriculture delivers rigorous instruction on a variety of topics at the intersection of food access and responsible land stewardship. Whether running an ambitious USDA demonstration farm network project, supporting a longstanding sustainable beekeeping course, or showcasing innovative techniques in urban agroforestry, the Extension Milwaukee County Urban Ag team works hard to support the gardening and farming needs of all who call Milwaukee County home.

Free and open to the public. All are welcome. Bring a dish and a friend!

Information Session: C21 Collaboratory Applications
2026-03-03 09:00 - 10:00 | Center for 21st Century Studies, 3243 N. Downer Ave., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
C21 Leadership Team will host an information session about the FY27 collaborative project application in person, at C21, with a virtual option on Tuesday, March 3, 9-10 AM.

In-person: 939 Curtin Hall

Virtual: https://tinyurl.com/registercollabinfo27

C21 believes that the complex challenges we face in the 21st century are best met through collaborations across areas of expertise and experience, and that the humanities are a vital part of addressing these challenges. Collaborative project funding provides an opportunity to bring together teams of scholars across disciplines, across university and community partnerships, and across emerging and established scholars (students / staff / faculty) to generate new ideas and knowledge.

C21 offers funding for two distinct categories of collaborative projects: working groups and collaboratories. Working groups provide opportunities for collaborative study, research, and discussion of a common subject of interest. Collaboratories provide opportunities to bring new, humanities-informed ideas and knowledge to many different audiences both on and off campus. Collaboratories are also foundational to the Center’s annual programming.

While the criteria for working groups will remain largely unchanged from previous years, collaboratory proposals must include a contribution to C21’s Day of Action, slated for the Spring 2027 semester. The Day of Action will celebrate the culmination of SLOW, C21’s 2024-27 thematic cycle, and will align with C21’s 2026-27 theme, Slow Action. Slow Action will explore how the practices, methodologies, histories, and theories of collective organizing across communities and institutions might provide insight for building values-rooted systems and deliberate actionable pathways that endure over time to support shared goals.

This session will cover information on the Slow Action theme, the Day of Action, programming, tips on writing a strong application, and frequently asked questions.

Attending the information session is not required to apply but is highly encouraged.

Questions?

C21 strongly encourages questions and inquiries in advance of proposals. Please contact C21 Managing Director Katie Waddell with questions at waddelke@uwm.edu.

Aesthetics, Art, & AI: Kite
2026-03-12 17:30 - 19:00 | Arts Center Lecture Hall, 2400 East Kenwood Boulevard, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53211, United States
Thursday, March 12, 5:30 to 7:00 PM

Registration requested, 2400 East Kenwood Boulevard, Milwaukee, WI, Room 120

Free and open to the public; reception to follow.

Registration requested

REGISTER NOW

Join the Center for 21st Century Studies (C21) for an artist talk with Kite (a.k.a. Suzanne Kite); part of C21’s Aesthetics, Art, & AI program series.

Kite is an Oglála Lakȟóta artist, composer, and scholar. Her groundbreaking scholarship and practice investigate contemporary Lakota ontologies through research-creation, computational media, and performance, often working in collaboration with family and community members. Kite develops body interfaces for machine learning driven performance, sculptures generated by dreams, and experimental sound and video work. Working with machine learning techniques since 2017 and developing body interfaces for performance since 2013, Kite is a first American Indian artist to utilize Machine Learning in art practice.

Kite has been included in numerous publications such as Atlas of Anomalous AI, Indigenous Futurisms, Creative AI Database from Serpentine Gallery, the American Indian Culture and Research Journal, the Journal of Design and Science (MIT Press), with the award winning article, “Making Kin with Machines”, and the sculpture Ínyan Iyé (Telling Rock) (2019) was featured on the cover of Canadian Art. Kite was the Global Coordinator for the Indigenous Protocols and Artificial Intelligence Workshops supported by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, resulting in the publication of the Indigenous Protocols and Artificial Intelligence Position Paper.

Her artworks and performances have recently been featured at the 2024 Whitney Biennial; Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin; Center for Art, Research and Alliances (CARA), New York; and the 2024 Shanghai Biennial; among other venues. Her awards and honors include a Ruth Award, a 2023 United States Artist Fellowship, a Creative Time open call commission (with Alisha Wormsley), and a Creative Capital grant. She is currently Director of Wihanble S’a Lab, Distinguished Artist in Residence, and Assistant Professor of American and Indigenous Studies at Bard College. Kite holds degrees from California Institute of the Arts, Bard College, and received her PhD from Concordia University.

Kite’s work will also be on display in the exhibition, This Side of the Stars, at the Haggerty Museum of Art in Milwaukee, WI from January 23 – May 16, 2026.

Q&A and reception with light refreshments to follow talk. Registration requested.

Directions & Parking

Paid parking is available at the Student Union Parking Garage (Lot 22).

Union Parking is $1 each 20 min for the 1st hour; then pay $1 per hour. Maximum charge is $12 total.

Time-limited street parking is available on neighborhood streets surrounding campus.

If using the Union Parking Garage, you can find the Arts Center Lecture Hall (ACL) by taking the Peck School of the Arts stairways to exit.

ACL 120 is located across the covered walkway from the UWM Mainstage Theater.

Check parking availability with the UWM Parking Finder.

Use our campus map to find the Union Parking Garage (Lot 22) or Arts Center Lecture Hall (ACL).

About Aesthetics, Art, & AI

With support from the Consortium for Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI), the Center for 21st Century Studies and the Center for the Humanities at UW-Madison present a collaborative series of public programming that focuses the relationship between AI and artistic practice, exploring how AI-generated aesthetics reshape creative production, authorship, and interpretation. By engaging scholars, artists, and technologists, we examine the ethical and aesthetic implications of computational creativity, raising fundamental questions about artistic agency, originality, and the boundaries between human and machine-generated cultural production.

Story Cart with Symphony Swan – (W)rites of Spring
2026-03-21 12:00 - 14:00 | Havenwoods State Forest, 6141 N Hopkins St, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53209, United States
Saturday, March 21, 12:00 – 2:00 PM

Havenwoods State Forest, 6141 N Hopkins St, Milwaukee, WI 53209

Free and open to the public; registration required

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:

Harlem Masimba · spring equinox soundscape

Open in SoundCloud

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.

Story Cart With Adam Carr - Skyward Ho!
2026-03-28 12:00 - 14:00 | Milwaukee Winter Farmers Market, 5305 W. Capitol Drive Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53216, United States
Saturday, March 28, 12:00-2:00pm

MKE Winter Farmers Market, 5305 W. Capitol Drive Milwaukee, WI 53216

Free and open to the public

Skyward Ho!

At Milwaukee Winter Farmer’s Market, we’ll meditate on the sky with our mind, body and soul with Story Fellow Adam Carr and yogi Matthew Lewis (@stillhoneyblk), gathering thoughts on sanctuary and refuge, especially for attention.

Then, we’ll talk about it on the record for the Story Cart digital archive.

About Adam Carr

Adam  Carr  is an independent writer, artist, journalist, community historian and organizer based in Milwaukee. Carr was director of strategic partnerships at Milwaukee Park Foundation from 2022-2025 and producer at 88Nine RadioMilwaukee from 2008-2011. Working in communities throughout Milwaukee, his work ranges from journalism to public art, film/photography to coalition building, dialogue facilitation to community history, writing to in-depth tours.

About Milwaukee Winter Farmers Market

Fondy’s Milwaukee Winter Farmers Market exists to support local producers and to help our community eat local longer. Agricultural vendors offer high quality fruit, vegetables, meat, eggs, poultry and dairy products. SNAP benefits are accepted at our market. Local food vendors also bring a wide variety of freshly baked goods, jams, cider, honey, maple syrup, sauces and soups, as well as delicious global cuisine. The market also offers health and wellness, and body products, such as soaps, body creams, and more.

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.

Cactus Book Club with C21: Attensity!
2026-04-01 17:30 - 19:30 | Cactus Club, 2496 S Wentworth Ave, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53207, United States
Wednesday, April 1, 5:30-7:30 PM

Cactus Club, 2496 S. Wentworth Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53207

Free & open to the public; no registration required

C21’s Story Cart program invites you to join Katie Waddell, C21 Managing Director, for the April 2026 edition of the Cactus Book Club.

Cactus Book Club meets on the first Wednesday of the month from 5:30-7:30 in the back room at Cactus Club. Each month a different community organization, collective, mutual aid group, or business chooses a book and recommended bookseller, then leads the discussion.

The April selection, Attensity! A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement by The Friends of Attention, expands upon the attention activist manifesto championed by C21’s partners at the Strother School of Radical Attention, and offers an opportunity for the attention activism-curious to explore why our attention matters, how to choose attentional agency over digital enthrallment, and why awareness is even better with friends.

C21’s recommended bookseller is Boswell Book Company. Mention Cactus Book Club at checkout to receive a 10% discount!

Resources

Check out our Slow Digest post about Attensity! for a teaser.

Don’t have time to finish the book before April 1? Fill in the gaps with the Strother School for Radical Attention’s Toolkit for Attention Activism and their Attention Lab podcast on Apple Podcasts.

About

About Attensity!: A Manifesto of the Attention Liberation Movement

“We all feel it: something is seriously wrong. Our attention—that essential ability to give our minds and senses to the world—is being trapped, gutted, and sold out from under us by an industry of immense technological and financial power. The heedless exploitation of this vital capacity by a handful of tech companies is harming us all, reducing our very selfhood to that which can be quantified, bought, and sold—and shaking the foundations of our democracy.

To push back against this “human fracking,” we need more than individual willpower or isolated efforts. We need a movement of collective resistance. Such a movement is beginning to bloom, and in this radical, first-of-its-kind guide, The Friends of Attention show us how to join the fight. We meet welders, nurses, poets, and surfers, all of whom are engaged in attentional practices. We learn to seek out sanctuaries—theaters and museums, houses of worship, dance parties—where together we can take refuge from the frackers. Attention Activism takes our apocalyptic present, turns it on its head, and reveals new vistas of human flourishing.Drawing on a rich legacy of critical intellectuals and the creative wisdom of diverse traditions, Attensity! calls on us to come together to defeat the greedy dehumanizing forces of brute instrumentalization—and re-enchant the world.” Read on…

The Friends of Attention is a collective of activists, artists, and thinkers. Three editors and long-standing “Friends” helped Attensity! take shape: D. Graham Burnett is the Henry Charles Lea Professor of history of science at Princeton University. Alyssa Loh, a filmmaker, co-directed the short film “Twelve Theses on Attention.” Peter Schmidt is the Program Director of the Strother School of Radical Attention.

About Cactus Club

Cactus Book Club (CBC), organized by Cactus+, meets on the first Wednesday of the month from 5:30-7:30 in the back room at Cactus Club. Each month a different community organization, collective, mutual aid group, or business chooses the book and recommended bookseller, then leads the discussion. CBC covers sociopolitical fiction and non-fiction, with a focus on works by women, LGBTQ+, BIPOC, and/or otherwise under-published groups. Members don’t have to finish reading the book to attend. All book club meetings are free. Registration is not required. 18+.

About Story Cart: Attention

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.

Collaboratory & Working Group Applications Due
2026-04-03 00:00 - 23:59
Application deadline: Friday, April 3, 11:59 PM

Access complete application instructions here.

Hybrid information session: This event has passed. Watch the recording via Teams (UWM login required).

About

C21 believes that the complex challenges we face in the 21st century are best met through collaborations across areas of expertise and experience, and that the humanities are a vital part of addressing these challenges. Collaborative project funding provides an opportunity to bring together teams of scholars across disciplines, across university and community partnerships, and across emerging and established scholars (students / staff / faculty) to generate new ideas and knowledge.

C21 offers funding for two distinct categories of collaborative projects: working groups and collaboratories. Working groups provide opportunities for collaborative study, research, and discussion of a common subject of interest. Collaboratories provide opportunities to bring new, humanities-informed ideas and knowledge to many different audiences both on and off campus. Collaboratories are also foundational to the Center’s annual programming.

While the criteria for working groups will remain largely unchanged from previous years, collaboratory proposals must include a contribution to C21’s Day of Action, slated for the Spring 2027 semester. The Day of Action will celebrate the culmination of SLOW, C21’s 2024-27 thematic cycle, and will align with C21’s 2026-27 theme, Slow Action. Slow Action will explore how the practices, methodologies, histories, and theories of collective organizing across communities and institutions might provide insight for building values-rooted systems and deliberate actionable pathways that endure over time to support shared goals.

C21 offers two distinct funding tiers for collaborative research projects:

Collaboratories are collaborative projects devised with a specific project or public outcome in mind. Priority will be given to projects with budgets of up to $5,000. A portion of awarded funds must be used to support programming for the Day of Action and/or related contributions.

Working Groups gather for ongoing discussions, networking, and idea generation. They may be newly formed or pre-existing groups with an ongoing dialogic process or collaborative project. They do not necessarily have to have a fully formed project plan with a final deliverable in mind. Working groups are awarded $500.

Questions?

C21 strongly encourages questions and inquiries in advance of proposals. Please review application details in full and contact C21 Managing Director Katie Waddell with questions at waddelke@uwm.edu.

En-Vision Embodied Writing Workshop
2026-04-07 17:00 - 18:30 | Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex, Room 1150, 3135 N Maryland Ave, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53211
Hosted by Queer Zine Archive Project (QZAP) co-founder Milo Miller, this workshop will blend mindfulness and creative writing to explore themes of slowing down, radical self-care, critical disability studies, and fostering networks of mutual support and caregiving. The workshop will include time for creative exploration through collaging, blackout poetry, and more. Supplies will be provided, but participants are welcome to bring their own collage, paper, and zine-making materials to share.

Workshop participants and the broader campus community are invited to submit artwork and creative writing pieces to a collaborative community zine project on a queer ethics of slow care. Those interested in submitting to the En-Vision Zine can find more information and submission requirements here.

This event is a part of our inaugural graduate-led public humanities program En-Vision: Toward a Queer Ethics of Slow Care. “En-Vision” explores creative practices and embodied experiences of slow care for individuals living with chronic illness and impairments.

Free and open to the public. Held in-person and online. Food and light snacks will be provided for in-person attendees.

For those attending virtually – please click here to join the Virtual Session for the En-Vision Embodied Writing Workshop.

Directions, Parking & Accessibility

Paid parking is available within the Lubar Garage.

Lubar Parking is $1 each 20 min for the 1st hour; then pay $1 per hour. The maximum charge is $12 total.

Time-limited street parking is available on neighborhood streets surrounding campus.

If using the Lubar Garage, you can find the Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex (KIRC) across N. Maryland Ave.

The Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex is located between the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center/UWM Welcome Center and Lapham Hall. There are two accessible entrances to the East and the West of the building.

Check parking availability with the UWM Parking Finder.

Use our campus map to find the Lubar Garage (Lot 3) or the Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex.

UWM makes every effort to ensure campus events and activities are accessible. If you foresee needing accommodations for this event, please contact the Center for 21st Century Studies during normal business hours. Advanced notice of 5 business days is preferred.

Story Cart with Symphony Swan – Stills in Milwaukee
2026-04-11 10:30 - 12:30 | Fruition MKE, 819 N 27th St, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53208, United States
Saturday, April 11, 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM

Fruition MKE, 819 N 27th St, Milwaukee, WI 53208

Free and open to the public

Event Details

C21’s Story Cart project and C21 Story Fellow Symphony Swan present Stills in Milwaukee, a radical attention workshop and portrait session with photographer Terrance Sims.

Stills in Milwaukee is a documentary-style photography project aimed at capturing the diverse stories and voices of locals around the city. It’s an exploration of the people who shape the everyday life of Milwaukee, and the nuances that make this place so unique. Guests are invited to bring an artifact that represents them and their story. Guests will share their artifact in conversation with the photographer, who will craft individual portraits in response.

Stills in Milwaukee is about active listening as much as it is about portraiture. Terrance Sims will spend time with his subjects, hear their stories, and allow space for the moments to unfold naturally. The goal is not to rush through, but to take a deliberate approach that will bring out deeper narratives. Each image, each conversation, is an opportunity for reflection and connection.

This method is integral to the work’s authenticity. The beauty of Milwaukee lies not just in its landmarks, but in its people—often in the quiet, overlooked spaces. By taking the time to truly engage with his subjects and let the photos emerge over time, Sims hopes to create a more genuine, reflective portrayal of the city.

Please note that the guest artist for this event has changed from Samuel Allen to Terrance Sims. The event’s format will remain the same.

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 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.

Book Talk: A Conversation About Black Feminist Resistance in Trying Times
2026-04-17 11:00 - 13:00 | Kuumba Juice & Coffee, 274 East Keefe Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53212, United States
Friday, April 17, 11am-1pm

Kuumba Juice & Coffee, 274 E. Keefe Ave., Milwaukee

Free & open to the public; RSVP Requested

Overview

We welcome Dr. Stacie McCormick and Dr. Nessette Falu to a conversation around Black Feminist Resistance and the power of storytelling.

In conjunction with Black Maternal Health Week (April 11-17), UWM’s C21 Reproductive Justice Collaboratory and La Revo Books are pleased to cohost this community conversation around the role of stories in our esteemed authors’ own work. The authors will join us virtually, and we invite the community to come in to the space at Kuumba to share in this important conversation.

Please RSVP by Monday, March 30th. Refreshments from Kuumba will be provided.

RSVP ON EVENTBRITE NOW

Books

You don’t need to read the books in order to participate in this event, but both are available through our partners at La Revo.

Purchase Unseen Flesh: Gynecology and Black Queer Worth-Making in Brazil by Nessette Falu.

Purchase We Are Pregnant with Freedom: Black Feminist Storytelling for Reproductive Justice by Stacie McCormick.

About

Nessette Falu, Ph.D. is a Black queer feminist and cultural anthropologist with sub-disciplinary specializations in medical anthropology, Black queer studies, Black feminist studies, and reproductive justice studies. Her intellectual work analyzes the intersections of anti-Blackness, heteronormativity, medicine, trauma, resistance, and freedom. She intervenes, broadly, to understand forms of hidden, silenced power and the abuse of power in gynecology and medicine. Her past clinical practice of seventeen years as a Physician Assistant (neurosurgery, internal medicine, HIV care, hematology/oncology, and pain management) critically informs her research, publications, collaborations, and public phasing, and design work. The convergence of her clinical expertise with a social science, humanistic scholarly endeavors is an invaluable, unique asset for intellectual and public impact into the Austin community as well as with international and transnational far-reaching outcomes. Her research and professional trajectories inform her public engagement and creative work, which is steered toward social justice in medicine and raising public awareness. At UT Austin, she developed Gxnecologx Justice Lab (https://www.gxnecologx.org), a Black feminist laboratory for research and design, publicly launched in December 2023.

Dr. Stacie McCormick is a Mississippi-raised Black feminist scholar and writer. She is an Associate Professor of English, Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies and Women and Gender Studies at Texas Christian University (TCU). Her work takes up a number of subjects such as: representations of the body, land, sexuality, and the ongoing resonance of slavery in contemporary Black writing and performance. She is the author of Staging Black Fugitivity and co-Editor of the Special Issue of College Literature, Toni Morrison and Adaptation. Central to her work is community. Whether it is in the classroom, in the organizing space, or in her scholarly work, McCormick sees community building as a key form of resistance and liberation.

Operating since 2022, Reproductive Justice works to create a space where researchers at UWM and reproductive justice community advocates in Milwaukee can work together to address systemic injustices disproportionately affecting Black, Latinx, and other women and trans people of color. As a collective, we have held a variety of events in both academic and community spaces, and seek to continue this important work in the face of uncertainty in the reproductive justice space. We work across various aspects of reproductive injustices, including issues of access across zip codes, early childhood education, birth justice, and physical environment — to name just a few. We have learned alongside our community partners how important it is to not silo this work, and aim to continue bringing attention to reproductive injustices in Milwaukee and act as a resource for making substantial changes to improve the conditions within which individuals can exercise their “human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities” (SisterSong).

La Revo Books offers new and used books for and by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), and Latinx readers.

Human Club: Little Free Library Walking Tour
2026-04-30 17:00 - 18:00 | UWM Union SET Office, Student Union E153, 2200 E Kenwood Blvd., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53211, United States
Join us for a walk with the Human Club to explore the Little Free Libraries in our campus community!

We will start our journey at the UWM Center for Student Experience and Talent in the Student Union. Then, we will head north through the campus neighborhoods, making stops at the Little Free Libraries we find along the way. We will hear from local Little Free Library volunteers about how they set up their libraries and what motivated them to start this project!

The Little Free Library motto is, “Take a Book, Leave a Book.” In the spirit of this motto, we ask that you bring a book (or two!) to donate to a library. Your donation will help keep these neighborhood libraries stocked with stories.

We invite both pets and children to join us on this adventure. Please be prepared to walk at least a mile as we explore the neighborhood around UWM and share the joy of books!

What are Little Free Libraries?

Little Free Library is a nonprofit organization based in St. Paul, Minnesota. Their mission is to be a catalyst for building community, inspiring readers, and expanding book access for all through a global network of volunteer-led Little Free Library book-exchange boxes.

Their vision is a Little Free Library in every community and a book for every reader. They believe all people are empowered when the opportunity to discover a personally relevant book to read is not limited by time, space, or privilege. Through Little Free Library book exchanges, millions of books are exchanged each year, profoundly increasing access to books for readers of all ages and backgrounds.

About Human Club

Human Club is the Center for 21st Century Studies’ newest initiative, which features free field trips around Milwaukee and humanities gatherings with your fellow humans. Comes with a membership punch-card!

C21 Research Fellows Presentations
2026-05-15 15:00 - 17:00 | 939 Curtin Hall, 3243 N Downer Ave, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53211, United States
Friday, May 15, 3:00 – 5:00 PM

939 Curtin Hall, 3243 N. Downer Ave.

About

Join the Center for 21st Century Studies for concluding presentations from our 2025-26 cohort of research fellows.

Centering the humanities in the belief that groundbreaking ideas come from diversity of opinions, disciplines, and experiences, each year, C21 offers fellowships that provide the time, space, and collegial support to generate new knowledge and ideas. This year’s cohort conducted research and developed interdisciplinary projects that aligned with Slow Care, C21’s 2025-26 research and programming theme.

This event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

2025-26 Research Fellows

Sharity Bassett (Women’s & Gender Studies)

During this fellowship, Bassett worked on multivocal and collaborative autofiction, a project she began in summer 2025 with EQI/MMSD interns and a workshop series at Ring Lake Ranch in Wyoming. This work is focused on creating connected futures by engaging with difficult stories, fostering empathy, and facilitating productive conversations.

Katharine Elizabeth Beutner (English)

In the 2025-2026 fellowship year, Beutner revised the follow-up novel to Killingly, her second novel, and initiated a new environmental writing project.

Kidiocus King-Carroll (African & African Diaspora Studies)

Carroll researched and developed a podcast that situates Black migration to Milwaukee as a lens for exploring slow care and its impacts.

Lynn Goerdt (Social Work, UW-Superior)

Goerdt developed a well-being innovation lab through UW-Superior’s Pruitt Center for Mindfulness and Well-being that supports change-making efforts on innovative ideas to address the most challenging barriers to well-being, prioritizing projects that support youth and young adults in northwest Wisconsin.

Yevgeniya Kaganovich (Art & Design)

Kaganovich continued an ongoing project that integrates fungi into and around and sculpture, focusing on a review of literature relevant to the project, experimentation with wild and domesticated fungal material, and field and forest work to enable sharing the experience of the project with colleagues.

Nan Kim (Anthropology)

Kim worked on a project about how narratives and interpretations that center the Anthropocene persist as dissenting forms of environmental memory.

Gabriela Nagy (Psychology)

Nagy is an immigration researcher who examines how the social contexts in which immigrants reside affect their wellbeing. During her fellowship, Nagy sought to submit to publications, code recordings of intervention sessions, and leverage community-engaged methods to refine and optimize her work.

Book Talkback - Muslims in Milwaukee: Placemaking, Belonging, and Activism
2026-05-20 19:00 - 20:30 | Islamic Resource Center, 5235 S 27th St, Greenfield, Wisconsin, 53221, United States
Overview

Wednesday, May 20, 7:00-8:30 PM

Islamic Resource Center, 5235 S 27th St, Greenfield, WI 53221

Join the Center for 21st Century Studies and the Muslim Milwaukee Project for the launch of a new book on the Muslim communities in Milwaukee by UWM professors Anna Mansson McGinty, Caroline Seymour-Jorn, and Kristin Sziarto. There will be a panel talkback featuring prominent members of Milwaukee’s Muslim community—Waheed Ahmed, Othman Atta, Amal Azzam, Janan Najeeb, and Brother Will Perry—moderated by Fahed Masalkhi, PhD.

About Muslims in Milwaukee: Placemaking, Belonging, and Activism

Muslims in Milwaukee explores the everyday lives, identities, and activism of Muslims in a midsized Midwestern city. Milwaukee is one of America’s most segregated cities, yet within its boundaries, a vibrant Muslim community is reshaping narratives and embodied practices of belonging, civic engagement, and urban placemaking. While considerable scholarship on Muslim Americans has concentrated on larger metropolitan centers like New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, or on Detroit’s historic Arab neighborhoods, this book turns our attention to an understudied city where Muslim communities are small but rapidly growing, and where their experiences unfold within distinct local landscapes of race, segregation, and opportunity.

Drawing on over a decade of ethnographic fieldwork, surveys, and extensive interviews with community members, students, artists, activists, and leaders, the authors examine how local political, economic, and historical structures shape Muslim American experiences and civic participation, situating their analysis within the dual dynamics of belonging on one hand and exclusion and discrimination on the other.

Purchase your copy from Syracuse University Press

About the Panelists

Expand All
Waheeduddin Ahmed

M. Sc., PhD., University of London. Scientist (retired).

Founder president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, 1983.

Founder of Islamic Information Service Inc., 1985.

Founder Milwaukee Islamic Dawah Center, 1993.

Edited various journals including: Islamicus, The Commentator and Shahadah.

Initiated the demographic survey of Muslims in Milwaukee with mutual agreement between the Dawah Center and the Chancellor of UWM, 2010/11. The project was developed by the team that authored the book: “Muslims in Milwaukee”.

Othman M. Atta

Served as President of the Executive Board of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee and currently serves as its Executive Director and primary spokesman. The ISM is the largest Muslim organization in Wisconsin and operates three Mosques in the greater Milwaukee area as well as the largest Islamic school in the nation.

Worked as an attorney in private practice for over 20 years.

Former Advisory Board Member, Marquette University Law School

Former Representative of the Islamic Society on the Board of the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee

Former Adjunct Faculty Member at Cardinal Stritch University (taught courses on Religious Culture of Islam). Also taught courses on Islam and Middle-East Politics for UW-Extension.

Recipient of the Wisconsin Chapter – ACLU “Civil Libertarian of the Year Award”

Recipient of Wisconsin Law Journal’s “Leader in the Law Award”

Former Member, FBI Civil Rights Advisory Group. Graduate of FBI Citizen Academy and Milwaukee Police Department’s Citizen’s Academy

Former Commissioner, Milwaukee Commission on Police-Community Relations

Former Board Member, Wisconsin Chapter of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee

Delivered hundreds of speeches to business, interfaith and other groups and participated in numerous lectures, panel discussions and debates at local universities.

Married with four children.

Amal Azzam
Amal Azzam is a Muslim American interdisciplinary artist based in Milwaukee, WI. Her practice explores the layered complexities of identity, trauma, and freedom through mediums including screen printing, found objects, fiber, and photography. She aims to reflect society back onto itself, showing its contradictions and the struggles of belonging.

In 2025, Azzam was awarded the Mildred L. Harpole Artist of the Year by the Milwaukee Arts Board. Her work has been nationally exhibited at the Hunter Museum of American Art (Chattanooga, TN), the John Michael Kohler Arts Center (Sheboygan, WI), Woman Made Gallery (Chicago, IL), and the James Watrous Gallery (Madison, WI). She has also co-curated exhibitions such as Wherever Home Is at the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters and Al-Nisa at Walker’s Point Center for the Arts.

Amal is also the co-founder of Fanana Banana (“Fanana” meaning female artist in Arabic), a Milwaukee-based arts movement that creates space for Muslim, MENA, and underserved artists to share their work. Fanana Banana has grown into a community hub for exhibitions, panels, and collaborations.

Her work and story have been featured in WUWM – Milwaukee’s NPR, PBS Wisconsin, Artdose Magazine, Milwaukee Magazine, and Cream City Review, where her art appeared on the cover in 2024.

Janan Najeeb
Janan Najeeb is a pioneering Muslim community leader, advocate, and educator, widely recognized for her work at the intersections of faith, justice, gender and civic engagement. She is the Founder and Executive Director of the Muslim Women’s Coalition (MWC), and the Islamic Resource Center, Wisconsin’s first Muslim library and cultural hub.

Najeeb has founded several groundbreaking initiatives, including the Wisconsin Muslim Journal, Wisconsin Muslim Civic Alliance, Milwaukee Muslim Film Festival, and the Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine. She also serves on the Governor’s Council on Domestic Abuse and holds board positions with the Rotary Club of Milwaukee, Wisconsin Public Radio, and the Wisconsin Historical Society. She chairs both the Religious Leaders Caucus of MICAH and the City of Milwaukee Commission on Community Wellness and Safety. For more than two decades, she has co-chaired and emceed Milwaukee’s citywide Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration.

A frequent media voice and public speaker, Najeeb has delivered more than 2,000 presentations across the country on Muslim identity, civil rights, women’s rights, refugees, and interfaith dialogue. Her published works include contributions to The Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, The Journal of Disability & Religion, Interfaith Engagement in Milwaukee, as well as training manuals for statewide agencies. She has been featured in major outlets including the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, The New York Times, Islamic Horizons, Aljazeera, Wisconsin Public Radio, among many others.

Her trailblazing leadership has earned her numerous awards, including the 2025 City of Milwaukee Lifetime Achievement Award, 2024 Milwaukee Magazine Woman of Distinction Award, the 2023 Lucille Berrien Humanitarian Award, the 2022 Milwaukee Rotary Person of the Year Award, and the 2019 Frank Zeidler Award for Social Justice and Activism.

Najeeb is married to Dr. Waleed Najeeb and is the proud mother of five and grandmother of six.

Brother Will Perry
Will Perry is a lifelong Milwaukee resident whose career reflects a deep commitment to faith‑based civic engagement and community building. He holds a master’s degree in management and is widely known for his long tenure as Executive Director of the Milwaukee Islamic Dawah Center (MIDC), where he played a key role in strengthening community institutions, expanding social services, and fostering collaboration across Milwaukee’s diverse neighborhoods.

Under his leadership, MIDC became a vital hub for outreach, re-entry service, and support for individuals and families facing social and economic challenges.

In addition to his work at MIDC, Will currently serves on the Board of the Muslim Community Health Center, supporting efforts to improve access to culturally responsive healthcare. His broader leadership experience includes previously serving as Director of the Milwaukee Muslim Funeral Home, as well as serving as Past President of the Wisconsin Muslim Civic Alliance.

Will is a retired member of the Milwaukee Fire Department and an honorably discharged Sergeant of the United States Marine Corps. He is widely respected for his integrity, steady leadership, and commitment to dialogue, belonging, and compassionate community care.

Will Perry is a devoted family man, serving as a husband, father, and grandfather.

Fahed Masalkhi, Ph.D. (Moderator)
Dr. Fahed is a Senior Teaching Faculty member in the Department of Global Studies at UW-Milwaukee and serves as the coordinator of the Arabic Program. His academic and professional path has been anything but conventional.

Initially trained in the STEM disciplines, he holds both undergraduate and graduate degrees in Engineering and spent a significant portion of his early career in the corporate sector. While that chapter provided valuable experience, it ultimately left him searching for deeper intellectual fulfillment and a greater sense of purpose.

This pursuit led him back to academia, where he transitioned into the humanities. He earned an MA in Comparative Literature from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and went on to complete a PhD in Religious Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2021. His interdisciplinary training—spanning technical, literary, and theological fields—continues to shape both his teaching and his scholarship in meaningful ways.

His work is anchored in two main areas of inquiry; both rooted in Qur’anic Studies. The first centers on Arabic language instruction, with a particular emphasis on pedagogical approaches that make the language accessible and meaningful across diverse learning environments. The second engages the field of Islamic Studies more broadly, with a focus on how it can respond thoughtfully to the intellectual and cultural needs of students in Western educational contexts.

About the Islamic Resource Center & Muslim Women’s Coalition

The Islamic Resource Center, a project of Muslim Women’s Coalition, is Wisconsin’s only Islamic cultural center and lending library.

The Muslim Women’s Coalition (MWC) is dedicated to building an equitable and inclusive Wisconsin, where diversity is celebrated and all individuals are valued. Their mission is to empower Muslim women and girls through education, leadership, outreach, and wellness programs, helping them reach their fullest potential while creating a positive impact on the broader community.

Founded in 1994, MWC began as a local resource organization with the goal of promoting a more accurate understanding of Islam and Muslim women. Over the years, MWC has remained committed to leading positive community change through advocacy, dialogue, education, and outreach, using faith-based values to ensure dignity and equity for all.

mycollective: Slow Growing in the Time of Trees - Artist Reception
2026-06-06 14:00 - 17:00 | Lynden Sculpture Garden, 2145 West Brown Deer Road Milwaukee, WI 53217
Reception: Saturday, June 6, 2 – 5 PM

Exhibition: May 23, 2026 – June 7, 2026

Lynden Sculpture Garden, 2145 West Brown Deer RoadMilwaukee, WI 53217

Artist reception for mycollective: Slow Growing in the Time of Trees exhibition at Lynden Sculpture Garden with an unveiling of Matthew Vivirito’s Framework, the second work in Lynden’s MATERIALIZE series of outdoor projects.

About the Exhibition

Slow Growing in the Time of Trees presents speculative objects produced over the course of two growing seasons by mycollective, a mycology-focused artist collective that brings together four creative practitioners and mushroom enthusiasts: Jim Charles, Lane Hall, Yevgeniya Kaganovich, and Lisa Moline. Together, they examine the durational nature of trees, mushrooms and humans, the symbiosis between trees and their human and non-human partners, and interactions between natural and reclaimed materials over time. Experimenting with both naturally occurring and cultivated living mushroom cultures, mycollective generates work with visible fungal fruits and invisible mycelial networks intertwined with trees. mycollective will be joined by guest Kate Beutner.

Working at the Lynden Sculpture Garden, where Yevgeniya Kaganovich has long been an artist in residence, mycollective bridges the space between humans, sculpture, and the landscape. To grow mushrooms, the artists have been making sculptural forms out of accessible materials—recycled plastic bags, cardboard, birch bark, tree branches—and filling them with spore-inoculated grain and straw. These forms are then installed in and around the tree-sculptures that Kaganovich began in 2019 as part of her residency, Tree Intuits Chair. While these experiments are always visible on the grounds, Kaganovich and her collaborators also offers programs, such as a fall tree and mushroom walk, that introduce the public to the specifics of their project.

About the Artists

mycollective is a mycology-focused artist collective that brings together four creative practitioners and mushroom enthusiasts: Jim Charles, Lane Hall, Yevgeniya Kaganovich, and Lisa Moline.  Kaganovich is currently in her second artist residency at the Lynden Sculpture Garden, where she is working on Tree Intuit Chair, a portion of her divergent fates project. She has a longstanding working relationship with Lynden, which was home to grow, a previous durational project. Kaganovich, Charles, Hall, and Moline were colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for many years, and began working together as mycollective, experimenting with myceliated sculptures, more recently. Kaganovich was a 2025-2026 C21 (UWM College of Letters & Sciences Center for 21st Century Studies) Fellow, and mycollective began their work at Lynden as part of a 2024-2025 C21 Collaboratory that included Kate Beutner. Hall and Moline have been pursuing creative research as the collaborative team badscience for over 25 years. They are also the co-founders of the Overpass Light Brigade.

C21 Open House & Launch Party
2026-09-17 16:00 - 19:00 | Curtin Hall, 9th Floor, 3243 N. Downer St., Milwaukee, WI 53211
Thursday, September 17, 4:00 – 7:00 PM

939 Curtin Hall, 3243 N. Downer Ave.

Free & open to the public; refreshments will be served

Join the Center for 21st Century Studies (C21) on Thursday, September 17 from 4:00 to 7:00 PM for our annual open house, plus a bonus digital archive launch party.

Get to know C21 fellows, staff, & collaborators. Contribute to an art project about collective action. Learn more about this year’s programming theme, Slow Action, and our upcoming public events. Peruse the our new digital archive for C21’s Story Cart project, featuring hundreds of interviews from everyday Milwaukeeans about food access, the US voting system, and the attention economy. Ask us questions about our call for graduate-led programming. Sign up for C21’s Human Club to join monthly outings to human-friendly humanities events. Enjoy great company and some delicious snacks on us.

This event is free and open to the public.

Not familiar with UWM’s campus?

We recommend parking in the UWM Student Union parking garage or the Lubar Business parking garage, which are $3 for the first hour, then $1 for each additional hour. The Zelazo Surface Lot offers limited free parking after 3PM. Free, time-limited street parking is available in the neighborhoods near Curtin Hall.

Curtin Hall is the tall, Brutalist building located just off Downer Ave. You can find us on this interactive campus map.

Wild Knowing: The Role of the Arts in Ecolological Culture
2026-09-18 15:00 - 17:00 | American Geographical Society Library, 2311 E Hartford Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53211, United States
Friday, September 18, 3:00-5:00 PM

American Geographical Society Library,Third Floor East Wing, Golda Meir Library, 2311 East Hartford Ave.

A performance presentation by J. Philip Grygny, PhD

Aldo Leopold, one of the founders of modern ecology, wrote that we should not see the land as a thing that belongs to us, but as a community to which we belong. How could such a radical shift come about in our tech-driven world?

This 40-minute presentation uses stories, sound, and vivid imagery to explore what an ecological culture might look like, and how we can bring the power of the arts to deepen our relationship with nature. The program invites educators, artists, and anyone with a passion for nature to explore embodied, intuitive practices for ecological education, enrichment, wellness, and advocacy.

The presentation will be followed by a 60-minute workshop in various practices to relax your body, open your senses, and refresh your friendship with the living world.

To learn more about performance ecology and the Wild Knowing project, visit WildKnowing.org.

J. Philip Grygny is an independent, interdisciplinary artist and scholar interested in the intersections of art, science, nature, and culture. In 2017, he founded the Performance Ecology Project to explore how artistic and contemplative practices can deepen our relationship with the living world. His activities include The Performance Ecology Project (2017), Adventures in the Deep World (2019), and A Walk on the Wild Side (2024). He currently leads programs called “The Arts of Self-Rewilding” for MKE REC. Select essays by J. Philip Grygny can be found at HumansAndNature.org/J-P-Grygny/.

This event is part of the Geography Colloquium Series and C21’s fall event series.

Graduate Public Humanities Application Information Session
2026-09-25 10:30 - 11:30
Friday, September 25, 10:30 – 11:30 AM

In-person option: 929 Curtin Hall, 3243 N. Downer Ave.

Teams option: REGISTER HERE

Master’s and Doctoral students in any discipline at UW-Milwaukee are invited to propose an event or program to the Center for 21st Century Studies for the Spring 2027 semester. Selected submissions will be developed in collaboration with C21 staff and will be provided with a working budget of $1,000. This event programming offers a hands-on opportunity that will make a strong addition to any graduate CV. Applications may be submitted by individual students or groups. C21 reserves the right to have final approval of all projects. All project proposals MUST include a public-facing component or other tangible final deliverable that will be enacted, presented, or disseminated on C21’s Day of Action, a day of events celebrating the Slow Action theme, slated for May 8, 2027.

C21 is seeking proposals that take up the theme of Slow Action – a mode of engagement that purposefully resists the logic of zero-sum efficiency in favor of durable, values-rooted ways of being and doing together. The theme invites graduates to investigate critical questions surrounding forms of action that are not rigid or unchangeable but rather are flexible, responsive, and deeply attuned to the world we each move through. While strikes, protests, and other visible forms of collective action capture immediate public attention, they are made possible only by the slower, less visible work of building trust, forming coalitions, and sustaining shared commitments across time. It is this foundational labor – patient, relational, and often unrecognized – that Slow Action seeks to illuminate. Learn more about how to apply.

C21 will host a hybrid information session about the Call for Graduate Public Humanities Programming Application on Friday, September 25, 10:30-11:30 AM. This session will cover information on the Slow Action theme, the Day of Action, programming, tips on writing a strong application, and frequently asked questions. Attending the information session is not required to apply, but is highly encouraged. Attend in-person at 929 Curtin Hall, or via Teams (registration required for access to the Teams link).

C21 strongly encourages questions and inquiries in advance of submissions. Please contact C21 Graduate Fellow Chloe Kwiatkowski kwiatk52@uwm.edu with questions.

C21 @ Beet Street Fall Festival
2026-10-03 13:00 - 19:00 | Cactus Club, 2496 S Wentworth Ave, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53207, United States
Saturday, October 3, 1-7 PM

S. Wentworth Ave. between Potter & Russell

Swing by C21’s booth at the Cactus Club’s annual autumn block party uplifting the intersections of music, community causes & seasonal treats.

What’s Beet Street?

A neighborhood block party started in 2016 to celebrate the season with live music performances from local and international artists, delicious food and drink, unique learning opportunities and activities with a few dozen citywide organizations and a maker’s market. Rain or shine, Beet Street takes place the first Saturday of October from 1pm-7pm. The family-friendly celebration takes over the block of S. Wentworth Ave. between Potter (Goodkind) and Russell (Cactus). Learn more about Beet Street Fall Festival.

Careers for Humanists
2026-10-21 00:00 - 23:59
Wednesday, October 21

Time TBD

Location TBD

Join the Center for 21st Century Studies for a panel discussion with emerging to mid-career humanists working across industries and disciplines. Learn about the triumphs, travails, and career transitions of four humanities degree-holders who are still holding it down in their chosen fields.

Panelists and additional info to be announced.

Reception with light refreshments to follow.

Graduate Public Humanities Programming Application Deadline
2026-11-01 23:59
About

DEADLINE: November 1, 2026, 11:59 PM

APPLY NOW

Master’s and Doctoral students in any discipline at UW-Milwaukee are invited to propose an event or program to the Center for 21st Century Studies for the Spring 2027 semester. Selected submissions will be developed in collaboration with C21 staff and will be provided with a working budget of $1,000. This event programming offers a hands-on opportunity that will make a strong addition to any graduate CV. Applications may be submitted by individual students or groups. C21 reserves the right to have final approval of all projects.

C21 is seeking proposals that take up the theme of Slow Action – a mode of engagement that purposefully resists the logic of zero-sum efficiency in favor of durable, values-rooted ways of being and doing together. The theme invites graduates to investigate critical questions surrounding forms of action that are not rigid or unchangeable but rather are flexible, responsive, and deeply attuned to the world we each move through. While strikes, protests, and other visible forms of collective action capture immediate public attention, they are made possible only by the slower, less visible work of building trust, forming coalitions, and sustaining shared commitments across time. It is this foundational labor – patient, relational, and often unrecognized – that Slow Action seeks to illuminate.

All project proposals MUST include a public-facing component or other tangible final deliverable that will be enacted, presented, or disseminated on C21’s Day of Action, a day of events celebrating the Slow Action theme, slated for April or early May 2027. (Currently, planned offerings for the Day of Action include a panel discussion, an artist-led workshop, a curated story slam, and an afterparty.)

Proposals MUST:

Be rooted in, or linked to, humanities practices

Include a component that is accessible to the public

Be achievable by May 28, 2027 (including time for any post-production) with a $1k budget

Relate to the Slow Action theme

Include a public-facing component or other tangible final deliverable that will be presented or disseminated on C21’s Day of Action

Comply with UWM rules, regulations, and spending restrictions

Proposals MAY NOT:

Request additional funding for a current C21-sponsored Collaboratory or Working Group

Allocate funding for activities taking place after May 28, 2026

Solely support professional development activities for an individual (e.g. travel to a conference, professional certifications, etc)

Primarily support research or projects conceived and organized by UWM faculty or staff

Possible deliverables might include (but are not limited to):

A one-off event or performance that occurs on the Day of Action

Series of community-driven and/or publicly engaged events with one component that occurs on the Day of Action

Series of academic events with one component that occurs on the Day of Action

Visual art exhibition with open hours during the Day of Action, or a catalog that is distributed on the Day of Action

Original research, writing, or other publication that aligns with Slow Action, to be presented or distributed on the Day of Action

An experimental educational toolkit that aligns with Slow Action, distributed on the Day of Action

A digital humanities project, such as a short documentary, multimedia publication, interactive map, or online archive that aligns with Slow Action that can be accessed on the Day of Action

In addition to funding, C21 will provide administrative oversight for Day of Action, and can provide some additional assistance coordinating logistics, making connections, communicating about your project, and limited graphic design support. Any events produced for your project will be included in C21’s event calendar and promoted as a C21-supported program. C21 can also provide a dedicated working space for programming endeavors, which may include private office space and/or access to one of three reservable meeting spaces.

LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW TO APPLY

Information Session

C21 Leadership Team will host a hybrid information session on Friday, September 25, 10:30-11:30 AM

In person: 939 Curtin Hall

Register here for a remote option on Teams

This session will cover information on the Slow Action theme, the Day of Action, programming, tips on writing a strong application, and frequently asked questions.

Attending the information session is not required to apply, but is highly encouraged.

Questions?

C21 strongly encourages questions and inquiries in advance of submissions.

Please contact C21 Graduate Fellow Chloe Kwiatkowski kwiatk52@uwm.edu with questions.

Scholars to Storytellers
2026-11-06 12:00 - 16:00
Friday, November 6, 12:00 – 4:00 PM

Location TBD

Scholars are frequently called upon to share their expertise with a diverse range of publics outside the confines of academia—from policymakers to civic organizations to the media. A critical part of this public engagement—and the place where it often begins—is the publication of a book with a “trade press” (i.e., a commercial, non-university/academic publisher, with a powerful marketing and publicity apparatus). Not all academics have a desire to do this kind of work. However, for those who do want to engage with the “public sphere”, there is often confusion about where to begin, and a lack of resources to help with the process. Worse, there are sometimes institutional disincentives, in the form of tenure clocks, skepticism from colleagues, or the pressure to produce “real scholarship” that advances the field.

This “Scholars to Storytellers” workshop with John Ghazvinian is designed for scholars interested in better understanding the process of finding new opportunities, writing in a more accessible register, and other skills related to making the transition into writing for the general public.

Details and additional information to be announced.

Learn more about Scholars to Storytellers.
