Creative / Entrepreneurial

Get hands-on with your creative practice, from performing on campus in recitals, plays and more, to bringing the arts to Milwaukee nonprofits and other community orgs. Or fully realize your creative vision with entrepreneurship programs that help students launch businesses and products.

On This Page

UWM students participating in a play
UWM’s theatre department puts on plays, musicals and other stage performances throughout the year. (Pictured is a UWM theatre performance of the Stephen Sondheim musical “Into the Woods.”)
UWM students performing in the orchestra
Students perform as soloists and chamber musicians, and within ensembles and orchestras. UWM music ensembles are open to all UWM students, regardless of major.
UWM dance students performing in a concert
The UWM dance department presents four concerts each year that showcase students performing the work of faculty and guest choreographers. (Pictured is “Springdances 2022: The Ground is Not Our Only Home”)

Performance Arts

UWM’s Peck School of the Arts hosts a wide range of student performances each school year, and students find creative support with faculty artists, creative mentors and fellow students who share their passion for the arts. UWM’s performance spaces on campus include the 525-seat Mainstage Theatre, the Jan Serr Studio, and the 100-seat black box Kenilworth Five-0-Eight Theatre.

Many of UWM students in the performance arts also work and perform with professional arts organizations in Milwaukee, such as the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Danceworks, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Florentine Opera, Milwaukee Ballet, First Stage Children’s Theater and more.

Learn About UWM’s Peck School of the Arts
Two UWM students in entrepreneurship program
Andreas (left) and Paolo teamed up to create Greenway, a business and app that connects people with eco-friendly businesses. They first began Greenway as part of the Startup Challenge. “The LEC team was so great and even helped get us funding for our business website,” Andreas says.
UWM marketing alum with her products from her company.
Loren graduated from UWM with a marketing degree. While at UWM, she worked with the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center to launch an all-natural, organic hair care company.
UWM student sitting at their laptop
Kyah, an education major, created and designed a coloring book for meditation but wasn’t sure how to distribute or promote it. “The Lubar Entrepreneurship Center has been excellent, and I’ve networked with a lot of people,” she says.

Entrepreneurial Programs

Innovative ideas and problem-solving skills don’t just belong to business majors. The Lubar Entrepreneurship Center (LEC) helps students in all disciplines develop the creativity and know-how to advance their careers. The LEC is where future teachers build education apps for the classroom, athletes patent inventions to improve performance and architecture students launch startups.

The Startup Challenge is a particularly popular entrepreneurship program on campus. Teams of students develop a new business, app or invention with support from the LEC.

Learn About the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center