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.

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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.”)
Students perform as soloists and chamber musicians, and within ensembles and orchestras. UWM music ensembles are open to all UWM students, regardless of major.
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
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.
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.
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
Meet Erin, a ’17 alum who majored in art. While she was a UWM student, Erin participated in the Story Experience Program and lived at Chai Point Senior Living in Milwaukee where she led art workshops for its residents.

Story Experience Program

UWM’s Story Experience Program brings students of all disciplines into yearlong partnerships within Milwaukee community organizations, such as residential care for older adults, charter schools and nonprofits. Story Experience fellows usually lead art, music or theater workshops, or they may organize other community activities. Their work culminates in an end-of-the-year event for their community.

Story Experience fellows may live on-site and receive room and board, or they might receive a stipend instead. There’s also a required course and retreat that accompanies the program.

Learn About the Story Experience Program