Arts

Third annual Milwaukee Black Theater Festival will celebrate Black families August 10-14

June 15, 2022

The Milwaukee Black Theater Festival—a five-day celebration of Black arts and culture—will take over multiple Milwaukee venues August 10-14. When it does, it'll come complete with two theatrical world premieres...

Buy some art (and strike a rock pose) at WMSE’s 6th annual Art & Music auction

Matt Wild

June 6, 2022

For the past half-decade, WMSE's Art & Music has combined, well, art and music for a one-of-a-kind event. At the center is an auction of hundreds of album-sized, 12" x 12" pieces of original art from local ...

God damn it, you’ve got to heed the words of this new “BE KIND” pop-up on Water Street

Matt Wild

May 31, 2022

"There's only one rule that I know of, babies—God damn it, you've got to be kind."That's Kurt Vonnegut, in one of those Kurt Vonnegut-y quotes that makes you want to read Kurt Vonnegut again. It's simple, d...

Here’s your Giannis mural update for Monday, May 9, at 7:41 a.m.

Matt Wild

May 9, 2022

If you follow Milwaukee Record, you know that Milwaukee/Chicago artist Mauricio Ramirez is painting a three-story mural of Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo on the east facade of the 600 EAST buil...

The Windy City looms large in Lion’s Tooth’s “Chicago Boys” author event

Tyler Maas

May 5, 2022

Authors and lifelong friends Martin Billheimer and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. write very different books, but the Windy City looms large in each of their works.Beyond having "Chicago" in its title, Billheimer...

A guide to Bay View Gallery Night 2022

Tyler Maas

May 3, 2022

Since 2011, Bay View Gallery Night has organized "Milwaukee’s largest annual celebration of art, local business, music, and community.” The massive neighborhood-wide event brings together talented area artists ...

Ranking 20 video game systems for the 2022 Midwest Gaming Classic

Matt Wild

April 27, 2022

This article was originally published in 2021. It has been updated for 2022. The author stands by his rankings, though he has been playing more PS4 lately.Beginning Friday, April 29, and running through Sun...

Guess who?

Matt Wild

April 26, 2022

Yep, it's Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, of course.Well, it's a Giannis mural, to be exact. The three-story, 54' by 56' mural is currently being painted on the east facade of the 600 EAST ...

Old world crafts and otherworldly creatures converge in ‘Caverns Below Milwaukee’

Tyler Maas

April 14, 2022

If you come to this website with any regularity, we can confidently say you've stumbled across the work of Andy Tyra. The Michigan (by way of Milwaukee) illustrator and is the artist responsible for our T-shirt...

MKE.WTF offers limited-run shirts for “locals who have a complicated relationship with their city”

Matt Wild

April 14, 2022

There are approximately 8 billion ways to show your Milwaukee pride via T-shirt. Hell, you can do it right here on this very website. But if you're looking for ultra-specific, if-you-know-you-know Milwaukee T-s...

The Glass Cannon brings live action role-playing (but not LARP) to Turner Hall

Rob Wieland

April 12, 2022

Dungeons & Dragons is having a moment. There are three main factors to this: a recent edition that's very accessible to new players, a boost into the pop culture consciousness thanks to being part of the St...

Milwaukee author Rob Wieland talks cons, Kickstarter, new comic ‘Girls’ Heist Out’

Matt Wild

March 30, 2022

Rob Wieland is a self-described professional nerd. He writes about tabletop role-playing games for media outlets like Forbes; runs his own gaming group, Theatre Of The Mind Players, on YouTube; and has covered ...

Marcus Performing Arts Center piles 7 great shows into 2022-2023 Broadway season

Tyler Maas

March 30, 2022

Milwaukee's famed Marcus Performing Arts Center has it all: A snow pile! Two rapidly-spinning advertising cubes! An upcoming "Weird Al" Yankovic concert! World-class musicals! Though the multi-faceted venue abl...

Spring Gallery Night MKE returns April 22-23

Tyler Maas

March 24, 2022

Despite the streak of cold and dreariness in Milwaukee lately, spring has officially arrived. And while summer festival season still seems like it's a lifetime away, there are few great spring arts staples happ...

Highland Community Players cook up controversy in super-slice spoof, ‘Pizza Party!’

Matt Wild

March 8, 2022

A school wins a pizza party. What could go wrong?Oh, where to begin. In Pizza Party! the latest production from Milwaukee's Highland Community Players, it may be easier to list the things that don't go wron...

On display at Green Gallery: Kambel Smith shrinks city down to size in “Milwaukee Recycled”

Matt Wild

March 3, 2022

Sometimes it takes a fresh set of eyes—and a fresh approach—to see something for what it truly is.Take self-taught artist Kambel Smith. He may live and work in Philadelphia, but his scaled versions of vario...

Undercover publication: Quirky 1981 Milwaukee history book is a rare gem

Tea Krulos

March 2, 2022

Many books have delved into Milwaukee's history—John Gurda's The Making Of Milwaukee (and his entire output), for example—but none is as quirky as 1981's Undercover: A Collection Of Little Known And Unrelated F...

5 reasons missing ‘Pretty Woman: The Musical’ at Marcus Performing Arts Center would be a big mistake. Big. Huge!

Tyler Maas

March 2, 2022

Following an extended pandemic-prompted pause, musical theater was finally able to safely return to stages all across the country in recent months. Marcus Performing Arts Center is among the variety of venues b...

Here are the dates for the 2022 Milwaukee Night Market, and that’s it

Matt Wild

February 16, 2022

Wednesday, June 15 Wednesday, July 13 Wednesday, August 17 Wednesday, September 21 Okay, okay, here's more, via a press release:Milwaukee Night Market returns for a full season in 2022, first Market...

Sculpture Milwaukee 2022, “Nature Doesn’t Know About Us,” will be guest-curated by Ugo Rondinone

Matt Wild

February 1, 2022

We love Sculpture Milwaukee. Since 2017, the nonprofit organization has been filling Downtown Milwaukee (and nearby neighborhoods) with outdoor art pieces from artists both world-renowned and locally celebrated...