Arts WI Director to Visit Kenosha . . .

By Colleen Kappeler

“We need to pay attention to how arts happen and provide access for arts. I hope Kenosha continues to have access, by which I mean lots of different things happening so everyone who lives here has ways to participate.”
~Anne Katz

Executive Director of Arts Wisconsin, Anne Katz, will be visiting Kenosha on July 23rd. The Arts and Humanities Alliance of Kenosha (AHA! Kenosha) has planned a luncheon and a “conversation” with the director. “This is not a presentation,” Katz says, “Come prepared with questions and thoughts.”

Katz is always eager to travel the state to share local, state-wide and national information about the arts with Wisconsin communities. After the luncheon, she will go around Kenosha to see the arts that are alive here in our community. Her special purpose in this visit is to raise awareness and get people to be daily advocates for arts, not just in crucial times like budget cuts. “We are in the throes of election season and in the beginning of preparation for the 2009-2010 budget,” Katz explained, “I want to get people to speak up for the arts and to let the governor and legislature know what is happening.”

Kenosha, Katz says, is a good example of a community that is paying attention to the arts and investing in them. The harbor front development and museums, the galleries like Lemon Street, and theatre restorations are all very exciting and help provide activities for both residents and visitors. “When it comes to the arts,” Katz says, “it takes paying attention.” Kenosha has had very supportive leadership and good, exciting development because of this.

What Katz would like to see in Kenosha in the future, as well as everywhere, is that continued attention paid to the arts.
“We need to pay attention to how arts happen and provide access for arts. I hope Kenosha continues to have access, by which I mean lots of different things happening so everyone who lives here has ways to participate.” Katz continued by saying, “The arts need to be supported, they don’t happen magically. They happen because people and communities make them happen.”

Anne Katz is the first Executive Director for Arts Wisconsin, a non-profit, statewide community arts action and development organization that makes sure everyone can enjoy, learn from and explore the arts. Her mission is to speak for and promote arts in all of Wisconsin’s communities.
AHA! Kenosha is a local, independent organization that works with Arts Wisconsin to build awareness of the arts and humanities in Kenosha.

Katz’s leadership led Arts Wisconsin to receive the 2004 Governor’s Award in Support of the Arts from the Wisconsin Foundation for the Arts. She was also honored by Madison Magazine in 2004 for her community development work in Madison and statewide.

The public is invited to be part of the conversation with Katz. The luncheon will take place Wednesday, July 23rd from 12:00-1:30 at the Kenosha Public Museum. Reservations for the luncheon must be received by Wednesday, July 16th. Contact Tamara Merfeld at tmerfeld@ahakenosha.org to register.