ArtWorks For Milwaukee, Inc.

Our vision is for all Milwaukee youth have access to career readiness opportunities. We are contributing to equity in the workforce by providing collaborative opportunities to diverse groups of students. "The internship gave me a purpose and reason to do something. I knew I had a task to accomplish.” This is from a recent ArtWorks' intern and there are 1,400 more like her who have had a paid internship with ArtWorks since it was founded in 2001. Each year, ArtWorks’ interns work on murals, videos, and other projects which strengthen their confidence and work ethic, and provide outlets for positive creative expression. With the addition of public art and positive perceptions of the city’s youth, these projects also contribute to the quality of life in our community. Throughout the years, we have worked with a variety of partners to provide a diverse range of offerings for teens. For at least a dozen years, each of our interns has participated in career coaching in partnership with ManpowerGroup. Interns learn about professionalism during guided sessions on personal branding, career exploration, resume writing, and interviewing. Other recent partners include Walnut Way Conservation Corp., Uniting Garden Homes, Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, and Silver Spring Neighborhood Center. Two of our most notable projects include the Culture Work mural on 1st and Mitchell Streets and a set of murals that we created to beautify a stormwater management basin in the Garden Homes neighborhood. In both of these internships high school students gained community input to create public art murals. The internships both culminated in unveilings in collaboration with the project partners, and received lots of positive press coverage.