Press Release
For Immediate Release
September 16, 2005

AWE CONTACT:
Sally Salkowski Witte
Executive Director
Artists Working in Education, Inc.
2819 W. Highland Blvd.
Milwaukee, WI 53208
(414) 933-3877

Artists Working in Education, Inc. unveils its first ever exhibition of children's art at City Hall on Sept. 20, from 4:30 to 7:00 p.m. The exhibit, "Great Artists Build Great Communities," will feature art created by children in Milwaukee parks during AWE's 2005 summer Truck Studio program and will run through Oct. 4. AWE's summer staff will be there to celebrate the many wonderful creations made by Milwaukee youth, along with AWE board members and supporters.

AWE Truck Studios are four brightly-painted vans that deliver art teachers, interns, and art supplies to children at 18 urban Milwaukee parks for one- and two-week periods. Summer 2005 marked a significant change in the depth and quality of AWE's informal art enrichment experience. With funding in part from a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, AWE's dedicated staff were able to stimulate creative visual expression with children and families in Milwaukee's most challenged neighborhoods in deeper and more meaningful ways than ever before. Between Jun. 27 and Aug. 5, 2005, AWE's "Fleet of Imagination" visited 6 parks every day for two weeks and 12 parks every day for a week each.

This summer included a two-week visit to Rose Park, where children and seniors from the nearby Clinton Rose Senior Center worked together to create woven portraits of some of the seniors. Those seniors are expected to be in attendance at this special celebration of the children's hard work and creativity this summer. The exhibit will also include "Architects of Our Future," created at Lindbergh Park, a mural project painted by children there from studies of futuristic buildings made of found and recycled materials; "Portrait Chairs" painted by children after visiting several Milwaukee Art Museum exhibits; and animal wire sculptures made at Tiefenthaler Park and inspired by the work of Alexander Calder.

Artists Working in Education, Inc., founded in 1998, is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide youth in the Milwaukee area with arts enrichment programs to enhance human potential, advance learning and cultivate community. Its two main initiatives are the School Studio, an artist-in-residence program designed to advance learning through the arts; and the Truck Studio, an outreach program providing free art experiences for children in inner city parks during the summer months.

AWE has received major project from Assurant Health Foundation, the Brico Fund, Buck Foundation, City of Milwaukee Arts Board, Einhorn Family Foundation, Four-Four Foundation, Greater Milwaukee Foundation's Mary Nohl Fund, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee County Parks, Milwaukee RiverWalk District, National Endowment for the Arts, Windhover Foundation, Wisconsin Arts Board, Wisconsin Designer Crafts Council, Woman's Club of Wisconsin and many individual donors.

For more information contact Sally Salkowski Witte, AWE Executive Director, (414) 933-3877.