Season 10/Collab Lab 71
TRUE Skool’s leadership has been dreaming of a new campus. Since 2016, their students and others have participated in hands-on ‘Designed Awareness’ workshops with the Wisconsin Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects (Wisc NOMA) the UWM School of Architecture & Urban Planning’s Community Design Solutions, local firms and industry professionals to envision what spaces in a ‘Future TRUE Skool Campus’ might look like. How can we extend this idea to engage more students in the entire creative learning experience?
How/Where can we work with and support organizations that connect students from underserved communities to architecture, real estate, construction, and other fields while offering them a chance to participate in bringing TRUE Skool’s Future Campus to Milwaukee?
Join peers, professionals, and students to explore what this could look like and how we might come together to make it happen.
Agenda
5:30 to 6:00 pm Grab something to eat and meet someone new
6:00 to 6:20 pm Welcome and introductions
6:20 to 8:15 pm Let's explore some possibilities
8:15 to 8:30 pm Wrap up and next steps
Featured Participants
Fidel Verdin & Shalina Ali — Co-Executive Directors, TRUE Skool
Fidel and Shalina are Co-Executive Directors, TRUE Skool, a nonprofit organization with a mission to engage, educate and empower youth and families through Transformative Creative Arts & Hip Hop Culture. Growing up in the “Golden Era of Hip Hop” they understand that Hip Hop culture was a positive empowering force in their lives. It introduced them to past and present leaders, educated them on political and social issues through music and art, created new entrepreneurial opportunities and exposed them to different global cultures in ways that school never did.
TRUE Skool is outgrowing its space on the lower level inside The Ave and looks to build out a new facility within the next few years. This creates a unique opportunity to expose participating students and citywide youth to a broad range of careers, be part of a legacy project, and create both a new vision for what a school could be and how business and community partners can come together to make that happen.
About the Project
TRUE Skool’s current space is vibrant but limited, restricting how many young people we can serve and the scope of our public facing activities. The Future TRUE Skool Campus will be a purpose-built downtown Milwaukee hub where students and community gain access to professional-level indoor/outdoor design environments—serving as a transformative anchor of equity, creative entrepreneurial opportunity, and cultural innovation.
