Milwaukee Makers Market w/ Ryan Laessig

This episode of the pod begins with David, Lindsay, and new host and producer, Elisabeth, discussing the kick off of Imagine’s Arts and Economic Prosperity surveying out and about at local cultural events over the next year. In anticipation of speaking with Milwaukee Makers Market’s creator and director Ryan Laessig, the trio reflects on what they would make if they were to moonlight as market makers. David has an on-brand vision of himself selling “momento mori” embroidered phrases like “In the midst of life...you’re in death.” Lindsay contrasts David’s morose aspirations by envisioning herself as a maker of cross-stitched phrases of lightness and inspiration. Meanwhile, Elisabeth’s hypothetical small business will draw on her talents for creating multimodal portraits, and tiny clay fish fry fabrications.

Starting around 13:00, Ryan Laessig joins the crew to discuss Milwaukee Makers Market—a local makers market that is a “celebration of the city’s creators and our local community” and is hosted at Discovery World, Ivy House MKE, and at local breweries. In the course of the discussion, Ryan reflects on the ethos that drove him to graduate from artist and entrepreneur to becoming a leader within the maker scene, and building the beloved local festival as a platform to help artists thrive in our community. He shares about his motivation to become an organizer so he could sustain and improve upon models of makers markets that he experienced firsthand as an artist. And the MMM that has evolved is a truly local, free event—unlike some craft festivals run by distant corporations that charge covers and profit from Milwaukee talent, all the sales at MMM directly support makers and vendors within the local economy. Visitors to the MMM can also expect to get the benefit of engaging with the stories and personalities of the makers themselves. Though he is the leader and the face of the MMM, Ryan is foremost inspired to run the market as an engine for helping these local small business owners and artists to pursue and “achieve their dreams,” and contribute to a maker’s scene that Milwaukee can be proud of.

Milwaukee Maker’s Market

Follow Milwaukee Maker’s Market @milwaukeemakersmarket and @MilwaukeeMakersMarket

Once again, we had an absurd number of shout-outs in this episode. Please enjoy the following (hopefully) comprehensive list of links:

Milwaukee Opera Theatre’s “L'Orfeo”

David’s Death Playlist

Milwaukee Brewing Co.