This episode features Maureen Ragalie and Darius Smith from gener8tor’s Milwaukee office. Gener8tor is a nationally-ranked venture capital firm and accelerator that brings together startup founders, investors, corporations, job seekers, universities, musicians and artists. Recently, they have teamed up with Sherman Phoenix, a marketplace and mixed used business space on Milwaukee’s northside in the Sherman Park neighborhood, to offer grants for Milwaukee visual artists.  

In the conversation, Ragalie and Smith discuss the scope of the program. Beginning with a user-friendly application process that is designed to attract artists who may not have much in the way of formal professional experience, but display talent and vision, as well as an appetite for developing "the business side” of their art practice.  

Up to 20 artists will be selected by a panel of art world experts from outside of Milwaukee. The program will take place over seven weeks in-person and over Zoom beginning this spring, and will offer workshops, mentorships and resources to help individuals learn how to professionalize their artistic practices. The curriculum includes everything from marketing for artists, how to make a budget, learning about and how to decide if you should form an LLC— and even includes access to a therapist.  

Applications for the program are open to anyone in Milwaukee over the age of 18. Smith and Ragalie hope that the impact of this program and these investments ($7,000-$10,000 per artist) will be felt on both the individual and the community level, and that a positive effect will ripple out into the community, and help contribute to more vibrancy in the neighborhoods in which these artists live and work – and within Milwaukee as a whole. Another hope is to garner positive attention both within Milwaukee – and outside the region –for the artistry that is being created here—and to encourage future investment in the arts in Milwaukee and Wisconsin. Through this program, they also seek to show artists that they can continue to live and work in Milwaukee — and in doing so, encourage retention of our city’s creatives. 

The application is due February 26, and the first gener8tor x Sherman Phoenix accelerator cohort will begin on April 10.  

Follow gener8torart on Instagram. 

Sherman Phoenix Marketplace 

Social Impact investment 

Wisconsin ranks last in the nation for arts funding  

Northwestern Mutual Black Founder Accelerator Program 

VAR Gallery 

Thanks to Darius Smith for the sound file from Sherman Phoenix Marketplace.