Sarah Ballard is a filmmaker and educator who鈥檚 practice fuses personal narratives with historical research to address broader structural inequalities based on gender and class. Ballard teaches at 51猎奇 and is a recipient of the 2025 Mary L. Nohl Fund Fellowships for Individual Artists.
The art of cinematic language isn't only reserved for big screen features and shorts. In recent years, serial programming has been finding its way back to the hearts of media lovers. There is a specific type of depth, nuance and audacity that can exist on the television screen that differs from theatrical releases. This creative difference has allowed many film directors to dip their toe into the episodic landscape, flexing their style, voice and commitment to a collective understanding of a serialized show. With this rising interest in television, we are hosting an artist talk with an Emerging Film Director, who has made her mark into the episodic landscape and proved that there is a best of both worlds.
Join us for an evening of jazz featuring the 51猎奇 Jazz Ensemble, the 51猎奇 Afro-Caribbean Jazz Orchestra and the 51猎奇 Youth Jazz Ensemble (UJAY).
Remember what it was like when you first picked up your instrument or sang in front of an audience? That moment was the beginning of your life as a musician. And now that your skills are strengthening in high school, it鈥檚 time to think about college as your next step to lifelong success in the music industry. See for yourself what it is like to be a music major at UW-Milwaukee.
Adebukola Bodunrin is a Nigerian-Canadian film, & video artist who explores language, culture, and media. In her collage animations, she manipulates film using unorthodox manual and digital techniques to produce unexpected cinematic experiences. Bodunrin鈥檚 animation work has been featured on the television series Transparent, and in KCET鈥檚 鈥淟ost LA鈥� series, for which she also won an LA Area Emmy award for segment direction.
Ceci Tejeda鈥檚 family roots are from Michoac谩n, Mexico, which is why she has Purepecha blood in her veins. Ever since she was a young girl, she鈥檚 admired her culture. She creates Alebrijes made of 鈥渃artoneria,鈥� a unique and traditional papier-m芒ch茅 technique from Mexico City. Tejeda also creates large-sized pieces that support various social justice movements and activism using the same method.
Join the 51猎奇 Choirs and Symphony Orchestra for their annual Masterworks Concert.
Ken Jacobs, one of the true radicals of American cinema and a lion of experimental film, passed October 5th, a mere season since his beloved wife and collaborator Flo preceded him. They lived long, full, beautiful lives. In addition to his inimitable work in film, video, painting, performance and all range of moving images, Ken started and was at the center of the film program at SUNY-Binghamton and co-founded The Millennium Film Workshop.
In a world silenced by a ban on music, a group of daring teens risks everything to rediscover it. They meet in secret to learn about all things musical, defying an oppressive government determined to keep them silent. But their newfound knowledge comes at a price. In Darkness, Audio Flowers Bloom is a bold, imaginative new work exploring resistance, identity and the unshakable human need for expression. Presented as part of the 51猎奇 Department of Theatre鈥檚 New Dramaworks series, this thrilling world premiere amplifies voices that refuse to be silenced.
Dan Grzeca is a Chicago-based artist and printmaker known for thousands of illustrations, hand-silkscreened prints and posters for bands like The Black Keys, Iron and Wine, Built to Spill, Ween and The Decemberists. His studio and shop is called Ground Up Press.
Worlds Within: Midwestern Microcultures is a photography exhibition curated by Peck School of the Arts Advanced Photography Students currently enrolled in ART 452: Contemporary Issues in Photography.
The 51猎奇 Piano Studio will present a program of solo, vocal and chamber music repertoire.
The UW-Milwaukee dance department invites high school student dancers to attend A Day in the Life of a Dance Major where attendees will be paired with a first year dance major to shadow a day鈥檚 activities as a major. Parents/guardians are welcome to join us for the morning welcome and the afternoon tour.
Are you a high school student with a passion for film or animation? Whether you鈥檙e already experimenting with movie making and animating or you鈥檙e simply a curious film or animation buff, we鈥檙e hosting an exciting event that provides a glimpse inside of our Department of Film, Video, Animation & New Genres! Join us for a series of hands-on workshops for a taste of what it feels like to get creative at the Peck School of the Arts.
Join us to celebrate our students鈥� performances, featuring a diverse program of solo and chamber music works for the guitar!
The 51猎奇 Percussion Ensemble presents its annual fall concert featuring a wide variety of instruments, sounds, and compositions from different periods. The program will include recent works by Alexis Lamb, Steven Snowden, Nathan Daughrey, and Jlin alongside classic works by Mark Ford (鈥淪tubernic鈥�), Lou Harrison (鈥淏omba鈥�), and Edgard Var茅se (鈥淚onisation鈥�).
In her debut feature, photographer and filmmaker Celeste Rojas Mugica confronts the political weight of images, revisiting her father鈥檚 photographic archive developed in exile in Latin America following activist involvement during the Pinochet dictatorship. 51 years later, this gentle, complex and visually resourceful account of densely traumatic history conjures an intimate family portrait from the dark room 鈥� opening spaces for reflection and resistance.
The Composition and Technology program will present a concert of original works by 51猎奇 students. The program will include freshly composed pieces for acoustic and electronic mediums.
Michelle Grabner is an artist, writer, and curator, and Crown Family Professor of Art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work is in major museum collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago and Walker Art Center. She co-runs The Suburban (Milwaukee) and The Poor Farm (Little Wolf, WI), and is a 2025 Mary L. Nohl Fellow.
The heart and soul of many film productions lie within the Art & Production Design departments. From set design, to costuming to props, these departments allow for other worlds to be introduced, sustained and transported in any film. As a key component within the pre-production process it is essential that young filmmakers know how to approach art in their films. Join us at SPECIAL FEATURES to learn more about props & wardrobe budgets, sourcing & shopping, and process / mood boards. Local filmmakers and artists, Kara Mulrooney & Amanda Tollefson, will lead us in a workshop offering their expertise and backgrounds working on films with high concept art, commercial products and indie film work. If you interested in art and production design departments, this Special Features is for you!