CONTENTS Welcome from Dan Mueller

Lastsummer my wife and I took our adult kids on a July vacation to Spain, a country that has captured each of our hearts. All four of us studied in Madrid in college – different eras, but we each had magnificent academic and cultural experiences. This was the first time we were there together. We settled on an apartment in the Chueca neighborhood. Centrally located, charming Chueca also is the LGBT neighborhood of the city. Coincidentally, it’s July, not June, when Pride is celebrated there.

My wife and I studied there in the 80s. Spain’s’ repressive dictator, Francisco Franco, had not yet been dead ten years when we were students at the University of Madrid, so while there was an active gay community in Madrid in the 80s, there was still stigma and fear. Anyway, we knew we would be rolling our suitcases into a party by posting up in Chueca, but I was not prepared for the happiness and the magnificence of Madrid’s Pride celebration. It wasn’t just confined to Chueca, but celebrated citywide. Madrid’s streets were festooned with rainbow bunting. Monuments were lit up at night in rainbow colored lights. Their pride parade was televised live and attended by tens of thousands of people. The evolution of this country’s embrace of LGBT issues was nothing short of staggering to those of us who remember a different time and they appeared to be richly rewarded for it as hotels and cafes were buzzing with reservations.

MILWAUKEE JUNETEENTH 2023: A BLACK NOUVEAU SPECIAL

This special looks at Milwaukee’s 52nd Juneteenth celebration with reports on the history and meaning of this important holiday and interviews with participants at the celebration. It also explores Wisconsin’s 29th infantry, Company F, the first Black Company that mustered out of Milwaukee. If you are at Juneteenth, please stop by and visit some of the team from Black Nouveau and Milwaukee PBS.

6/19, 10 PM 10HD

MATC Names Debbie Hamlett

Vice President and General Manager of Milwaukee PBS

Milwaukee PBS has a new vice president and general manager, Debbie Hamlett, who begins her new role effective June 12, 2023. Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) made the announcement on April 24. The MATC District Board approved the appointment on April 25.

Hamlett currently serves as executive director and general manager at WCMU Public Media in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, which serves viewers and listeners in central Michigan and parts of Ontario. In her current role, she manages 38 staff members and 20 college interns. Like Milwaukee PBS, WCMU is a licensee of an institution of higher education –Central Michigan University.

Prior to her time at WCMU, Hamlett served for seven years as the assistant general manager and chief strategy officer at Nebraska Public Media. She also worked in development roles at Illinois Public Media and South Carolina ETV, the state’s public educational broadcasting network.

“I’m thrilled to be joining the Milwaukee PBS team and Milwaukee Area Technical College,” Hamlett said. “Together, we will continue to serve Milwaukee and surrounding communities with engaging educational programs and services. I look forward to working with the creative and innovative staff to build upon a strong legacy of work.”