The art of conservation: UWM grad makes a big difference with Arts @ Large

Sean Kiebzak has two very different degrees from very different institutions. After he graduated high school, Kiebzak attended the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guilford, England, where he earned a degree in music performance in drumming. Three years later, after working at a summer camp that piqued his interest in environmental education, he re-enrolled in college, this time majoring in conservation and environmental science at UWM.

He’s found the perfect job to use both of his degrees.

Kiebzak is the Chief Operating Officer of Arts @ Large, a non-profit that seeks to improve arts education for students in Milwaukee. He now inspires the youth of the city to create art, become environmental stewards, and grow their own businesses.

You chose to study two vastly different subject areas. How did you make the jump from music to conservation and environmental science?

I was working on the whole left-brain/right-brain thing – all aspects of my well-rounded education!

So, what exactly is Arts @ Large?

Arts @ Large was founded in 2001 and funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The focus was to work with classroom teachers on using arts as a vehicle to achieve their goals for learning standards. We now serve about 55 schools and upwards of 12,000 students. We work with upwards of 100 community artists that we hire to come in and supplement programming, working with classroom teachers to provide creative artistic residencies – anywhere from visual arts to performing arts to multimedia, photography, spoken word.

Sean Kiebzak (middle) works with some student “foremen” to clear brush and weeds as part of a project for Arts @ Large, a nonprofit that helps enhance arts education for students in Milwaukee. Photo courtesy of Sean Kiebzak.

How does that mission translate into the community?

We found that many of our projects fall in one of four categories that we have established as Cornerstones of the organization.

We have our Eco-Literacy cornerstone. We do a lot of work with the Paliafito Eco-Arts Park and we’ve also partnered with Reflo Sustainable Water Solutions and the Green Schools Consortium of Milwaukee. We come in and work with teachers to incorporate lessons about sustainability and the environment in their classrooms.

We have our Peacemaking Cornerstone. Right now we have an initiative called the Fabric of Milwaukee, where we’re providing support to immigrants and refugees in Milwaukee Public Schools. Through that program, we have a number of artists educators who are either immigrants or refugees themselves, working with students in three different schools to share their stories and help them celebrate the culture that they’re bringing to our city without losing it.

Civil Rights is another cornerstone of ours. The most recent project featured the recognition and re-ignition of the 50 th anniversary of the Open Housing Movement here in Milwaukee. We worked with a lot of community partners, former youth commandos, and current activists in providing education around red-lining, why our city looks the way that it does, and working with the youth to re-envision what their Milwaukee looks like to them.

Then we have our Career Development Cornerstone. For example, right now we’re working on the redevelopment of our new community center that will house a café that’s open to the public. It has a large focus on working with the students to run the café and let them build some of their industry skills. The Student Foreman Program is another initiative that we started with Bradley Tech School and Reflo, working with students in the development of the new building alongside a lot of the contractors. TUpon completion, they will have a workshop within the new building that they can proudly say that they redeveloped.

How did you become involved in Arts @ Large?

I started while I was studying at UW-Milwaukee. I was doing some work at Milwaukee Public Schools as an artist-in-residence. I started connecting my musical experiences to different classroom curricula. As I started building proficiency in environmental-based work I was doing, I was starting to connect a lot of my conservation and environmental science background to classroom experiences as well. Once I graduated, I got offered a job as a site coordinator with Arts @ Large.

One of my first projects was the 53 rd Street community garden, where we put in 57 raised beds for the community. We worked with two different schools – Yeshiva Elementary, which is an Orthodox Jewish community school, and then 53 rd Street School, which is a Milwaukee Public School. Together, we tried to figure out how we could bridge the gaps between two different cultures within the same community. The garden is still thriving today. It was a great first project.

I was later promoted to Director of Programs to lead larger community-based initiatives, and after that I was promoted to Chief Operating Officer.

Conservation and environmental science alumnus Sean Kiebzak plays the drums at an outdoor concert in Paliafito Eco-Arts Park. Photo courtesy of Sean Kiebzak.

How have you found ways to use your conservation major in your work at an arts organization?

It translates to a lot of the different work we do. In some of the partnerships that we have, teachers have a strong interest in connecting our material to their science program. We have the skillset and the expertise to complement what they’re working on. With partners in the sustainability industry, we can make those happen.

Last year, for example, we worked with Reflo Sustainable Water Solutions to create an augmented reality sandbox. It had contour lines on it brought down by a projector. As you moved the sand, it changed the contours so you can teach about watersheds, what the flow of water look like, and what contour lines are. It was a cool way to make environmental connections through this art medium.

Do you have any special memories or stand-out moments from your career?

As a musician and an artist, it’s hard to find time to celebrate my own work. Last year, we put together a musical group and the group would go (into the schools) in the morning and teach two lessons, one in drumming and one in dancing. I would roll in in the afternoon with one of our staffers and we’d give a performance for the school. The students participating in the residences got to dance with us and drum with us. That is something that I use to remember why it is I do the work that I do.

By Sarah Vickery, College of Letters & Science