Washington Park Media Center Invites the Public to Make Media Magic
Washington Park Media Center, which opened last August, is the brainchild of two creative powerhouses.
Sara Daleiden does media strategy and production with her company MKE<->LAX, and Wes Tank is a versatile video producer who found viral success rapping Dr. Seuss books. Through the media center, the two bring their creative energy to their neighbors in nearby Washington Park, Martin Drive and around Milwaukee.
Visitors can use the space and equipment under expert guidance for photography, filming, podcasting and more.
“One of the favorite things we do is the AV Club we host every other Tuesday,” Tank says. “We invite neighbors and people from our network to come, and we discuss, create and share media. We’ll go around the room and people will share a piece of media that they made, and everyone will offer observations or critiques on it.”
“We really want to make a space for neighbors and creatives to have a place to build skills and make what we see as positive media about the cultural experiences of being in Milwaukee,” Daleiden says.
One such positive piece of media was this year’s Imagine MKE 414 Day campaign that Tank and Daleiden worked on. The annual video is a “love letter to Milwaukee’s arts, culture and creative industries,” according to the nonprofit.
The multi-month project featured dozens of clips of Milwaukee’s diverse arts scene and featured input from several local creatives. This labor of love was meant to demonstrate how Milwaukee is a creative city on the rise. But for Tank, it’s already earned its title.
“Milwaukee has always been a great place to create, experiment and just be weird with it and like not to not be as worried about what other people think,” he says.
At Washington Park Media Center, Daleiden and Tank are trying to give more Milwaukeeans the chance to experiment, learn and develop their creative and technical skills in a judgment-free space.
The building is broken down into several spaces that support different stages of production. They created an ideation space, where clients and artists can do preplanning and brainstorming. There’s a production room where they film interviews and host livestreams. The green screen room allows for creative editing. There’s an editing hub to finalize the project, then everyone moves back to the ideation space – which also serves as a screening room – to view the completed project.
One project made possible by the unique space is the Blanket Fort live streams, which was featured in the media center’s 43rd and Vliet’s Live Music & Live Stream series in April. “We’re using all the rooms simultaneously, we’re inviting people in from the public, we’re livestreaming, and creating content as we go with our three creators-in-residence DJ DripSweat, Adam White Ossers and Caroline Carter,” Tank says.
But beyond artful endeavors, the center also holds community events, such as an aldermanic candidate forum in April.
“Over 20 neighbors were able to see (now) Alderwoman Sharlen Moore and her opponent Richard Geldon debate,” says Daleiden. “Because of the media center, we were able to livestream it. Others streamed the video afterward. As an artist who’s very interested in civic engagement and voter turnout, it’s been great to build this tool for things we need to talk about in the neighborhood.”
“We’re very aware that the building itself has been a neighborhood hub here,” Daleiden says. Before its current use, the nearly 130-year-old building was once a saloon, and then a Prohibition-era grocery store, deli and bakery. “And so, we’re really excited to step in and honor that legacy and be able to provide the space for neighborhood activities.”
