Washington Park Concert Series

Hi, Beth Ridley here with no studios live. This time we are on location. We are outside of no studios at the beautiful Washington park on a beautiful, gorgeous, picture perfect Wednesday. And everyone here is gearing up for the Washington park concert series that happens every Wednesday. So I'm here with Jane Konkle with Washington Park Neighbors. And you are responsible and the group that you're a part of for putting on this series. So tell us a little bit how it's been going.

It's going wonderfully. Welcome to Washington Park Wednesdays. So I am Jane from Washington park neighbors and we've had a great season so far. Last week was super fun. Adam Carr from neighborhood news services brought out a couch and some living room furniture. So we had little people could pose and get a Polaroid picture of themselves on this couch with a beautiful band shell in the background. Tonight we have classic. We're featuring classic and a fab collab between immortal girlfriend Erim Ferentes. No seat belts. This lovely group of three women who belt out some fabulous tunes. They were here last year as well. We are so proud of our diverse neighborhoods around this park. And we draw from all the neighborhoods around this park as well as the city, you know, and some people from out of state have joined us as well. So we try to be diverse not only in the audience we pull in, but with the performers we have on stage as well.

Sounds like you guys bring together a lot of different elements. So you have not only the music, obviously there's vendors here as well, but it seems like there's always like a theme, like tonight being bike night. So you're really like pulling in all sorts of elements for the benefit of the community, huh?

Indeed. So it's really an experience. It's more than a concert series. Yeah, we do a lot with the community and for the community and with the community right by our sides, we're always looking for more volunteers. This is funded through donations. Everyone who works with me is non paid, so we're all volunteers. And we have terrific sponsors like Quorum Architects over on Highland. They allow Melissa to do work on concert stuff throughout the year during her work time, which is incredibly forward thinking. Thank you, Quorum. Yes. Yeah.

All right. All right. So we're maybe just like an hour before show time, but like we've got early birds here and you have the whole set. I mean, this is awesome. You got the table. It looks like a lot of people are going to be joining you. So what brings you out here tonight?

Well, I'm here every single Wednesday I'm here to support Washington Park Wednesday and Washington park neighborhoods, and just to bring everyone out and gather and have fun and collaborate and enjoy the night, especially during summer, because it's going to end anytime now.

Don't say that. We do live in Wisconsin. It is literally picture perfect outside.

It is absolutely.

Yeah.

And it looks like you've got the beverages. And you told me something really amazing that the world needs to be.

Know what?

In addition to having wonderful music tonight, what else is tonight?

I believe today is National Tequila Day. Margaritas, which I have mine. So come on out. We have vendors here. The music is going to be great. Classic is playing. We have kid games. We have food for the children who are under 12 years old and they get fed. It's great. It makes for a great event.

Yes.

It's basically everything for the senses. It's really more of an experience than just a concert. And so do you come every week?

I am here every Wednesday until our last day, which I believe is like the second week before August.

Wow.

Okay. So you are a dedicated fan, and do you live nearby?

I do.

I'm right on 48th street on the boulevard. So we walk here and we're here, and we bring our kids and our family, and everybody comes out, and we even bring people from other cities from here. I have a couple coming in from Brookfield that's coming out here tonight, and, you know, someone out from the south side that's coming in, so. So it's an experience for everyone to enjoy.

I love it. Well, I'm sold. I'm going to be coming every Wednesday, so I shall look for you. Do you have margaritas every Wednesday?

I wish, but no.

Sometimes it's beer.

All right, that works, too. All right, well, thanks for talking to me. Washington park concert series. We're getting closer and closer to showtime. I'm getting more and more excited. So now I'm here with Kate Schwartz. So, Kate, tell us a little bit about what is your involvement with the concert series?

Hi. Primarily, my involvement is programming, which is the music that we're putting on stage.

We have a very specific goal and initiative related to those goals that involves diversity. It involves quality. It involves sometimes depending on how many people on stage, it can involve quantity as well. And we really put forth a challenge.

To each of our artists to bring.

Something very specific both to their style.

But also to this space. Because, as you can see, it's kind.

Of a unique and an epic space.

So we try to make sure that they're up to that task. And that's how we sort of curate accordingly in relation to the space, but.

Also how their talent can bring forth.

Something to the space.

I love it. So what I'm learning through these interviews is everything is really super thoughtful. You're not just slapping together a concert. You're bringing in all elements of an experience for the community, even to the point of, like, expectations of the band in terms of the challenge that you put out to them. So what challenge does Classic and the bands here tonight have?

Well, I mean, Classic is pretty prolific, as we know, and so you may have seen him in another iteration in all his other projects.

He's an incredible collaborator, and we brought.

Him in at the beginning of this, beginning of the season to think about that space again. And he's drawn from his own resources to come up with this theme night. We paired him with Ride on because it is sort of. There's a physicality to it. It's our annual bike night. People will be riding all sorts of wheels tonight. And he was up to that challenge, and he really wanted to bring this sense of come as you are, body positivity. Like, you know, here we are in our park, just doing us. And we also were, like, aware of, like, the musical movement in Milwaukee, too. So we tacked on Immortal Girlfriend with this program, too, because it really lends to, like, not only is it sort of aligns with his style, but the Kevin and Will also have, like, a nice sense of. They have a downbeat that just classic. And I discussed just sounds good outside.

You know what I mean?

So you're right.

You're right.

When you're talking about thoughtfulness, like, there's a lot of moving parts, but all those parts are very, very carefully considered.

For sure.

I love it. The theme of we're just gonna do us here in Washington Park. But what's your inspiration? Because every week you have to fill up a summer with curated concert experiences. What is your inspiration week after week to have an entire lineup?

Well, that's Milwaukee. Milwaukee serves a pretty good inspiration, and we try to make sure that we have Milwaukee represented on stage. Stage, every single week. And then we also look at it as a season, like an arc to the whole season as well. So we have a couple of popular nights. Ride on is one of them. Viva last week was really popular. And we have, like, our season opener, which always highlights female artists. And we. But what we do is. So we have these themes where we're trying to bring something different every year, but different can be such, like, sort of an opaque thing. What we're really doing is making it. It's intentional.

It's not different.

It's really, really, again, thinking about what goes on stage, how it goes on stage, and how it mixed together. What my favorite part is, is putting two, like, seemingly disparate acts together and watching what sort of emerges classic. Knew that this was going to work. He curated these people tonight, but in the past, we've done. We put, like, sister strings on with nickel and rose, which just to me sounds like a match made in heaven. And turns out it is, because they've gone on tour several times now together. And the other thing, too, is, like, we like to bring in things besides Milwaukee. Like next week will be live arts, and we're going to be celebrating the music of black film directors. And so we partnered with Black Lens, which is a pillar of Milwaukee film for that program.

And.

And so we're really thinking, you know, I never like to use the term outside the box, because we're really. What we're really thinking is inside this space. Do you know what I mean? But the mission is to bring Milwaukee to the park and bring. And bring the park. To, like, showcase the park to the rest of Milwaukee. And in that, we're tying together those four neighborhoods. You and I talked about that. But also sort of like bringing something, elevating the sense of what is a concert in the park. You can just show up with your blanket and hang, or you can come here for a full and immersive experience. Yeah, I love it.

So you're, you're, you're collaborating, you're bringing different sounds together on stage, which I think is very reflective of what you're trying to do in the park overall. All right. It is always fun to talk to you. This is my jam, so I think.

I gotta get up there and start dancing.

Thank you, Kate.

Hello. Today we're at Washington Park Wednesdays. Today we're having so much fun. There's a lot of singing, there's a lot of dancing, and there's a lot of eating food. And there's a lot of activities here at Washington Park Wednesdays. So it's not late. So you better come right now.

At this moment. If I could get everybody with a.

Little side to side, it don't be.

So fitting that we slip this one in.

And you can see your hair is really, really, really hard.

Sam.