Vel R. Phillips Plaza Art Commission

Creative MKE

The Vel R. Phillips Plaza Art Commission

In part one of this special two-part episode, Elisabeth speaks with City of Milwaukee Commissioner of City Development Lafayette Crump and arts leader Marilu Knode to discuss the plans for the Vel R. Phillips plaza. It’s a development project for which Crump and Knode are both serving on the art committee to select an original sculpture installation concept that, once completed, will memorialize and animate the legacy of Phillips, a trailblazing Black woman, attorney, politician, jurist, and civil rights activist, who served as an alderperson and judge in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and as secretary of state of Wisconsin.

The group reflects on how the arts are a special ingredient to development—that art can help our city to stand apart and also function as an economic engine. Crump shares how investing in the arts is often a “less obvious” aspect of infrastructure to decision makers, but an incredibly important ingredient to a city that can retain and attract diverse residents and visitors. With a new generation of leadership in place in Milwaukee under Mayor Cavalier Johnson, the city has made a one-time investment in public art through this $600,000 commission. But the plaza and the artwork will not just be about aesthetic beauty: it will have activations, spaces for vendors, food and beverage offerings and programming to encourage people to linger, engage and learn about Vel Phillips.

In her life, Phillips was a boundary pushing figure, and, as Knode reflects, “she forecast the direction the country would be going in with her leadership.” The intention is that the plaza installation and the social and artistic activations it invites will build upon this legacy. “Often people think public art is always “man on horse” or “woman in fountain.” Vel Phillips had a different form of leadership,” reflects Knode. “Let’s use this an opportunity to reformulate how we think about leadership.”

But should artists have to be activists? Knode suggests that in this day and age, everything is political. According to her, “going into the arts itself” is political. At the heart of this commission plan is the acknowledgement that artists are often the ones who drive social change in society.

“A lot of creativity or boundary pushing that does come out of city government... somewhere you will find an artist pushing on us to do that,” says Crump.

Vel R. Phillips Plaza will be constructed by July 2024, and the public art installation is estimated to be completed in 2025. Learn more about the project.

References and resources

Brad Pruitt

America’s Black Holocaust Museum

The Mountaintop, presented by Milwaukee Chamber Theatre

Lexi Brunson

CopyWrite Magazine

Mike Phillips

Downtown Bid #21

Westown Association

The Road of Democracy

City of Milwaukee’s 2040 Downtown Plan

Marilu Knode Bio

Arts leader Marilu Knode is currently working for the City on the Artist Commission at the Vel R. Phillips Plaza in downtown Milwaukee and is part of the Vel Phillips Legacy Initiative commissioning a sculpture of Vel Phillips on the Wisconsin State Capitol grounds in Madison.

She recently completed STRIVE Jones Studio Adventures in Architecture, a monograph exploring the firms’ forty-year history creating a sustainable architecture of place. She was one of the founding team for Sculpture Milwaukee, where she served as co-curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs from 2017-2020.

Marilu is the former director of Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis. She has organized dozens of exhibitions in the US and abroad, exploring diverse social and cultural topics. She has authored numerous catalogues, organized conferences, participated on panels and written for local, national and international magazines and museums.

At the core of Knode’s curatorial practice are the hundreds of commissioned works for museums and public art programs with artists from around the globe. Knode was the American Commissioner to the Cairo Biennial, working with Nancy Spero, in 1998, and co-founded the first curatorial practice program in the Middle East at the American University in Cairo.

Lafayette Crump Bio

Lafayette L. Crump, is the City of Milwaukee Commissioner of City Development, where, as a member of the Mayor’s Cabinet, he leads a team dedicated to growing Milwaukee’s population, bringing and keeping jobs in the city, increasing density, facilitating the development of affordable and equitable housing options, and preparing Milwaukee and its residents for economic success in an increasingly technologically-based economy.

Born and raised in Milwaukee, Lafayette previously served as Deputy Chief of Staff and Chief Diversity, Vendor and Engagement Officer for the Host Committee of the 2020 Democratic National Convention. Lafayette was also Chief Operating Officer of Prism Technical Management & Marketing Services, LLC, a nationally experienced multidisciplinary management consulting firm based in Milwaukee.

Lafayette practiced law for a number of years, working to ensure equity for small businesses and nonprofits, and has been an adjunct professor at Marquette University Law School. Lafayette’s commitment to professional and community pursuits have been recognized via the Milwaukee Business Journal Forty Under 40 award, the Milwaukee Times Black Excellence Award, the University School of Milwaukee Alumni Service Award, the Titan 100 Award, the Milwaukee Business Journal Power Broker list, and the Foley & Lardner Lyndford Lardner Attorney Service Award.

Lafayette is a graduate of Duke University and Duke University School of Law, where, collectively, he served on the Journal of Gender Law & Policy, the Harassment Grievance Board, the Moot Court Board, and was president of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. He also completed the Associates in Commercial Real Estate Program and is a certified Economic Development Finance Professional.