WHO WE ARE

History

The Madison Arts Commission is a municipal arts agency managed by a citizen commission composed of ten residents and one Alderperson who are appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Common Council. The eleven member commission is staffed with a full-time arts administrator. The Commission was created by ordinance in 1974 to advise the Mayor and thee Common Council on public policy matters relating to the arts. It originally began as a unit in the Parks Division of the City of Madison. Since then, it has moved to the Neighborhood Planning, Urban Design & Historic Preservation section of the Department of Planning and Community and Economic Development.

Commissioners & Staff

Click the name for the bios of the commission.

Michael Bridgeman, Chair
Patty Elson
Tom Farley
Alder Tim Gruber
Connie Kilmark
Celia Klehr, Vice-Chair
Jose Madera
Karen McLaughlin
Leslee Nelson
John Nicholas Schweitzer
Norma Sober

Staff

Karin Wolf, Arts Program Administrator

Michael Bridgeman, Chair

Michael Bridgeman has served on the Madison Arts Commission since 1999. He currently chairs the commission and has served on the public art and exhibition committees. Michael's service on MAC has also led to serving on juries for the State Street bus shelters, Capitol Square fountains and art at the Goodman Pool. A Madison resident since 1982, he is communications director for Wisconsin Public Television and volunteers as a guide for historic walking tours in Madison.

Patty Elson

Patty Elson has been serving on the Madison Arts Commission since 2006. She is the Chair of the Public Arts Committee and the Co-Chair of the Culltural Plan Committee. Patty has lived in Madison most of her life and is a Realtor with Restaino & Associates. Starting with her appointment to the Urban Design Commission in 1994, Patty has served proudly on the Overture Project Advisory Committee, the State Street Design Project Oversight Committee and in many other capacities guiding the growth and maturation of the city she loves.

Tom Farley

Tom Farley is the Director of Marketing for the Greater Madison Convention & Visitor Bureau. A native of Madison, Tom attended Edgewood High School and graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in Business Administration/Marketing. For over fifteen years he held various marketing positions within the financial services industry in the New York City area. In 2001, Tom began work creating The Chris Farley Foundation, a substance abuse prevention organization named after his younger brother. In 2004 Tom moved back to his hometown, along with his wife, Laura and their three teenage children – Mary Kate, Emma, and Tommy. Tom is active with Downtown Madison, Inc., and is also a board member of the Dane County Human Services Board and Turn Around Teen, Inc.

Alder Tim Gruber

Tim Gruber was elected to the Madison Common Council in April 2005 and has served on the Madison Arts Commission since then. He also serves on the Solid Waste Committee (trash and recycling) and the Joint West UW Campus Committee. Tim is a music teacher in the Madison Metropolitan School District. He performs with the Madison Marimba Quartet, Atimevu Drum and Dance, and other groups as a drummer and percussionist.

Connie Kilmark

Connie Kilmark has lived in Madison since 1971. A native of New York City, she came to Madison to study Art History at the UW. Now a financial counselor and consultant in private practice, she is a fan of the performing and visual arts and has been a member of the Madison Art Commission since 1998. She has served on the ArtWorks, Grants, and Public Art committees.

Celia A. Klehr, Vice-Chair

Due to her firm belief that artists are an important part of their community, Celia A. Klehr was proud to make the Madison Repertory Theatre her artistic home for over 15 years. Starting as a member of the original acting company, she gained her Equity status and was the company manager for several years. Celia has also appeared in three feature films, several documentaries, voice-overs, and other commercial work. This is Celia’s third year as a commission member and she is one of the Madison Arts Commission representatives on the Madison 150 Sesquicentennial Commission.

José J. Madera

José J. Madera, born and raised in Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico, developed his musical abilities while performing with groups specializing in Afro-Caribbean rhythms in a variety of cultural and classical events throughout the island. In Madison, also an accomplished percussionist and recording artist, José is one of the founding members of the band Bentetú (Afro-Puerto Rican rhythms), TROVA VIVA (new song, nueva trova), and MadiSalsa (a 10 member ensemble devoted to the musical traditions of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and The Dominican Republic). José also collaborates with a variety of musical groups in town, including Call for Peace Drum and Dance Company. Professionally, José currently serves as an Assistant Dean with the College of Letters and Science at UW-Madison where he has greatly contributed in designing, coordinating and conducting educational activities throughout the campus. He has also served as the Director of the Diversity Education Program in the Office of the Dean of Students. José holds a B.S. (Chemistry, University of Puerto Rico-Cayey), M.S. (Water Resources Management/Water Chemistry - UW-Madison) and has completed most Ph.D. requirements in Soil Science.

Karen McLaughlin

Karen McLaughlin is a veteran New York actress with a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University. McLaughlin has appeared Off and Off-off Broadway, in regional theater, national tours, film and television. She was a featured soloist for the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization and Ted and Schuyler Chapin at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. She also recorded for the Rodgers & Hammerstein Library in New York. McLaughlin was an Honorary Fellow at both the Women's Studies Research Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and also Newcomb College for Women, Tulane University, in New Orleans. She has taught performance at Northwestern University and Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Her professional emphasis has been the development of new stage works including the Actors Studio and New Dramatists. She conceived, adapted and performed the stage premiere of Assia Djebar's Algerian White: The Language of the Dead at the Helmsley Theatre for African Literature Association's international conference in Madison, Wisconsin (Assia Djebar was recently inducted into the prestigious Academie Francaise). McLauglin was invited to bring Algerian White to the Maison Francaise at New York University for its New York premiere, with Djebar attending. The production is archived at the Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library.

http://www.karenmclaughlinperformance.com

Leslee Nelson

Leslee Nelson is a professor in the Departments of Art and Liberal Studies & the Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison. She teaches classes on grant-writing,
spirituality, textiles and professional practices. She is the director of Wisconsin Regional Art Program. She believes that creativity is inherent in each individual
and encourages everyone to find their art form.

Professor Nelson exhibits her memory cloths, installations, dolls and quilts throughout the USA, Europe and Asia. In Wisconsin her work can be seen at High Street Gallery, Mineral Point.

Websites of her artwork:
http://www.highstreetartists.com/Artists/Leslee/LesleeNelson.html
http://www.portalwisconsin.org/online_gallery_artist.cfm?artist=3&sort=name

John Nicholas Schweitzer

Nick, a playwright, has been involved for many years in Madison theatre, especially the Madison Theatre Guild and the Madison Savoyards, groups which have provided opportunities for onstage and backstage participation for him, his wife March, and their two daughters, Elizabeth and Catherine. His locally-produced plays include Fighting Bob: A Love Story; Gadzooks, Cinderella; The Saga of Sergeant Bates; and Madison's sesquicentennial play, Surrounded by Reality. He has organized the Hill Farms Fourth of July parade and picnic for over a decade, and he is an Adjunct Professor in Professional Ethics at the U.W. Law School. In September of 2007, around the same time he joined the Madison Arts Commission, he installed a temporary children's art and science exhibit illustrating geological time in Rennebohm Park, and this past spring he placed a similar representation of the solar system in the park, which he hopes to reproduce along a bike path in 2009 with the help of the U.W. Space Place

Norma Sober

Norma Sober, a 35-year resident of Madison, serves on MAC's Public Art and Grants subcommittees and is co-chair of the Cultural Planning adhoc committee. From 1985-1990, she was Director of Outreach at the Madison Civic Center. While at the Civic Center, she produced the city’s first large-scale gospel music festival and implemented school and community-based residencies with internationally renowned performers. From 1990-2002, she contributed to the significant growth of Madison Repertory Theatre by heading, in succession, its marketing, development, and education departments. As a consultant, she works in the fields of arts fundraising and cultural planning.

Karin Wolf, Arts Program Administrator

Ms. Wolf came to the City of Madison in fall of 2006 with a background in arts project management, research, writing, and educational programs. She is the Arts Program Administrator for the Madison Arts Commission in the Department of Planning and Community and Economic Development. She manages the City's arts grants, runs the gallery spaces, stewards the City’s permanent collection of art, and handles the administration of new public art projects.

Prior to this position, she served as the Special Programs Coordinator in the Community Outreach Department at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, where she created award-winning programs for educators and K-16 students in art, design and technology. She has worked as an educational assistant at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, teaching, docenting, and assisting the Curator of Education.

She has a M.S. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and undergraduate degrees in History, History of Cultures, and Afro-American History.

She is a long time supporter of the arts and arts education, and has been involved with many community organizations in establishing exhibitions, educational programs, film festivals, temporary art, and permanent public sculpture projects.


Home Who We Are History Commissioners & Staff MAC Honors Event Current Agenda Public Art Frances Plaza Water Feature Outdoor Public Art Conservation Public Art Framework & Field Guide (PDF) Grants ArtWORKS! BLINK Signature Grant Project Grant Exhibition Spaces Madison Municipal Building ARTspace Mayor's Conference Room ARTspace Contact Us
Poet Laureate Program Frances Plaza Water Feature Outdoor Public Art Conservation Arts & Culture in the City of Madison Dept. of Planning & Community & Economic Development	WHO WE ARE History Commissioners & Staff Agenda Meeting Dates Current Agenda History The Madison Arts Commission is a municipal arts agency managed by a citizen commission composed of ten residents and one Alderperson who are appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Common Council. The eleven member commission is staffed with a full-time arts administrator. The Commission was created by ordinance in 1974 to advise the Mayor and thee Common Council on public policy matters relating to the arts. It originally began as a unit in the Parks Division of the City of Madison. Since then, it has moved to the Neighborhood Planning, Urban Design & Historic Preservation section of the Department of Planning and Community and Economic Development. Commissioners & Staff Click the name for the bios of the commission. Michael Bridgeman, Chair Patty Elson Tom Farley Alder Tim Gruber Connie Kilmark Celia Klehr, Vice-Chair Jose Madera Karen McLaughlin Leslee Nelson John Nicholas Schweitzer Norma Sober Staff Karin Wolf, Arts Program Administrator Michael Bridgeman, Chair Michael Bridgeman has served on the Madison Arts Commission since 1999. He currently chairs the commission and has served on the public art and exhibition committees. Michael's service on MAC has also led to serving on juries for the State Street bus shelters, Capitol Square fountains and art at the Goodman Pool. A Madison resident since 1982, he is communications director for Wisconsin Public Television and volunteers as a guide for historic walking tours in Madison. Patty Elson Patty Elson has been serving on the Madison Arts Commission since 2006. She is the Chair of the Public Arts Committee and the Co-Chair of the Culltural Plan Committee. Patty has lived in Madison most of her life and is a Realtor with Restaino & Associates. Starting with her appointment to the Urban Design Commission in 1994, Patty has served proudly on the Overture Project Advisory Committee, the State Street Design Project Oversight Committee and in many other capacities guiding the growth and maturation of the city she loves. Tom Farley Tom Farley is the Director of Marketing for the Greater Madison Convention & Visitor Bureau. A native of Madison, Tom attended Edgewood High School and graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in Business Administration/Marketing. For over fifteen years he held various marketing positions within the financial services industry in the New York City area. In 2001, Tom began work creating The Chris Farley Foundation, a substance abuse prevention organization named after his younger brother. In 2004 Tom moved back to his hometown, along with his wife, Laura and their three teenage children – Mary Kate, Emma, and Tommy. Tom is active with Downtown Madison, Inc., and is also a board member of the Dane County Human Services Board and Turn Around Teen, Inc. Alder Tim Gruber Tim Gruber was elected to the Madison Common Council in April 2005 and has served on the Madison Arts Commission since then. He also serves on the Solid Waste Committee (trash and recycling) and the Joint West UW Campus Committee. Tim is a music teacher in the Madison Metropolitan School District. He performs with the Madison Marimba Quartet, Atimevu Drum and Dance, and other groups as a drummer and percussionist. Connie Kilmark Connie Kilmark has lived in Madison since 1971. A native of New York City, she came to Madison to study Art History at the UW. Now a financial counselor and consultant in private practice, she is a fan of the performing and visual arts and has been a member of the Madison Art Commission since 1998. She has served on the ArtWorks, Grants, and Public Art committees. Celia A. Klehr, Vice-Chair Due to her firm belief that artists are an important part of their community, Celia A. Klehr was proud to make the Madison Repertory Theatre her artistic home for over 15 years. Starting as a member of the original acting company, she gained her Equity status and was the company manager for several years. Celia has also appeared in three feature films, several documentaries, voice-overs, and other commercial work. This is Celia’s third year as a commission member and she is one of the Madison Arts Commission representatives on the Madison 150 Sesquicentennial Commission. José J. Madera José J. Madera, born and raised in Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico, developed his musical abilities while performing with groups specializing in Afro-Caribbean rhythms in a variety of cultural and classical events throughout the island. In Madison, also an accomplished percussionist and recording artist, José is one of the founding members of the band Bentetú (Afro-Puerto Rican rhythms), TROVA VIVA (new song, nueva trova), and MadiSalsa (a 10 member ensemble devoted to the musical traditions of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and The Dominican Republic). José also collaborates with a variety of musical groups in town, including Call for Peace Drum and Dance Company. Professionally, José currently serves as an Assistant Dean with the College of Letters and Science at UW-Madison where he has greatly contributed in designing, coordinating and conducting educational activities throughout the campus. He has also served as the Director of the Diversity Education Program in the Office of the Dean of Students. José holds a B.S. (Chemistry, University of Puerto Rico-Cayey), M.S. (Water Resources Management/Water Chemistry - UW-Madison) and has completed most Ph.D. requirements in Soil Science. Karen McLaughlin Karen McLaughlin is a veteran New York actress with a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from Northwestern University. McLaughlin has appeared Off and Off-off Broadway, in regional theater, national tours, film and television. She was a featured soloist for the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization and Ted and Schuyler Chapin at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. She also recorded for the Rodgers & Hammerstein Library in New York. McLaughlin was an Honorary Fellow at both the Women's Studies Research Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and also Newcomb College for Women, Tulane University, in New Orleans. She has taught performance at Northwestern University and Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Her professional emphasis has been the development of new stage works including the Actors Studio and New Dramatists. She conceived, adapted and performed the stage premiere of Assia Djebar's Algerian White: The Language of the Dead at the Helmsley Theatre for African Literature Association's international conference in Madison, Wisconsin (Assia Djebar was recently inducted into the prestigious Academie Francaise). McLauglin was invited to bring Algerian White to the Maison Francaise at New York University for its New York premiere, with Djebar attending. The production is archived at the Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library. http://www.karenmclaughlinperformance.com Leslee Nelson Leslee Nelson is a professor in the Departments of Art and Liberal Studies & the Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison. She teaches classes on grant-writing, spirituality, textiles and professional practices. She is the director of Wisconsin Regional Art Program. She believes that creativity is inherent in each individual and encourages everyone to find their art form. Professor Nelson exhibits her memory cloths, installations, dolls and quilts throughout the USA, Europe and Asia. In Wisconsin her work can be seen at High Street Gallery, Mineral Point. Websites of her artwork: http://www.highstreetartists.com/Artists/Leslee/LesleeNelson.html http://www.portalwisconsin.org/online_gallery_artist.cfm?artist=3&sort=name John Nicholas Schweitzer Nick, a playwright, has been involved for many years in Madison theatre, especially the Madison Theatre Guild and the Madison Savoyards, groups which have provided opportunities for onstage and backstage participation for him, his wife March, and their two daughters, Elizabeth and Catherine. His locally-produced plays include Fighting Bob: A Love Story; Gadzooks, Cinderella; The Saga of Sergeant Bates; and Madison's sesquicentennial play, Surrounded by Reality. He has organized the Hill Farms Fourth of July parade and picnic for over a decade, and he is an Adjunct Professor in Professional Ethics at the U.W. Law School. In September of 2007, around the same time he joined the Madison Arts Commission, he installed a temporary children's art and science exhibit illustrating geological time in Rennebohm Park, and this past spring he placed a similar representation of the solar system in the park, which he hopes to reproduce along a bike path in 2009 with the help of the U.W. Space Place Norma Sober Norma Sober, a 35-year resident of Madison, serves on MAC's Public Art and Grants subcommittees and is co-chair of the Cultural Planning adhoc committee. From 1985-1990, she was Director of Outreach at the Madison Civic Center. While at the Civic Center, she produced the city’s first large-scale gospel music festival and implemented school and community-based residencies with internationally renowned performers. From 1990-2002, she contributed to the significant growth of Madison Repertory Theatre by heading, in succession, its marketing, development, and education departments. As a consultant, she works in the fields of arts fundraising and cultural planning. Karin Wolf, Arts Program Administrator Ms. Wolf came to the City of Madison in fall of 2006 with a background in arts project management, research, writing, and educational programs. She is the Arts Program Administrator for the Madison Arts Commission in the Department of Planning and Community and Economic Development. She manages the City's arts grants, runs the gallery spaces, stewards the City’s permanent collection of art, and handles the administration of new public art projects. Prior to this position, she served as the Special Programs Coordinator in the Community Outreach Department at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, where she created award-winning programs for educators and K-16 students in art, design and technology. She has worked as an educational assistant at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, teaching, docenting, and assisting the Curator of Education. She has a M.S. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and undergraduate degrees in History, History of Cultures, and Afro-American History. She is a long time supporter of the arts and arts education, and has been involved with many community organizations in establishing exhibitions, educational programs, film festivals, temporary art, and permanent public sculpture projects.