Sean Kiebzak, chief executive officer of Milwaukee-based nonprofit
Arts @ Large, announced this week on LinkedIn that he will step away from his role at the organization.
His new role will be donor engagement manager with the Madison office for nonprofit
The Nature Conservancy.
“It is difficult to fully express my gratitude for the knowledge I have gained from my colleagues, the teachers, the artists, the students and the community at large,” Kiebzak said in his LinkedIn message. “But I will say this: we have created so much beautiful work together, and for that I will be forever grateful.”
Kiebzak has worked with A@L in various roles for more than 10 years, most recently as the CEO since March 2021, and is the son of the organization’s founder and former CEO,
Teri Sullivan.
Over the last four years, A@L has invested $7.5 million into a
renovation project to transform a three-story, 129-year-old building at the southeast corner of Washington and 5th streets in Milwaukee's Walker's Point neighborhood into a center for arts-based initiatives and its new home. The 11,000-square-foot Arts @ Large Community Center, at 1100 S. Fifth St., houses a student art gallery, multiple art studios, a professional development hub, a public and private event space and office space for five area nonprofits and small businesses.
Kiebzak worked side-by-side with Sullivan on the renovation project. Kiebzak also conceptualized a new career development program engaging high school students from Bradley Tech and Trade School as paid interns to work alongside the contractors who built the A@L Community Center.
Over the past decade, he also has played a leading role in organizing community partners to redevelop a city park in Walker’s Point into an Eco-Arts Park, and oversaw the implementation of hundreds of artist residencies serving tens of thousands of Milwaukee youth.
“There will not be a day that goes by that I won’t think fondly of the friends I have made and the lives we have changed through intentionally designed experiences,” Kiebzak said in his LinkedIn message. “I will forever be an advocate for the arts, and for those that know of my passion for the environment, I am excited to embark on this next chapter to help serve a mission to protect the lands and waters on which all life depends.”
