The Spirit of Milwaukee, a nonprofit civic organization dedicated to branding and promoting the Milwaukee region has selected six innovative ideas that will receive more than $50,000 in grant money to promote Milwaukee. The Reveal Milwaukee project was launched in January and sought creative, out-of-the box proposals to capture and spread the Milwaukee experience in a way that became apparent to a wider audience.
“We asked for inventive and resourceful ways to get people talking about Milwaukee, and the community rose to the challenge,” said Gary Grunau, chair of the Spirit of Milwaukee. “We’re pleased by the high quality of ideas that were submitted, and we’re especially impressed by the six proposals that we’ve selected. We’re confident these highly creative strategies will get people around the country learning about Milwaukee in unique and compelling ways.”
Spirit of Milwaukee will fund the selected ideas with $51, 200.
According to Grunau, 53 proposals were turned in; more than the organization expected.
- Matt Kammerait and Ian Abston were awarded $6,200 for their “Leave Your Mark” proposal which utilizes geo location and a series of check-ins to highlight the uniqueness of Milwaukee and the cultures and experiences available in a relatively small geography.
- Jeff Filipiak was awarded $5,000 to fund his campaign and website to become Milwaukee’s informal ‘Minister of Snow,’ the person who promotes and highlights fun and interesting things to do during Milwaukee’s winter.
- Radio Milwaukee was awarded $10,000 to launch its Milwaukee Remixed project. The project gives the station’s listeners the opportunity to download a smart phone application and record the sounds of Milwaukee for the station’s Neighborhood Project series. DJ’s will then mix and compile sounds from each neighborhood into unique songs that represent Milwaukee.
- Kurt Kamka was also awarded $10,000 for his Milwaukee Story Works multi-media website that will feature ‘day-in-the-life’ stories of real Milwaukee businesses and citizens as they go about their daily lives. Kamka hopes to capture the innovative qualities that make Milwaukee an under appreciated yet aspirational place to work and live.
- Josh Adams and Mindpool live have also received $10,000 for his Soundpass Sessions program which features webisodic videos of live music and stories from Milwaukee bands and solo artists. Funding will allow Mindpool Live to make programs available via broadcast and digital distribution.
- The sixth project that was selected is being kept secret because the element of surprise is key to its success. Details on the sixth project will be released later.
