Baird Center, 2024

SERVICES PROVIDED: RFQ development and management, Selection process management and oversight, Contracting, Curation, Fabrication oversight, Scheduling, Installation services and oversight, Artwork label coordination and installation, Project close-out.

The $456 million Baird Center expansion has brought the exposition hall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to 300,000 contiguous square feet; adding 24 new meeting rooms; 400 indoor parking spaces; 6 loading docks; an executive kitchen; and features a spectacular fourth-floor ballroom. Our team was engaged early in the project to work alongside EUA Architecture to identify art opportunity locations throughout this stunning expansion project to ensure the proper infrastructure was in place to support the installation of the commissioned artwork.

In conjunction with the release of the Request for Qualifications (RFQ), we hosted a free Public Art 101 talk at the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network (MARN) to demystify the public art process and encourage artists at all career levels to apply for this opportunity. This presentation was also live-streamed for those who could not attend in person and can be viewed here.

The selection panel comprised of community representatives, project stakeholders, artists, and art professionals, selected 16 artists/artist teams out of the 300+ who responded to the RFQ. The majority of the artists selected for this project are based in Milwaukee and the surrounding region and are joined by other U.S.-based artists/artist teams. Once the artists were selected our team oversaw the contracting, fabrication, curation, and installation of new works in the north building expansion and the existing south building. In addition to this work, we oversaw the relocation of several artworks from the existing art collection on view in the south building as the facility was modernized.

The culminating collection is a representation of local and national talent that expresses themes of community, nature, industry, local history, activism, athletics, and the diverse populations who have called this place home. The following images are a representation of the 30 artworks commissioned through this process that are now included in the We Energies Foundation Art Collection at Baird Center. These projects range from suspended installations, large-scale wall-mounted installations, paintings, light boxes, photography, mosaics, fiber-based works, wood-cut prints, digital prints, and mixed media works.

To learn more about this project and the We Energies Foundation Art Collection at Baird Center visit: bairdcenter.com/art-collection