In its first two years, Arte Para Todos raised approximately $40,000 for Milwaukee public school art programs through the combined efforts of hundreds of musicians and visual artists bringing their talents to dozens of local bars, venues, and galleries in four Milwaukee neighborhoods. Thankfully, the city’s most eclectic and ambitious benefit is returning for a third year (April 27-29) with oodles of entertainment scattered throughout Walker’s Point, Bay View, and Riverwest.
Last year’s festivities raised close to $18,000. Organizers are hoping to bring in even more this year through additional fundraising efforts, including one event created and presented by yours truly. On Saturday, April 29, Milwaukee Record‘s inaugural Broken Up Band Bazaar will take place at Black Husky Brewing in Riverwest. From 4-7 p.m., Arte attendees and other local music aficionados can browse a brewery marketplace packed with booths selling records, shirts, stickers, buttons, and other goodies from broken up bands, inactive rappers, and now-defunct labels…or active labels trying to get rid of stock from extinct bands. Each vendor will donate a portion of their proceeds to Arte Para Todos.
The Broken Up Band Bazaar is free to both vendors and prospective customers. If you never got around to picking up that Wildbirds record, if that Temper Temper shirt doesn’t fit as well as it used to, or you have tons of CDs collecting dust in your basement, this is the event for you. Get some hard-to-find merch from Milwaukee music past on the cheap or unload some stuff you thought couldn’t be sold. No matter what side of the table you’re on, you can feel good knowing you’re benefiting Arte Para Todos.
The first 50 people who pick up (or purchase) their Saturday pass for Arte at Black Husky will get a complimentary 12-ounce beer from the brewery. There are still some vendor spots available. Email [email protected] to apply. Again, there is NO booth fee, but participants must agree to donate a percentage of their sales to Arte Para Todos.