Alumni Facilities Access Information
MIAD is proud to be one of the few art and design colleges that provide its alumni community continued access to its labs after graduation. MIAD welcomes its alumni to use its lab facilities in support of their continued creative and professional growth. Having alumni in our labs working along with our current students, helps MIAD cultivate and enrich a culture of diverse making base practices in our community.
Alumni who are beyond one year of graduation are asked to pay an annual $25 fee to receive an Alumni ID, required for access to the labs. This fee supports Alumni Senior Thesis Awards, awarded to seniors each year to assist in fabricating their Senior Exhibition projects. This fee is waived for MIAD alumni within one year of their graduation.
Additional fees for lab projects may apply for all alums and a request system has been created to support equitable student and alumni lab access.
See the Alumni Lab Usage Policy below to start your lab request. If you have any questions on alumni access to the labs, please contact alumni@miad.edu.
News
MIAD Animation professor’s short film to premiere at SXSW
This March, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) Professor Lou Morton’s short film “MINE!” makes its world premiere at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival. Last March, Morton’s animated music video “Born Days: How to Disappear” received a Juror Award at the 62nd Ann Arbor Film Festival, where it had its world premiere.
Keith Negley: Award-winning illustrator and writer
When award-winning illustrator and author Keith Negley ’00 isn’t completing projects like his most recent book of “forgotten trailblazers,” he’s creating portraits of celebrities like Taylor Swift, Emma Stone and Chelsea Clinton, and doing editorial illustrations on topics like neurodivergence, organ transplants and the opioid crisis.
Two MIAD alumni named Mary L. Nohl Fellows for 2025
Two alumni from the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) have received Emerging Artist fellowships from the 2025 Mary L. Nohl Fund for its 2025 cycle: Margaret Griffin ’23 (Fine Art + New Studio Practice) and Open Kitchen, co-founded by Rudy Medina ’12 (Integrated Studio Arts).
FYE Juried Media Arts Festival 2024 celebrates first-year student works
Seven students received awards at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design’s juried FYE Media Arts Festival – an in-house screening and celebration of video, animation and sound design works by current and former First-Year Experience (FYE) students held on November 26. The 56 entries were judged by multimedia and filmmaking professionals Emma B. Barany, Gabe Leistekow and Sara Sowell.
MIAD professor brings love of branding to projects and students
Brian Bowles ’01, professor of Communication Design at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD), finds freelance projects “deeply fulfilling” and beneficial to himself and to his students.