MIAD Future Creatives supports high school students and educators
Digital design students at Franklin High School say their class project through the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design’s Future Creatives program provided new skills in teamwork while increasing their awareness of career pathways in design.
Franklin High School is one of 11 area high schools that have partnered to date with MIAD’s growing Future Creatives program to receive a variety of free hands-on academic workshops tailored to each school’s needs in design or fine art and to introduce students to creative careers.
Guided by MIAD instructor Leah Good, the Franklin students explored the full design process for beverage labels – from research and concept development to sketching, digital creation and presentation. Good visited their classroom twice in October 2025 for project presentation and review, with students working in between her visits. Supplies, including a Visual Research Packet, were provided by MIAD.
“I absolutely loved my experience working with MIAD and having Leah come into our classroom,” says Franklin instructor Jean Mohr. “She did a fantastic job developing lessons around beverage label design, but what stood out most was her ability to make meaningful career connections for students. They especially valued the opportunity to connect with a local university.”
Student Abriana Staniszewski supported Mohr’s observation. “I felt that the hands-on experience was the most impactful…. I would use this to help or create a design for my future career’s logo or products.”
For student Brody Charles, “Teamwork was the most impactful, as it was fun to go through the steps of creating a design with partners, which was a whole new experience for me.”
To date, Future Creatives program high school partners include Brown Deer, Franklin, Nathan Hale, New Berlin Eisenhower, Oak Creek, Pathways, Ronald Reagan, St. Joan Antida, Wauwatosa West and Whitefish Bay. As a result of the program’s growth, MIAD is developing additional program initiatives.
To contact MIAD instructor Good, schedule a workshop or learn more, visit Future Creatives.
News
Museum Studies class: Hands-on exhibition and career experience
Last fall’s Museum Studies class at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) has solidified a career choice for at least one of the 16 students who took it. The class was on the go all semester, visiting museums throughout Milwaukee, meeting with professionals and thinking critically about the role of museums in our society.
Jodi Eastberg: MIAD Vice President for Academic Affairs
Meet Jodi Eastberg, Ph.D., Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD)! Dr. Eastberg discusses her vision for MIAD, her experience at the college so far, and some welcome surprises about working in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward neighborhood.
Haggerty Museum of Art features work by MIAD Fine Art professor
A towering column of life-size red-crowned cranes molded out of mulberry pulp has visitors to the Haggerty Museum of Art craning their necks to take in the sculpture. Work by Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) Professor Jason S. Yi is featured as part of the Haggerty Museum’s exhibition “This Side of the Stars: Rauschenberg’s “Stoned Moon” in the Company of Kite, Paglen, and Yi.”
MIAD professor, alum named 2026 Mary L. Nohl Fellows
Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) Communication Design professor Laura Farahzad Mayer and alum Nomka Enkhee ’25 (Fine Art + New Studio Practice) each received one of five Mary L. Nohl Fellowships for 2026. The recipients of emerging artist awards, Farahzad Mayer and Enkhee were selected from among 168 applicants.
MIAD Independent Inquiry Program: Building knowledge, confidence
From a Fine Art major to Illustration, Communication Design and Product Design – first-year student to senior – participants in the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design’s Independent Inquiry Program say they are building both knowledge and self-confidence.