Select Page

MIAD’s Annual Creative Fusion event raises more than $421,000 for student scholarships

MILWAUKEE (May 14, 2019) … The Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design’s (MIAD) annual Creative Fusion event raised more than $421,000 for student scholarships. The 13th annual event held May 4, 2019, in MIAD’s creative studios, brought together a sold-out crowd of 350 Milwaukee area civic, arts and business leaders and advocates.

Harley-Davidson Motor Company’s LiveWire prototype, on view at Creative Fusion

The evening – Experience Creative Fusion – celebrated how technology meets creativity, the college’s growing enrollment and the launch of the MIAD Innovation Center, which uniquely benefits MIAD students, small and large businesses, and nonprofit partners.

The event’s leading sponsor, Harley-Davidson Motor Company, showcased a prototype of the company’s new LiveWire electric motorcycle. The bike’s co-designer, MIAD alum Ben McGinley ’10 (Industrial Design), attended the event and was featured in the Milwaukee Business Journal. A slideshow of the event also is available from the Milwaukee Business Journal.

Creative Fusion Contributing Sponsors include Associated Bank, Madeleine and David Lubar, Eileen and Barry Mandel, Susan and Bob Mikulay, Quad and Weyco Group, Inc. See the full list of sponsors.

Sarah and Steve Zimmerman, Cynthia and Jim Stoll, Madeleine and David Lubar, Sang H. Kim and  Bryan LeMonds served on this year’s event committee. MIAD Trustee Denisha Tate-McAlister emceed the event.

Experiences and artwork by established artists and MIAD students is available at Creative Fusion

Funds raised from Creative Fusion sponsorships, as well as the scholarship bid, live auction experiences, and Buy It Now auction of work by established artists and MIAD students, support the 100% of students who receive financial aid, including scholarships. MIAD has received national accolades from Money Magazine for being one of the top 3 art and design colleges in the country for helping students from low-income backgrounds attain upper-middle-class jobs.

Creative Fusion was founded in 2007 by Madeleine and David Lubar. Past chairs include Chris and Amy Goller, Molly Gallagher and Peter Kies, Katie Heil and Peter Mahler, Brenda and Matt Levatich, Jennifer and Tom Florsheim, Susanna and Justin Mortara, Linda and Greg Marcus – among many others.

Leading Sponsor:

Harley-Davidson Motor Company logo

 

 

 

About MIAD: As an accredited, nonprofit college, MIAD provides a transformative Bachelor of Fine Arts education that prepares students of diverse backgrounds for fulfilling and financially rewarding careers. MIAD fosters innovative, entrepreneurial and disruptive thinking that benefits our students and our corporate and nonprofit partners. MIAD also brings robust career pathways and college-readiness experiences to high school youth and provides cultural experiences and programming to the Greater Milwaukee community.

News

MIAD Values Recognition Award: Leslie Fedorchuk

Leslie Fedorchuk, Professor of Writing & Humanities and Director of Service Learning, received the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) MIAD Values Recognition Award for February 2026. Leslie received nominations that highlighted her embodiment of MIAD’s Core Values, especially Integrity, Kindness and Community.

MIAD Innovation Center and MAM provide career experience

Through a partnership with the MIAD Lubar Innovation Center, stunning campaign artwork by a student at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) once again is helping to launch Art in Bloom – the Milwaukee Art Museum’s annual celebration of art and spring. Illustrations by senior Emily Porven ’26 are both vibrant and subtle, colorful and evocative, capturing the essence of the event.

Nohl Alumni Award propels lasting impact for MIAD professor

Receiving a Ruth Arts Mary L. Nohl Alumni Award has both immediate and longer-term impacts for Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design Professor Jon Horvath; for himself as an artist, for the arts community and for MIAD students. Horvath, who teaches in MIAD’s Fine Art + New Studio Practice major, was one of three artists and one collective recently given the award, which provides $25,000 in unrestricted funds to each.

Arts education lays groundwork for MIAD alum curatorial role

Nikki Ranney ’22 (Illustration), the new curator of the Cedarburg Art Museum, says she “is so grateful that I went through my Bachelor of Fine Arts and got to experience a traditional art education at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design because it laid the groundwork for the more academic side of the curatorial field.”

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.