Select Page

Summerfest collaborates with MIAD Lubar Innovation Center

This year, Milwaukee Summerfest partnered with the Lubar Innovation Center at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) to design the 2025 lineup poster.

Kai Kilgore ’25 (Illustration) and Xander Maxwell ’26 (Illustration – Animation Track) were hired by the Innovation Center to iterate and produce Summerfest’s poster. After considering both designs, Summerfest moved forward with Maxwell’s space-themed poster.

A blank poster for Summerfest. The background is an aquatic scene with an otter, fixes, and other creatures with instruments.

Kai Kilgore, “Summerfest lineup poster,” 2025.

A Summerfest poster with the 2025 lineup featuring a purple and pink sunset with robots and ufos

Xander Maxwell, “Summerfest lineup poster,” 2025.

Maxwell says, “Working with the Innovation Center is always great. The opportunity to get work experience as a student is one of the most valuable things I have experienced at MIAD. I feel like all of the projects I have done have really benefited me as an artist while also pushing me to make great work. Being able to put actual work in my portfolio is a great thing that would benefit anybody.”

“Working with the MIAD Lubar Innovation Center on this project was an exceptional experience from ideation to completion,” says Jerrod Woods, Senior Director of Marketing at Milwaukee World Festival, Inc. “Their professionalism, creativity, and passion made this collaboration an unforgettable experience. We look forward to finding more ways to work with the Innovation Center in the future.”

Learn more about MIAD’s Lubar Innovation Center!

News

Meet Kas Cook and 2026 Senior Exhibition Project Mcallaster’s Special

Cas Kook ’26 (Animation Track in Illustration) is a Dean’s List student from the Greater Chicago area and a recipient of a 2026 Alumni Thesis Award. “Project Calvin Sazerac” is about Calvin Sazerac, a seasoned barkeep, who creates new cocktails for his favorite regulars. When he is challenged to meet the demands of a picky saloon patron, he creates something life changing.

Meet Mac Bronnson and 2026 Senior Exhibition Project MENd

Mac Bronnson ’26 (Communication Design) is a President’s (Honor) List student from Milwaukee and a recipient of a 2026 Alumni Thesis Award. MENd – No Bro Left Behind is a men’s mental health app that is not designed as a mental health app.

Meet Cyrill Reyes and 2026 Senior Exhibition Project NECROZOIC

Cyrill Reyes ’26 (Illustration) is a President’s (Honor) List student from the Greater Chicago area. My thesis is game concept art and visual development of the world of NECROZOIC, a prehistoric fantasy that retells the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Meet Bailey Staerkel and 2026 Senior Exhibition Project Stitched Together

Bailey Staerkel ’26 (Fashion and Apparel Design) is a Dean’s List student from Vancouver, Wash., and a recipient of a 2026 Alumni Thesis Award. My thesis, Stitched Together, is an exploration of Gothic horror through fashion, taking classic horror archetypes and reinterpreting them into a collection of fully realized couture looks.