- Angela Fitzgerald: Coming up on Wisconsin Life :
meet a Milwaukee DJ mixing it up,
[juggling beats]
a pair bringing goats to pasture,
[goats bleating]
a teen who's hitting the target,
[thud, thud]
and a talented puppet maker.
It's all ahead
on Wisconsin Life !
*
- Wisconsin Life
is funded in part by
Alliant Energy,
Lowell and Mary Peterson,
American Transmission Company,
the Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programming,
and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.
- Hi, I'm Angela Fitzgerald and this is Wisconsin Life.
I'm getting theatrical as
I join the Black Arts MKE Youth Performing Arts Summer Camp.
The camp is held at the Black Arts MKE home-base
at the Marcus Performing Arts Center,
in the heart of downtown Milwaukee.
Black Arts MKE is a non-profit organization
that works to increase the availability
of African American arts in the community.
They've teamed up with Bronzeville Arts Ensemble
producing artistic director Sheri Williams Pannel
and other performing arts professionals
to create a full immersion experience
into the theatrical world.
Over a one-month course, young adults get hands-on experience
with almost every aspect of producing musical theatre.
Camp-goers can try their hand at set design,
costume design,
as well as performing on stage,
including music and dance.
[slide whistle]
[thud] - All: Ka-boom!
- All their hard work pays off in the end of the month
with live performances,
showcasing their dedication and talents.
It's a summer camp helping to shape and encourage
a future generation of creators.
Now, we meet another creator in Milwaukee,
a local DJ, sharing her craft with her community.
[hip-hop instrumental music]
- I feel like
I'm a eclectic ball
of awesome and exciting things.
*
My name is Nelly Vigil
and I'm a professional DJ in Milwaukee.
My deejay name is DJ Loop.
L, double-O, P.
In high school, I was going through a rough time,
and hip-hop was
the only type of music at that time
that really fit what I was going through.
I'm not from this country,
so growing up has been different for me.
What I'm going to do with my life,
the plan isn't the same as everyone else.
And so that's how I got into hip-hop music.
I just wanted to have my own spot in it.
So I chose deejaying.
*
There's so many layers and parts to it.
It's not just going up there and pressing a button
and letting one side, one record, or one song play,
and then you press play on the other one, right?
No, like, you gotta blend it.
Every song has, you know, a heartbeat.
Its own beat per minute: how fast, how slow.
Does it fit the vibe of where you are?
[crowds cheers]
So, connecting with the crowd when it comes to deejaying,
you just really got to know what the crowd wants.
And it can start from you playing one song.
If you see that they're really into it,
they're really feeling it,
you're going to play a song that's similar to it, right?
You want to keep that vibe going.
You're not going to play something
that's completely different.
You know, you want the energy to keep rising.
My background is heavily influenced by hip-hop,
but I also know so much music,
especially being on the radio.
*
What up, what up, Milwaukee?
This is DJ Loop, and you're listening to Fresh and Direct.
I'm a deejay and host on 91.7 FM, WMSE.
It's community-powered,
so it is a college radio music station.
But I am a deejay so I curate my music.
I have all my playlists ready to go.
So, tell me, why did you start rapping?
And I'm also a host so that means getting interviews,
getting content for my show
because I don't want it to be
me just playing music for three hours.
It's from 9 p.m. to midnight on Tuesday nights.
If there's something you want to tell the people of Milwaukee
that are listening to you right now...
I always thought, "Hey, if I'm ever going to be in a position
where I have a platform to uplift my community,
that's what I'm going to do."
Here at WMSE, we are 100% community-powered.
So, that's what I do on my show: interviews
and, of course, I play a lot of hip-hop,
independent and old school hip-hop.
So Nas, Wu-Tang Clan, Gang Starr,
all the, you know, OGs of hip-hop,
as well as, like, JID, Denzel Curry, Travis Scott,
but I try to make sure
that I don't really sound like other radio stations
that could have that content.
"90210" Travis Scott,
coming up on Fresh and Direct.
Peace.
[scratching record "zwicka, zwicka"]
- Eep, eep, eep, [chicky-chip-chaw] eep.
- So, that motion is good.
Both of your motions are good.
It's just the timing.
The Scratch Sessions started
in 2017,
in about September or October.
[scribble, scribble] They're basically at a place
where we'll have women, men who just want to come in
and, you know, learn how to deejay.
Maybe it's their first time
touching a controller or turntable.
Or maybe it's their first time even thinking
that it's a possibility for them.
[juggling the beat]
It's just a space where people can come in,
and feel comfortable, and see if they want to deejay.
Yeah, close it. Bring it back.
For the most part,
girls catch on faster than the boys,
which I think is very interesting.
It's always like that.
And I feel good when I see girls, you know, getting it
and just being, like, super quick about it
[bzzzt, bzzzt]
because that's part of the mission
that I'm here to serve.
Not only have them doing it, right,
but to make women and girls feel like they can do it,
which is the biggest takeaway because even if they don't DJ,
they'll go do something else that's male-dominated,
and be like, "I can do this.
You know, I already did it."
*
I feel like The Scratch Sessions
is me trying to give back to my community
and trying to give back to someone that is in my situation
or somehow feels like
they just want to DJ, man.
You know, like, I just wanna be a DJ.
[smooth dance music]
Ultimately, I just really want to be someone
that the women in my community can look up to
and be like, "Hey, you know,
I can do what she did, just in my own different way."
I just want to be someone that people can look up to,
just, like, a source of inspiration.
*
- Next up, we head to Westby
where a pair has teamed up
to ditch mowers
for a much livelier
way of landscaping.
[crickets chirping]
- Vernon County sits in the heart
of Wisconsin's Driftless Area.
[water current burbling]
It's full of peaceful places to get away and enjoy nature.
It's also home to the latest
in low-tech vegetation management.
[whimsical music]
[baa-aah]
These goats and sheep belong to Ben Robel.
- I didn't want to get a real job after college
so I bought two goats,
and two goats has led to 300.
- Robel runs Vegetation Solutions.
[maa, maa-ah] - Beep, beep, beep, beep.
[baa-ah]
- A company that rents out herds of animals
to use for vegetation control.
[baa-ah-ah-ah-ah]
- We have over 300 animals.
Ah, there's 65-ish here.
The herds are spread out all over the place,
and this is just one location
that we have them at right now.
- Today, the herd is working a two-to-three-acre area
at Esofea/Rentz Park.
- We're cleaning up on a trout stream
to give better access to trout fishermen
so they can have more public access in this park.
[chewing sounds]
- Vernon County Conservationist Ben Wojahn
says these goats are crucial
to control invasive plant species.
- We're really at an epidemic level
of our oak, hickory, and walnut forests
just not regenerating
and largely because of invasive species.
- While Robel often works with private landowners,
this project is a partnership
with Vernon County Land and Water.
- The county board definitely looked at me funny
a couple of years ago,
[beh-eh-eh-eh]
but now I think they're much more supportive,
and they were willing to take a chance
on Ben and Ben and the "crazy goat project."
[baaa-ah, meh-eh-eh, bah]
- Robel says the advantage to using sheep and goats
is they can chew vegetation in hard to reach places,
and it's environmentally friendly.
- Robel: It's just an alternative to mowing,
chainsaws, chemicals, fire.
It's just one more tool in the toolbox
to use for vegetation management.
[grazing sounds]
- Wojahn is now using Robel's herds
throughout the Vernon County Park System.
[water current gurgling]
- Wojahn: We're a very flood-prone region.
So, there's a number of issues, including invasives moving in
but also large amounts of debris along our stream corridor.
So, often, we cannot mow those areas.
[crickets chirping and goats munching]
They get in there and they clean it up.
- We put them in a small, small paddock, a small area
to eat that area for about a week, 10 days,
and then, they get moved on to another area.
I think around here
they've probably gone through about 10 acres so far,
and then, in a week or so,
they're going to be moved to another area
to start the process all over again.
- Come on, guys!
- It's an organic method, but it's not easy.
It takes people to monitor and move the herd.
- Livestock are 24/7.
It's not like a lawnmower
where you can just shut the turn the key off,
and they're done.
So, at any given point, something can happen.
- Even so,
Ben and Ben aren't sheepish
about the success of their partnership.
- They do a great job managing the animals.
I come and check on them as needed
and there haven't been any issues.
So, everything's-- it's been a win-win for both of us.
- I do maybe get a little feedback from my staff
that they don't really feel like moving goats all of the time.
One of my crazy ideas,
but they're starting to think it's not so crazy
because we really are seeing a lot of benefits,
just a lot of control that
it would not be occurring if we didn't have this partnership.
*
I'm celebrating local theatre in Milwaukee
with a group of teens as they prepare
to bring their production to life.
- So, whatever you do, do the best of your ability.
And remember as you're doing it to have a beautiful...?
- Teens: Smile.
- Teacher: Because I know you enjoy what you do.
- Black arts MKE is a nonprofit organization
that brings art and original performances
by African American artists
to the local community.
- Grady Crosby: Black Arts MKE kind of started
as a facilitator and a collaborator
of different and disparate black arts programs
around the city.
There are multiple programs, even organizations,
that have been folded into Black Arts Milwaukee
that provide a number of different programs:
everything from children's programming
to adults performing arts.
Just about anything in the arts space
you can find at Black Art Milwaukee.
I think that's our legacy
and making sure that arts
not only just arts are well and alive in Milwaukee,
but the specific genre
of black arts can-- remains vibrant
and just really well and thriving
right here in the city of Milwaukee.
[teacher asks a question]
- Artists at the youth summer performing arts camp
work to script, construct sets,
and bring an original production to life.
[cheering excitedly]
- Everybody sit down, you know, give ideas.
You know, see what they're best at
and make sure they are comfortable with it.
- And that includes making the costumes?
- Niya Winston: Yes, yes, everybody is included in everything.
So, as you saw today, we we're making--
Everybody's making their own costume,
sewing everything.
Theys making the backdrop.
It was just everything was done by everybody.
It was not no person left out
so that's the good part about it.
That's pretty cool what you are able to see like,
an entire production from start to finish,
and they will touch every part. - Mm-hmm.
- Are there any components of the camp that surprised you,
like, when you started doing them, or when you joined?
- The surprising part was
the learning about different cultures.
That was what was surprising
because most camps don't do that.
You just, you know, we're doing this play.
We doing that play.
We're gonna do this; Here are your lines.
We really learn different songs from different languages,
a part of the production that we're doing.
So, yes, I really-- that was the surprising part,
like, wow, we really learned about these things.
So, yeah, that was really--
- So, you leave the camp
with not only a immersion experience in theater production
but also a cultural experience, as well.
- Yes, a cultural experience. - Thank you so much, Niya!
- You're welcome!
[shouting, groans, slide whistle]
A learning experience that all pays off
with a public performance.
[hitting the floor, laughter]
- Ka-boom!
- Ha-ha, ha-ha!
- The experience offers campers
an opportunity to discover new skills
in an engaging and creative space.
There are so many talented teens
around our state,
including in Cadott, where we met a teen
keeping his eye on the target.
*
- Coach: Get in your spot.
[whistle]
[snap, thud]
There you go. Good job.
- It's 7:00 a.m.
and physical education teacher Scott Christenson
has these archers up early.
- Make sure you're steadied on it.
[snap]
Don't worry about where your arrow's going.
It'll get there.
- As the arrows fly,
Scott's encouragement is right on target.
- Make sure you're steadied on it.
[thud]
There.
When I actually got hired here,
I decided to bring it into Cadott High School
with the National Archery in the Schools Program
and the rest is kind of history.
[thud] [blows whistle twice]
Last round and you guys gotta get to class.
- A block away,
there's another young archer practicing in his basement.
[snap, thud]
- I just kind of fell in love with archery and bows.
Usually, the first thing I do is set my stance.
And then, I'll adjust my glove to where I want it.
Then, from there, it's just routine.
Pull back and shoot.
[snap, thud]
- Kaden is homeschooled along with his sister,
and the family dog is always close by.
- Mom: So, for these problems, you can do the FOIL method.
- His mom is teacher, cook, and homework helper.
- Because we have a negative 20 here,
so we have to have a negative 20.
- Gives you a lot of freedom.
More chances to do a little bit more in archery, I guess.
- Anyone can do the math when looking at the archery honors
that hang on Kaden's bedroom wall.
His best score is a 298 in competition.
He's aiming for perfection.
- My goal is to try to get a 300 in tournament.
And to hopefully win state
and to place at nationals again
would be cool.
*
- In this small town, big accomplishments spread quickly.
And just down the street, enter the high school,
and you are greeted by banners
signaling years of archery success.
- We've had some pretty darn good archers
come through this program.
So, he's probably grown up his whole life
seeing me coach archery,
and it probably rubbed off on him.
- Scott, the archery coach, is Kaden's dad.
- He's taught me everything I know
about archery.
- Coaching him is easy.
Nice and relaxed.
Down and away with the elbow.
[snap, thud] Good job.
Much better release.
- Kaden: He'll see if I'm torking the string
or dropping my bow a little bit.
- There's really a mental edge in archery.
You have to be focused on every shot
and committed on every shot.
- That's just the drive it takes and the practice it takes
and the dedication.
Being at practice every day.
- He's really fussy. [thud]
He's a perfectionist. [thud]
He's persistent. [thud]
He's not happy and he's not satisfied
until he gets that perfect round.
- Mom: That's good.
- Because Kaden is homeschooled,
he can practice with the high school team
but competes as an individual.
[snap, thud]
Kaden's archery career
almost ended before it even started
with a freak accident in the basement.
- Kaden: The 2014 season,
first year I was ever
in the National Archery in the Schools Program,
my bow got wet because it was snowing out.
So, I hung it up downstairs by the fire on a nail.
And a couple days later, I went to grab it.
And it got caught.
Then the nail came out and actually shot me.
So, it shot me right in the chest.
- X-rays reveal the extent of his injury.
- Then, I couldn't do archery for two or three weeks,
because I couldn't pull back the bow.
Definitely gave me motivation.
[thud]
- In 2018, Kaden rode that motivation
all the way to the National Shoot-Out round.
On the line,
thousands of dollars in scholarships
and just one chance to shoot the arrow.
- I just tell myself
to just trust my aim
and trust my form.
- I was kind of a wreck,
but it was fun to watch.
- Kaden: There's nothing to get worried about.
Just pull back and let her go.
If there's more nerves in shooting for $10,000
or turkey at ten yards full strut coming in,
it gets pretty nerve-racking there.
- I was very nervous for him.
I was actually running the home video camera,
so I was trying to hold it as steady as I could.
- On this day,
Kaden would have to find the nerve,
step back 15 meters,
and let fate fly at a tiny bullseye.
- It's about that big.
About the size of an orange.
[snap, thud]
[whistle]
- He shot well enough
to take home a $10,000 scholarship.
- Under pressure, he can handle it.
I think that's what separates him from the other kids
is that he just deals with that pressure in his own way.
If history repeats itself,
he's only second in the Wisconsin state,
and third in the nation, and third in the world.
It's unbelievable.
It's beyond my wildest dreams.
Yeah, he's pretty good.
- Having one of his student archers achieve elite success
was something Scott only dreamed of
when he first started the archery program.
- It was my goal to have some kid someday
place at the national tournament
and hopefully get into that scholarship shoot-off
and win a scholarship.
It's cool because it's my own kid.
I can't take anything away
from the kids that we've had here in the past.
They've been extremely good at archery
and have had some really good accomplishments
throughout the years.
- As for Kaden, he's focused on the future.
- My dream would be an Olympic archer.
I would love to do that.
[snap, thud]
And I've always looked up to them guys.
It'd be cool to shoot with them one day.
[snap, thud]
- For our last story,
we travel to Madison,
where one artist
is pulling all the strings.
*
- Ken Vogel: When people ask me
how many puppets I've made in my life
and I, for a long time, I've said 10,000 or so.
My name is Ken Vogel.
I'm a puppet maker.
I've always thought there are two elements of the puppets
that I sell that are appealing to people,
that catch peoples' eye.
One is the design of the face, the look of the face.
And then, it's the costume basically.
Mainly, those are the two obvious things.
It's been close to 50 years now
that I've been working on puppets.
What's changed is my level of skill.
You know, I think I can get more subtle effects than I used to.
I've done so many heads
that I sort of know
what mistakes to avoid
and where to steer myself.
I get up in the morning
and make coffee
and sit down at my desk
and try to do
two to three hours of work.
I make a mold out of modeling clay
about that big,
that big,
and cover that with papier mâché.
Let it dry each time.
And then, eventually, put the front half of the head
back together with the back half.
While the papier mâché has been drying
over the course of the last few days,
I've been working on the costumes.
Cutting out the fabric
and sewing it on my machine.
[whirr]
It's like six or seven little steps that I'm taking
and sometimes more.
You know, I get the greatest pleasure out of all of these
because I get the fun of making them
and see them evolve,
and I've sort of absorbed all of the pleasure
I can get from making them
and looking at them when they're finished.
I think if I were just making art with no customer in mind,
that would be not quite as fulfilling.
*
I was doing some puppet sales
at the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Somebody who worked at Ella's
saw the puppets
and brought the attention of Ken Balkin,
the owner of Ella's.
Some of the people at Ella's told me
there's a man in here
who's been buying a lot of puppets:
Jim Kirchstein.
He was a customer there and a big fan of the puppets.
One time I was there, for one reason or another,
and they pointed over to him
and said, "That's the guy who's buying all of them."
So, they suggested I do a puppet of him.
When I stopped selling puppets directly to Ella's,
he tracked me down
and started coming here
or calling me on the phone
and asking for puppets to add to his collection.
- Jim Kirchstein: Marcel Marceau.
He was the first puppet I had made.
And then, from then on,
we get ideas, we'd call Ken.
We got into biblical characters.
We got into mythology.
We got into musicians.
We got into a lot of political people,
including governors.
And also, a lot of artists and authors.
So, by the time we got around to present day,
our puppet population
was a little over 400.
- Once in a while, he'll bring me pictures,
but I'll often have to do some research on the characters.
Some of the puppets that he has
are puppets of his family members,
his children and grandchildren.
- Kirchstein: The beauty of all this is the pleasure they bring.
It's fun for me to surprise people.
I love to bring them down here, and they come.
They're completely overwhelmed when they see all this.
I think what Ken's done is miraculous
and I love talent.
Very nice person.
He is very appreciative
of people that like his work.
- You did a great job on the likeness.
Yeah.
- Good, I'm glad you like it. - Yeah.
- Jim has this wonderful collection.
And I've been conscious of that being
the, kind of, premier collection of my work
and the fact that that will be there
even after he and I are both gone.
That is a real wonderful thought
that it will...
it will exist beyond me.
All of those hours, if you put them together,
that's why I did this
because it was pleasurable to do it.
And even if the puppets would all be destroyed,
I would have had that pleasure in my life
of being a creative person
and being able to have done this all these years.
*
- That's a wrap!
As the camp ends another day
of bringing theater to life
right here in Milwaukee.
If you'd like to learn more about Black Arts MKE
or any of the people or places you've seen today,
visit WisconsinLife.org .
And if you have a story to share,
email us at WisconsinLife@wpt.org .
I'm Angela Fitzgerald
and this is our Wisconsin Life .
Places!
[rhythm and chanting]
[cheering]
- Wisconsin Life
is funded in part by
Alliant Energy,
Lowell and Mary Peterson,
American Transmission Company,
the Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programming,
and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.