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In Arts & Entertainment Briefs

By OnMilwaukee.com Staff Writers

Published June 12, 2008 at 2:30 p.m.

Tags: bronze fonz, mike brenner, marn, arts, visit milwaukee

On May 28, 2008 artist (and OnMilwaukee.com interactive designer from 2000-2002) Mike Brenner closed his art gallery, Hotcakes, in response to an announcement that Visit Milwaukee had raised the $85,000 needed to build a life-sized monument to TV character, Arthur Fonzerelli, in less than two months.

At the time, he said, "The so called 'leaders' of this town have their heads up their asses," said Brenner. "They spend $1.1M on a poorly executed light display for the Marcus Center and $85,000 on a Bronze Fonz. The people with money and power in Milwaukee are SO disconnected with what's really going on in the world. Until they all retire to Phoenix or die, Milwaukee is set on a steady course to become the next Detroit."

Now, after eight years Brenner has officially resigned as Executive Director of MIlwaukee Artist Resource Network (MARN). Brenner declared in a news release, "A city so eager to erect a Bronze Fonze is clearly intellectually bankrupt. I can no longer give my time or money to a city so resistant to moving forward and embracing progress. All my friends were right to leave this city the minute we graduated from high school."

No new director has been named.

Eight years ago, Brenner and five other concerned artists formed the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network (MARN) in an effort to make Milwaukee a city worth living in by supporting individual literary, performing and visual artists. "I didn't need Richard Florida to show me a pie chart to know that the key to economic development is having a thriving community of active intellectuals," stated Brenner.

To his credit, MARN has become a hub of the arts community and grown to include more than 1,200 artists by providing mentoring programs for professional artists, exhibition opprtunities, workshops and e-mails that keep the community abreast of all local arts events.

Brenner has said that he's moving from Milwaukee, but he remains a resident and is said to be bartending in town while looking for work elsewhere.

24 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review.

Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by commonsense on Sept. 30, 2009 at 6:35 p.m. (report)

to the previous post. marn certainly still exists and has existed continuously. brenner and previously sheppard are neither one at the helm is all. i understand that the organization is now run more efficiently and is still useful and certainly supported. hotcakes gallery is gone and was not part of the marn organization. the gallery was brenner owned and separate from marn.

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Posted by jpegorsch on Jan. 21, 2009 at 9:29 a.m. (report)

I moved from Milwaukee to Baltimore about 2 years ago. I was unaware that MARN and Hotcakes are no longer. I found MARN after graduating from College in 03. I was coming back to Milwaukee (where I am originally from) and wanted a place to meet other artists in the area since I had been out of the loop. MARN was such a great way to learn about what was going on in the artist community and a wonderful resource for artists. I am saddened by the fact that this network was not supported. I am working in Baltimore to create a similar community for artists. I hope that Milwaukee artists and those interested in the arts will proceed to uplift the artist community/ city. Good luck Milwaukee.

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Posted by commonsense on July 5, 2008 at 4:48 p.m. (report)

Wow! First, a correction. To my knowledge, Mike Brenner would have been at the helm of MARN six years this upcoming October, 2008. Not eight years as stated in the article. The group was formed through meetings set up by a gentlemen called Mark Fraire. These meetings brought together a large group of concerned Milwaukee artists, and from those meetings, approximately six dedicated people took up the task of forging the organization that became known as the MilwaukeeArtistResourceNetwork. A man called George Sheppard was the face of the organization and its leader for the first two years. In that period, Brenner was one of the founding members, as was Sheppard, and he was an important force during that time in creating the website and online services and also the organizations lecture series. The two men worked on these projects together and became a strong team through the second half of Sheppard's tenure. Sheppard's time as president of MARN ended in October of 2002 when Brenner took over. Whatever your opinion may be of his personality or methods, he has done much good over the years. Although Mike Brenner's flamboyance over this issue of the bronze Fonze appears to be an attention and publicity seeking venture, (which is not necessarily a bad thing and something anyone in the public eye does no matter how righteous and worthy ones cause and rhetoric may be), he does have a valid issue over how we choose to spend our money. Henry Winkler was not born in Milwaukee, did not live in Milwaukee, and the T.V. show Happy Days was not filmed in Milwaukee. Brenner's hopes may be a bit idealistic. We do need people however that try to get us to reach for our highest potential. That must be done with humility however and with the knowledge that that high ideal will never be reached and one must find joy and reassurance in the goals that are met. If private funds were raised because people want a bronze Fonze that badly, go for it. It does sadden me that really interesting art like the "blue shirt" project for instance several years back was fought hard against, and something as lame as a bronze statue of a fictional character like the Fonze is moved on so eagerly. The blue shirt would have been a far more interesting and effective way to comment on the culture and history of our city, Milwaukee. For my part, once it is erected, (the bronze Fonze), I won't really know how to explain it and will have a certain amount of embarrassment in my city because of it. I just hope it is not placed too prominently. This makes me think of a lovely bronze statue that sits outside the courthouse downtown on the raised plaza that few ever see. It is of a wonderful attention grabber that I admire greatly, Mahatma Gandhi. Wish that statue was shown more visibly in our city.

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Posted by blackpurse on June 18, 2008 at 12:58 p.m. (report)

Yeah, I wish people would quit looking down on bartenders (Brenner included). A good bartender is a a good listener, outstanding at customer service, quick on his feet, and knows and loves his clientele but understands that they are his customers. That's hard work. I don't think it's work Brenner will be good at.

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Posted by college_dave on June 17, 2008 at 11:32 p.m. (report)

Mkelover: Yes, however, most fondly I remember working at Angelo's Piano Lounge. Working for Ang was awesome & the people I met there were amazing. Thanks.

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