We are proud to announce that our new studio space located at 1300 W. Fond du Lac, in collaboration with Running Rebels, is now open. The summer program runs through August 7, Mondays-Thursdays. 12:30-3:30 PM. To Register please call the Express Yourself Office at (414) 272-3498.

On Thursday May 15, the Express yourself Milwaukee Show "Celebrate" was indeed a celebration of our year of hard work and collaboration.

Each year Express Yourself Milwaukee, Inc. presents a grand performance that represents the culmination of a year’s worth of multi-disciplined arts study, creation, and practice by the participants of five Milwaukee agencies and schools serving at-risk youth.

Each year Express Yourself Milwaukee, Inc. presents a grand performance that represents the culmination of a year’s worth of multi-disciplined arts study, creation, and practice by the participants of five Milwaukee agencies and schools serving youth in-risk.

Express Yourself Milwaukee is an organization founded on the collaboration of artists and the art of collaboration. Truly, collaboration is an art. Partnership is not easy. It is a union, which requires release of individual egos and of self-promotion in order to succeed. So, the process is as, or possibly more important than the material outcome.

In the world we desire, childhood is a carefree and innocent time of life. In the world we have, it is too often marked by violence and trauma. The "Remembrance Tree" was an artistic response, at one of Express Yourself Milwaukee's program sites to respond to the loss of youth, done in collaboration with Golda Meir School for the Gifted and Talented, and a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board.

The Express Yourself Milwaukee, Inc. artistic team is made up of professional artists and art therapists skilled in their disciplines. While they're not working with EYM, they support themselves through their art.

Express Yourself Milwaukee celebrates the power of creative arts to transform the lives of underserved youth in the community. Express Yourself immerses young people into the creative world of music, dance and visual arts, celebrating cultural diversity and collaboration.

Think back to seeing a small child busy with her coloring, lost in creation. No hunger, no fighting, no need other than the task at hand. Her breathing slows, her eyes, hands, mouth and spirit all connected in the present. I have seen this same shift in the kids I work with at the detention center, and in adults and kids in psychiatric facilities, excused for a brief time from their turmoil. The energy changes, the molecules in the room seem to shift...healing is present.

DEMOGRAPHICS * 700 young people, ages 7–21, served annually * 70% male/30% female * 95% low-income * 85% African-American, 10% Caucasian, 5% Latino/Asian/Native American * 100% of the youth served are involved in special education programming * 33% of the youth are in the foster care system