Customer Spotlight
Creating Creative Space
Gallery of Black Essentials event at the studio
What started as a magazine focusing on urban and cultural content in the areas of art, music, fashion, community and culture is now not only a publication, but a space and organization dedicated to fostering the work and living of those topics. With the help of MEDC and a Brew City Match (BCM) Grant, Lexi S. Brunson, owner and editor-in-chief, has renovated a space in the heart of Bronzeville into CW Creative Studios + Shop, home of a retail storefront, makers space and venue for creative programming and events.
CopyWrite Magazine started as a project in a liberal studies course while Lexi was studying for a degree in an interior architecture and design. It highlighted the stories of her creative friends, their work and the spaces where they were making. Through this project, she learned a lot about community and access, or lack thereof, to space for creative work, particularly for disenfranchised people and people of color. “I took the narrative, pulling from the work we have been doing over the last 10 years, and applied it to this space, whether that’s a platform or a building, that helps elevate and change the old narrative of creative life to one that better serves the people working in it,” she says.
“People have the ability to make their business come to life, and I'm proud to be a part of that, of people doing what they love."
Now spiffed up and wired, the studio has hosted music listenings, gallery shows, a movie screening, and monologues and poetry readings. Because connection to the community is also essential to the vision, the organization has also participated in Bronzeville Week and Gallery Night. Birthday parties and baby showers have been celebrated there as well. Rentals are available through membership for those looking for a long-term home for their making and creative endeavors. There are also options for non-members to rent space for events. The shop uses a rental placement model to ensure product visibility. It is open 1-6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Through Lexi’s work on the magazine, she found that creating is often solitary work. While this can be good for focus and production, it can also leave creatives closed off to new ideas and opportunities. The concept for CW Creative Studios + Shop includes the hope that a space where people are creating and comfortable, will also be a space where people can collaborate. In fact, collaborations have already given life to studio events, such as the Breakfast with Champions series, a daytime creative showcase that includes breakfast, visual arts, music performance and education, and The Gallery of Black Essentials, a live fashion experience showcasing Black cultural expression in a gallery format.
The project has required vision, dedication and sweat labor. But it’s not the physical space that pleases Lexi as much as what it means. “The fact that our doors are open is what I’m proud of.” Lexi says. “People have the ability to make their business come to life, and I’m proud to be a part of that, of people doing what they love”
Screening room and kitchenette at the studio
CW Creative Studios + Shop is located at 2201 N Doctor M.L.K. Jr. Dr., Milwaukee. You can find more about events, membership, publications, the shop and more.