MILWAUKEE — An old home on the corner of Hopkins and Courtland has stood there for nearly a century. The house was used to raise Symphony Swan Zawadi and her family, but it's the next chapter she tells me that will inspire a generation of future artists.
Symphony Swan Zawadi grew up on the Northside.
"This room here was actually the room I grew up in," Symphony said. "It felt so much bigger when I was a kid, but this will be a home for any artist where they can create."
Her father, a creative artist and mechanic himself, raised her to tap into her talents.
"I remember my dad always saying, 'Don't spend your time watching TV when you can spend your time learning how to do something," Symphony added.
She lost both her parents recently and through coping, found her purpose.
"He came to me in a dream after he passed away and told me not to sell the house. I had no idea what that meant," she said.
Fast forward, and she and her husband Joshua decided to launch the CR8TV House, a hub for artists to work, gather, and share their projects.
"This side of town has been deemed a ghetto, forgotten about. It may be a lot of different things, but it is ours," Joshua Liston-Zawadi, Symphony's husband, said. "We often talk about the marginalization of black folks, but we never talk about how we can be the necessary change."
The CR8TV House will include an exhibit room, gathering space, and workshop.
"It's all about activity, radical imagination, support, and collaboration, specifically on the Northside of Milwaukee," Symphony said.
Leilan Lopez Balsini, an artist assisting with the home, believes artists can change the community.
"I think it's important for Black and brown people, but particularly for Black folks, and for it to be accessible in the inner city," Balsini said."I think local artists are the heart of community and movements, so I think accessibility is going to be key."
The CR8TV House has an exhibit planned for the fall.
"This dream is far overdue. Because we deserve it. We exist here," Symphony said. "We shouldn't have to just go to the Third Ward or downtown to experience art when it's literally around us. We just gotta open our eyes."
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