sic) (upbeat music) - Hello, I'm Bohdan Zachary, vice president and general manager of Milwaukee PBS.

Tonight is a celebration of the tremendous work done by our team of producers, videographers, editors, engineers, and all of our staff that helps contribute to our storytelling efforts.

We like to say our story is you, and the Milwaukee PBS team delivers on that each month, telling the stories of the people of Milwaukee and Southeastern Wisconsin, you, your friends, and your neighbors.

Many of these are the unseen people at the station who make our local series, "1036", "Adelante", and "Black Nouveau", and are special, so meaningful.

Our team works with passion and diligence to present stories that speak about the issues and the interest of our community.

This month, the Milwaukee Press Club recognize several of our productions and stories from the past year at its annual award ceremony.

And we wanna take this time to share these again with you.

- And the gold award goes to Maryann Lazarski, Raul Galvan, Darin Malkowski, Scottie Lee Meyers, Tiff Pua, (indistinct), Bohdan Zachary, Milwaukee PBS Team.

Milwaukee PBS, a symbiotic celebration for Milwaukee to produce new home.

- This special Milwaukee PBS's stories of the year is an opportunity for us to acknowledge and to honor.

I am proud to present these stories one more time, all together in this one special, to fully acknowledge the work of our dedicated and talented staff.

With the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra moving into its new home in the restored Warner Grand Theatre, we saw it as a great opportunity to bring the MSO into your homes with a live performance special that later aired nationally on PBS stations across the country.

- [Announcer] The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, live from the Bradley Symphony Center.

Join the MSO for its 2021 grand opening concert featuring Gershwin, Ellington, Wilson, and Stravinsky, plus a world premier by composer, Eric Nathan.

PBS presents a Symphonic Celebration live from the Bradley Symphony Center, from the Bradley Symphony Center.

(upbeat music) - This is Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee's main street.

It's where we gather to celebrate the end of the war, a world series victory, civil rights progress, the great circus parade, and most recently an NBA championship.

And now it's where we go to hear the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

It's a welcome addition to the avenue where new development projects are reaching a crescendo.

(upbeat music) - Today, it is a parade for two.

I am Milwaukee PBS producer, Scottie Lee Meyers.

Next to me, this is Bobby Tan Zillow, senior editor and writer at onmilwaukee.com.

We are outside the beautiful Warner Grand Theatre, the new home of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.

What does a project like this mean for all of Wisconsin avenue and the surrounding neighborhood?

- I think this could be a really catalytic kind of project for this kind of neighborhood.

This is sort of the, the spotlight is on this one because it's such a beautiful theater that sat empty for so long and people worried what was gonna happen with this place.

And now, really the best possible outcome has happened.

- Yeah, it's great.

We have a cruiser behind us.

What don't you say we hop in?

- Go for you ride?

- Yeah, you can do this on a little tour.

Does that sound good?

- Yeah, sounds great, let's go.

- All the board.

(upbeat music) Right out the window here, we got the new and improved, the Avenue.

- [Bobby] Yes.

- We talked with Josh Krsnak.

He's really led an effort to revitalize this old shopping mall.

- Yeah, yeah, he really has.

And he's done a great job rethinking what it means because people have tried, in the past, to kind of bring it back to life, but they tried to bring it back to life by sort of doing the same thing that wasn't working before.

- So when I first started coming here, what I noticed about Wisconsin Avenue was how vibrant the city could be, 'cause it's right on the river.

And if you look, we're a block or two away from the Third Ward.

And I saw all that activity there and, I guess, confused me why there was nothing going on here because it really should.

When you seeing investments left and right, and when you have Graef plus a food hall, you can start getting some real traction.

One thing that was really great is Steve Chernof and his team called me and he said, we're looking to build a new symphony orchestra across the street.

It's gonna be really important to the city, it's gonna be great for your project.

- The MSO project has really been a catalyst.

Great engineers, they decided to move into the new avenue.

Because of the MSO project, I think we can bring back and have begun to bring back some of the glory of the old days.

- What do you think is in store for Wisconsin Avenue in the next five to 10 years?

What do you see?

- Well, I'm more excited now than I've been in a long time about it, just because there's such a sort of cresting wave of things happening.

You've got the MSO Bradley Symphony Center, got apartments into the Plankton Arcade, which was a lot of empty space for a long time.

So you've got more people living downtown.

You've got the expansion of the convention center beginning.

The Riverside is alive and well, right?

I mean, there's just all this stuff happening in, oh wait, how can I forget Milwaukee Tool?

Their office is coming downtown.

They're gonna bring hundreds of jobs to downtown.

- How do you think a redevelopment effort, like what we're seeing along Wisconsin Avenue, is like a great symphony orchestra?

How are they related?

- Well, I think they're related in the fact that, in the symphony, I'm gonna get the number of people wrong here, but you have a hundred people, a hundred plus people who are all doing their one seemingly little bit.

If you could solo out each instrument, everybody is maybe doing one little thing, but together, they're all coming together to create this big sort of magical majestic sound, right?

- Yeah.

All right, we are back where we started, at the beautiful Warner Grand Theatre.

I think that calls for a toast.

What do you think Bobby?

- I think so.

- Cheers.

- Cheers to Milwaukee.

- To Milwaukee.

- From our pre-concert special, here's a story on the restoration of the theater.

(upbeat music) - 90 Years ago, this building was built for the people of Milwaukee to enjoy movies and be entertained.

60 years ago, the Milwaukee Symphony was founded to provide a place for people to enjoy art.

And here we are now about to realize the dream of having this new symphony center open, not for the Milwaukee Symphony, but for the people of Milwaukee.

(upbeat music) - We are restoring a masterpiece of a 1930 movie palace.

And I think the city of Milwaukee is going to be super impressed with what the symphony has done to restore the original fabric of the theater and what it's done to adapt it to its own needs and uses.

- This building is part of the 1930s movement for movie palaces.

When people would come to the movies for a full experience, they would immerse themselves in the art and the beauty even before they got to see the screen.

And this building is a really gorgeous example of that.

(upbeat music) It has a couple of different decorative styles all within this one historic building.

When you walk in the theater, you're in a beautiful art deco lobby with aluminum leaf finishes that shine in the light, (upbeat music) with gold glazes that really make it glow, (upbeat music) with almost floor to ceiling mirrors with distinctive etching.

(upbeat music) And right from the minute you walk in the door, you feel that beauty and that special drama and glamor that is such an important part of the building.

(upbeat music) As you move through, you come into the house where the movie screen would be, and it's a completely different style.

It's more of a French Renaissance style.

So over the top, ornate plaster work with murals and romantic figures on the walls, really reinforcing that glorious glamorous feel that going to the movies can have.

Over the years, since 1930, a lot of things have happened here.

And it's the natural life cycle of a building to need some work from now and then.

- It sounds simple at first, take an old theater, turn it into a concert hall and add the modern amenities, 'cause there were like three bathrooms and no elevators in the building.

This building lived through the industrial revolution so it had picked up a lot of city grime along the way.

The basement had flooded in 1996 and then, add to it, the complexities of the acoustics and how precise everything had to be, how all additions had to be isolated from the theater hall.

No one wants to hear something going on in the addition during a concert.

All those things together added a rich texture of constraints that, as a designer, we thrive on.

- This is unique in that it is one project, but really it's five.

So we look at it as the north edition, the east edition, the south edition, the interior existing hall renovation, and then this office tower renovation as well.

It seems like the first third of the project that goes super fast because you're putting foundations and you're putting the structure up, you're doing all these visual things that you can see.

Moving the wall is a clear one, that wall was always gonna get moved.

- Moving the wall became one of the main driving parameters, not only for the volume of the theater itself, to be able to become a symphonic hall, so establishing that volume, but then it was a negotiation and working through how narrow the street could be and how much stage we needed to actually function as a symphonic hall.

(upbeat music) - Now it was a requirement of the park service, that's why we had to do it, because we couldn't mimic a historic wall, so we had to move it.

So we got to the wall move day.

That night it was actually tied into the final resting spot.

Overall, it went well.

(upbeat music) Then the middle third always seems to go slow.

And that middle third is kind of all the infrastructure that's going in.

It's putting up walls that you, there's no a drywall on, so you can see right through it.

It's all the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, AV, all those things are happening, but it visually doesn't look like you're progressing.

The last third now, which is kind of the fun piece where all the finishes and everything starts tying and coming into the project.

You can see from week to week, it's gonna go quick now and it's gonna start showing what the design is and what this is really gonna be.

(upbeat music) - [Eileen] A first pass for our artist was to come through and do a deep cleaning, a very careful cleaning with specific chemicals that would remove the dirt and dust, but leave the original paint intact.

The second portion for us was to restore any pieces that were missing.

If areas of a decorative finish had fallen off the wall, our artists would come in and replicate those, faithfully (upbeat music) so that at the end of the project, what you're gonna see is the finishes the way that you saw them back in 1930.

(upbeat music) Having a project like this, of the scale, size, complexity, right in our backyard, it's a really great example for us to show off our skills.

(upbeat music) - [Cory] There aren't many spaces left in the world that have the design that this has.

We saved a very unique historic building, which is something to be proud of.

And this is a legacy project for all of us.

(upbeat music) - The Bradley Symphony center will soon be a landmark.

(upbeat music) As you can see, the grand juror of this theater is remarkable.

(upbeat music) We're really, really excited about the Milwaukee Symphony's new chapter and hope that people across the community, state, and country will be inspired and moved by the performances, which will soon begin at the Bradley Symphony Center.

(upbeat music) - We have established an award-winning partnership with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, an America's dairy land at the crossroads, is the latest project.

Milwaukee PBS produces Maryann Lazarski and Scottie Lee Meyers, along with editor, Darin Malkowski and Journal Sentinel reporter, Rick Barrett, explore the dairy crisis, its impact on farmers and future farmers, and the businesses and communities that rely on this important industry.

(cow bellowing) - [Man] It's really sad.

A lot of dairy farmers in the area have exited.

They've sold their cows and quit.

(upbeat music) - [Farmer] Farmers have a huge impact on what the cost of your food is.

- Should I, as a consumer, be willing to pay a bit more for the dairy products?

The answer is probably yes.

I'm willing to pay more for each upgrade of my iPhone.

- This is a huge opportunity for dairy farmers because consumers do want to know where their food is coming from and how you're supporting local communities.

Farmers are gonna take their game to another level.

- [Farmer] There's still something left to be saved in Wisconsin in spite of the growth and the large scale operations.

- You gotta have the smaller farms.

It's just, you can't count on these big farms all the time.

You still gotta have the little guy.

And I think Wisconsin always will be America's dairy land.

I hope to God, it is.

(upbeat music) - The full documentary can be seen at milwaukeepbs.org or the Milwaukee PBS app on all streaming platforms.

Here is an extra story created in the partnership with PBS frontline, featuring the next generation of farmers who just might save the dairy industry.

(upbeat music) (birds chirping) - When you look at the dairy industry, I don't think small farmers have a lot of hope.

(upbeat music) - It's been in the family.

It's in our blood.

You don't wanna be that one that it just ends at you 'cause then you feel like it's on you for the rest of your life.

(upbeat music) - [Rick] The small dairy farm has been the backbone of America's dairy land.

I'm Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter, Rick Barrett, and I've been covering dairy industry for years.

Thousands of those family farms have been sold or forced out of business because of low milk prices, labor challenges, and new competition like non-dairy beverages.

The future of dairy farming is being passed from one generation to another in places like Clark County, Wisconsin, how will the next generation of dairy farmers survive and succeed?

I visited three families to find out.

(upbeat music) (cows bellowing) At Roehl Acres, you'll often find Dennis and Suzie Roehls, three children, doing their daily chores.

(cow bellowing) What do you want for your kids?

Do you want them to be the next generation on the farm?

- Oh, I think so.

I think so.

As long as you embrace the change.

- [Rick] The Roehl kids would be fourth generation dairy farmers if they continue the family business.

Younger minds could help save America's dairy land, says global futurist Jack Uldrich, who I invited to join me at the Roehl farm.

- If you wanna survive in the future, you have to have a beginner's mind.

Having a beginner's mind when you're 40 or 50, it's hard to go back.

So if you're blessed with children, they are inherently curious.

One of the changes that I think both you, Suzie and Dennis, you're gonna have to be open to is learning from your children.

The world is changing so fast.

And be open to their ideas.

And I think there's gonna be so much change in the next decade.

And children are just more exposed to some of the technological change, especially at the digital level that you have to be willing to listen to younger people.

- [Rick] Do you think you'll be a farmer someday?

- Probably.

- [Rick] Why is that?

I don't know.

I was in the barn since I was three.

- Okay.

And Kathryn, what about you?

- I'm more in between both of them.

I wanna be an interior decorator and help Jackson on the farm.

- I do think we have to change for our children to want to continue.

- But I think probably one of the things that we're looking at very hard is the robotic milking.

That would be, I think, our biggest challenge on the farm, other than financial, is hired help.

It's getting people here.

It's really tough, it's tough.

- And Jack, are they on the right track here?

How do you feel about it?

- The look at robotic technology, I think, is absolutely spot on.

I think the difficult thing is to know when to pull the trigger.

I mean, robotic technology is gonna get better and it's also going to get more affordable over time.

And I mean, I think that many kids look at you and your parents and they saw that you were working 24/7, 365 and said, that's a hard life.

But suddenly with robotic technology, it is actually going to make farming more attractive for the next generation.

(upbeat music) - And I've been doing it since, when I was a little kid.

I think I have a photo right here of me helping my dad.

(Max chuckles) So I've been doing it forever, but I still learn things every day.

- [Rick] Next generation dairy farmer, Max Malm, uses technology to succeed.

His family is among the first in the state to have an automated cow feeder in addition to their milking robots.

- [Max] My dad and my grandpa, they have allowed the farm to embrace technology.

- [Rick] They've been pretty open to your ideas and why are you trying- - Yeah, they are.

I have to convince them, but I think they trust me.

And we've done a lot of things that I wanted to do.

And sometimes it hasn't worked out, but I think, overall, they let, they listen to me and we work well together.

(milking robots engine roaring) So what you're looking at is our software program.

It has your milk production, your milkings per day.

If you wanna save labor, you want the cows to do everything on their own.

You want them to get milked, you want them to eat, and you want them to be healthy.

- [Rick] And how much would it cost for someone who'd like to put in robots?

- [Max] Well, one robot, I think they're anywhere from 200 to $250,000 per robot.

And then you have to build the barn around it.

- [Rick] Wow.

- So yeah, you're looking at, for a two robot barn, easily, a million dollars.

And it's an investment, it's a long term investment, and you just have to believe and want to do that the rest of your life.

You know, it's like buying a house, you're kind of stuck with it.

- [Rick] Yeah.

(machine roaring) - [Max] It allows us to do a lot more, especially on the cropping side of things and just taking care of your other animals.

(machine roaring) - Well, I think, I mean, if you actually look at the future of the farm, I mean, I think there are going to be robots.

There are going to be manless tractors.

There are going to be satellites looking down on your individual farm fields, identifying which crops are growing, which ones aren't and you are going to be able to apply the exact amount of water, the exact amount of pesticide, herbicide, whatever you need on it.

And you're doing things efficiently today, but in the future, I mean, farmers are gonna take their game to another level.

(upbeat music) (cock crows) - [Rick] Most small dairy farmers are like brothers, Chris and Robin Rueth, who say high-end technology is just not feasible right now.

- You know, it's like a roller coaster.

Like I said, you get your good years, you're making extra money and all, you're paying bills off or upgrading stuff, but then you got your down times, and it's just like, okay, you just kinda gotta be careful financially, what you spending.

(machine engine roaring) - [Rick] Do you wanna get into robotics or anything like that?

- [Robin] It's in conversation.

It's an idea we're just kind of bouncing around.

Not gonna say not for sure, but time will tell.

- [Rick] It's a lot of money.

- [Robin] Yeah, it is.

- Other guys go to robots because it's hard to find a really good employee that sticks it out.

Like nowadays it's basically a good employee is a needle in the haystack.

(tractor engine roaring) - [Rick] So what do you like about, well, Chris, what is it about farming that you really enjoy?

- I would say it's the flexibility of owning your own business and at the end of the year, seeing what you achieved, what you've been through.

- I don't know, farming is one thing not everybody can do it.

You really gotta enjoy it to be doing it 'cause it's a 24/7 job.

And I like farming.

Grew up with it and it's a rewarding life, but it'd be a challenge too.

Some days are better than others.

You gotta be there.

You can't shut the cows down.

(cows bellowing) - And for some farmers, could it mean that maybe they're not necessarily milking cows for their main income, they might be doing something else?

- I think that that is true.

I think they're going to have to look at diversifying.

I think that there is going to be the opportunity for dairy and cheese.

But some innovative farmers in the off season are growing Hazel nuts.

They're doing other things.

What else could you be doing with the land?

I think the advances in renewable energy are gonna become astounding.

So there's still a lot of open space here, solar panels, wind turbines producing some energy, look to diversify your farm.

The very farm that we're at also has an event center.

And I think that that it's a wonderful way to diversify their income.

- We have dairy cows, but we also raise all our bull calves and we feed them out and sell them when they're about 1500 pounds.

And we also run enough land.

We own 650 acres of crop lands that we can sell excess corn and beans.

(upbeat music) (birds chirping) - [Rick] For generations, Wisconsin has been America's dairy land, helping to feed the world, but struggles remain.

(cows bellowing) Futurist, Jack Uldrich, in our next generation farmers, say you have to creatively build your own future despite the sobering reality of disappearing dairy farms across Wisconsin.

- We are going to return to small, medium sized farms that are distributed throughout the world.

So I would be cautiously optimistic, but this isn't to say that they don't need to change.

They need to leverage today's existing technology to do what they've always done, but to do it better, faster, more affordably, and move into innovative new products and services.

- You kind of wonder at times too, okay, how long is the family farm is gonna last?

Like when we get like 10 or 20 years down the road, how many of these family farms are gonna be gone?

Especially people, Chris and I's age.

- What's your advice if you were saying, if you all are gonna get into this, Jackson, Devin, and Kathryn, if you're all gonna do this, what's your advice for them?

What do you wanna teach them?

- Well, it's, everything is always evolving.

So you gotta, you can't be afraid of change.

And things are gonna change.

They always have, they always will.

And I think as long as you embrace the change instead of try and stay away from it, I think, you'd be okay.

- There still gonna be a lot of small farms.

And the way our generation is going, I think, if you want to continue farming, you're gonna have to try to do things that benefit, not just yourself, but the community and the environment, your land.

That's what the future is going to be.

(upbeat music) - From producer, Patricia Gomez, editor, Yvonne Sanchez, videographer, Erica Drehfal, and audio engineer, Chris Michalski, the next story, aired on "Adelante" and covers the story of the Latinx strike and march for immigration reform.

(upbeat music) (speaking in foreign language) (woman chanting) (speaking in foreign language) (chanting in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - As a dairy farmer, we are working with 7,000 Latinos.

Latinos are essential.

They are here, they're with us.

They're next to us.

They're working beside us.

And it's not just the dairy industry, it's every industry that is throughout Wisconsin.

(speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (chanting in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - We have friends and neighbors.

They are family just like us.

And it is so very important that we fulfill the promise of immigration reform because they are waiting.

(speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) - Their families are with our families.

Their kids are with our kids.

You are part of us.

There should never have been a divide.

We should all be together.

(speaking in foreign language) - President Biden, he's got that planned build back better.

This is part of being built back better.

We need citizenship for all.

(speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (speaking in foreign language) (upbeat music) (chanting in foreign language) - The next award winning piece comes from editor, Justin Migliano in his collaboration on a story with reporter and producer Alexandria Mack for a "Black Nouveau" episode about women leading change.

See how an African American woman is working to secure a legacy for her family by building generational wealth.

(upbeat music) - All of us are young.

We are all black developers.

It was really, really an honor to be a part of the team because a lot of the times we just don't see us in these types of spaces.

And this is one of the biggest developments in the state of Wisconsin right now.

(upbeat music) - [Mack] So tell me a little bit about your connection to this neighborhood.

- So my great-grandparents stayed on 45th and Center and then my mom stayed on 51st and Center.

So this neighborhood, in particular, is very, very near and dear to me.

- [Mack] The community within the Corridor development will reinvent the former 30th Street Industrial Corridor into 197 unit affordable housing apartment complex.

But for the team led by Que El-Amin and the Scott Crawford group, this 66 million development holds value that exceeds the price tag.

- That African Americans, historically, don't have the ability nor the knowledge to acquire real estate or to know what it's like to create those assets and to have those things to fall back on.

And so for me, that helps drive me.

You gotta be willing to get your hands dirty.

You have to be willing to stand up for what you believe in 'cause there's a politic side of real estate too, especially from the side of development, right?

Because for some people it's just an investment, but for other people like myself, who grew up on Center Street, this is something that is near and dear to me, with my grandparents being the first black owners in this area, my aunt's the only black girl at Washington High School.

To what it is now, to see it be brought back up as it deteriorated is something in itself too.

(upbeat music) - [Mack] Real estate is the foundation of the legacy.

30 year old developer Tia Cannon wants to build, not just for herself, but for her two daughters through her company, ANC Real Estate.

- ANC Real Estate is derived from the name of my daughters.

And so it's Alayah Nicole and it's Ava Nowel, and so, and then last name Cannon, of course.

For my daughters, what I hope that they gain and what they take from what the work that I do, not just in the community, but in the real estate industry, is that, for one, opportunities are endless, but they know that they can do any and all things.

And that is more important to me than anything.

In the beginning, I wouldn't say it was scary.

It was like, you know how like when you are a kid and you might be bullied at school and then you feel like, you know what, I'm just gonna stand up for myself 'cause what do I have to lose at that point?

Like you're getting bullied every day and you're getting picked on, whether you do or you don't, right?

And so at that moment, when I was forced to choose, I felt like my, I was backed into a corner.

I was being bullied and it was like, I'm gonna choose me every time to fight for what is right and what I believe and for my kids, because that's all that matters anyway.

- [Mack] And how long does a development like this take?

- [Tia] So a development like this, this one in particular, is expected to take 18 months.

- [Mack] But going into business for herself would bring another set of barriers.

- So some of the challenges, this include just, in that being a woman in a male dominated industry, feeling the need to want to prove yourself all the time.

It makes you feel like you have to be on the defense when in reality you don't.

As long as you know what you know and you're able to articulate what it is that you know, that's how you equal that playing, leveling that playing field, and then just educating yourself constantly on the changes in the industry.

(upbeat music) So the ways that I pay it forward are helping other women that look like myself, not only just in the real estate industry, but home ownership as well.

And then secondly, just leveling the playing field for women in real estate, because there's not a lot of us, it's a male dominated industry.

And so being able to pay it forward that way.

And then third is just paying it forward by being able to walk them through like women or people in general.

Like my focus, obviously, is women.

Women who aspire to be in the real estate industry, I would say, just go for it, just do it and make sure that you take the time to learn the things that people don't wanna learn.

And you take the time to really find out what your niche is in real estate, because it's so broad.

There's many aspects of real estate that you can do, whether it's being an agent, whether it's doing construction, whether it's development, whether it's investing or staging and design, there is so many aspects.

Finding what your niche is, perfecting it, and then taking it from there.

- [Mack] For Cannon, the legacy has to start with a blueprint.

- And then the fact that my kids, one day, are gonna need to own their own homes and have their own families and create their own wealth, but having something that they can step into, that they will be able to survive off of, if need be.

20 years from now, they'll be able to come back to the same location and say, I remember when me and my sister were 10 and six years old and we actually were in this space before it was anything, is the most rewarding thing.

To be able to see something that I was a part of that, not only because I was a part of it, they were a part of it too.

Truly, that's what legacy is about.

(upbeat music) - Our final two selections come from "1036".

First a story from Erica Drehfal and Jason Piekarz, which features a collaborative effort with local artists highlighting the need for personal contact for senior citizens during isolation of the pandemic.

And finally producer Maryann Lazarski revisits our friend, Linkin, for an update to our Emmy Award winning story.

(upbeat music) - My name is Robert Knapp.

I am a musician and a producer here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

(upbeat music) - My name is Jackie Kostichka and I'm a dance movement therapist and a performer in the city of Milwaukee.

(upbeat music) - My name is Michael Snowden.

I'm a multimedia artist.

And I've been working on this Beautiful Questions project with TimeSlips.

- As a nonprofit, TimeSlips aims to bring meaning all the way to the end of life.

And one of the ways we do that is by inviting people to answer Beautiful Questions.

Beautiful Questions are questions that invite a shared sense of discovery.

They really tap into wonder.

There's no right or wrong answer.

Beautiful Questions also really compel forward the process of improvisation.

That is really the root of what TimeSlips is all about.

(upbeat music) - The Beautiful Questions Project is a project that between Time Slips and some local artists, where we got a chance to engage with isolated seniors through phone calls and through weekly workshops.

- It was very interesting to communicate with them about the project and how the responses have been coming in and how we were able to come up with the idea of creating a video.

(upbeat music) - [Woman] If you could look outside your window and see anything you wish, what would you want to see?

- We created a legacy gift that we gifted to the elders and then to the community.

- [Woman] I would like to see a very large garden of roses.

- We would ask them a be Beautiful Question and really, gets everybody to kind of lean into the creativity and the imagination side of things.

- [Phillis] Hello, my name is Phillis.

- [Alice] My name is Alice Cutright.

- [Debra] Yes, My name is Debra Krebs.

- The Beautiful Questions Project is with the Milwaukee County Department of Aging.

We're also working with Goodwill, Meals on Wheels, and the United Community Center.

We began by training the organizations, the staff, so that they can layer in the Beautiful Questions into their well-check calls.

That's one way that we're able to get these questions to the elders.

Another way is on the back of menus that are delivered with home delivered meals, through Meals on Wheels.

We started the elder involvement by delivering, with the meals, an explanation of the program overview.

So they had a sense of what was going on, what the artist's involvement was, what the questions would be for and how they could participate.

- Hey, Mr. Michael.

Good morning, how are you?

- I'm fine, how are you (indistinct)?

- I'm doing good, thank you so much.

- It started with a lot of the participants calling into our voicemail line and leaving answers to the questions that we had sent out.

So those questions were things about their home, whether it be what area in your home is special to you.

I started to think about a story that I could tell using all of these answers.

And so I just started to piece together the questions and the answers into what seemed like was kind of a running story.

And then from there I underscored it with music.

- [Woman] What do you treasure in your home and why?

- [Man] Mainly, memories.

Also I do paintings, art paintings.

- [Woman] Well I'm elderly and all my life I was a choreographer and dancer.

So everything that I treasure in my home has to do with sculpture pieces and paintings of dancers and dance notes, and anything to do with the dance career.

- I think it's very important to hear these elder voices because lots of these elders are isolated and they don't get to share all of these beautiful answers to these beautiful questions.

- What kind of animal would you like to be?

And I said an eagle, and they said, why?

I said, because then I could fly.

- Hearing these answers, you get to really feel that connection in the community and you get to validate their value that they have in the community.

- One of the questions was, what is your favorite place?

Anyhow, I said, the area that's special to me is my bed.

What I like to do there is sleep because sometimes I really have some fantastic dreams.

Beautiful Questions was important to me because they really gave me something to, every Wednesday, to look forward to.

Yes, I would not want to live anywhere else.

♪ I'ma put you around the road ♪ ♪ I'm feeling like I'm always home ♪ ♪ I'm always home ♪ - The entire piece was supposed to be about Milwaukee, I mean, that's why we called it "Always Home", is about community and about connecting with people even if you can't see them or even if you can't be around them.

And obviously, during the pandemic, we couldn't be around each other as much as we had been.

- The pandemic really had a profound impact on everyone, but particularly older adults who were vulnerable and really needed to stay isolated.

And that was what really compelled this project forward, was trying to figure out a way that we could engage older adults really meaningfully.

- [Michael] We chose to do this project because it was necessary.

It was a moment in time where everybody was kind of in their silos, they're quarantined, they're really in a box.

And this was an opportunity for, not just the elders, but the artists.

Like, I feel like I took a lot away from it too.

Like I got a chance to be creative in a new way and have conversations with people in ways that I never thought was possible.

- As an artist, it just kind of made me realize how art can bring people from different communities together.

- [Woman] I would like to see small kids around here, again.

- [Woman] I would like to see some birds.

- [Man] I'd like to see the birds.

- [Woman] oh, I really love birds outside window.

- This project strive to achieve creating a new model in just the way that we engage with our elders, and also inspiring other peoples to like, hey, call an elder, check on them, make sure they are okay.

Honestly, it made me rethink about the older generation and how important their stories are and how important it is to reach out to them and to talk to them and to listen to them.

- What would we give the next generation?

What I would like to see is seeing is people have patience and thoughtfulness before acting.

- One thing that I've learned through talking to some of these people is they really just needed that sense of community.

And they had stories that they wanted to tell, and they just needed somebody to listen.

And that's really important and big.

- [Woman] Thank you.

- [Woman] Thank you very much.

- [Woman] Thank you.

- [Woman] Good bye.

(slow music) - I have to go to the hospital because I had a brain tumor.

I like to have company.

She makes me feel better.

- He has brain cancer.

Cancer is a disease where cells grow the wrong way.

- At the age of two, we were kinda, we were very scared.

They resected about 90% of the brain tumor.

And what was remaining really was unreachable 'cause it was wrapped around an artery.

- It hurts your body, especially where it's located.

Cancer makes you sick.

And sadly, not all cancers have a cure.

- My health has been good.

I have been taking my meds.

I'm stable.

I've been to the eye doctor, just went to the dentist.

My name is Linkin Eger.

I'm in sixth grade and I'm 11 years old.

- My name is Naudia Greenawalt.

I'm in seventh grade and I'm 12 years old.

Our friendship has been doing really well lately.

- Yeah, it's been doing really well.

I wanted to write a book about Linkin.

When I interviewed Linkin I asked him the first one that came in my mind, are you afraid?

Linkin said, "Only of spiders."

(upbeat music) - We went from one book to a full blown nonprofit.

We really wanted it to be this fundraiser for Linkin.

But when we saw how happy it made Naudia and how happy it made Linkin, especially during this treatment, Kelly and I talked and we decided that this was something that we would want to do again.

- I thought it was just gonna be like a regular stall, small children's story, but then it turned out to be like a big thing that's helping kids around the world.

"My Friend Mackenzie" was written by me and she was a friend that we met in school.

And we found out that she had cancer like me.

So we wanted to do something special for her.

She was eight years old.

- She was a smart and funny person.

She was really, really smart.

- My favorite part was when Mackenzie whispered to her dad, when she was waking up, "Go Brewers."

when her dad was a Cubs fan.

She unfortunately passed away.

(upbeat music) - [Naudia] Mackenzie wrote Jordan and then Jordan was supposed to write "My Friend Daxton", but she unfortunately passed away.

So I wrote "My Friend Daxton".

- [Linkin] He's doing great.

We keep in touch a lot.

- We decided to write this one together.

- We met Itzel by going to her, going to children's hospital.

And she has leukemia.

- I'm Itzel Merkado, I'm 11 years old.

I'm in fifth grade in St. Norman.

I do virtual, it's just so then I don't get any infections.

About Linkin, I like that he is funny.

And Naudia, I like that she likes playing games that I rarely get to do with my aunt.

Nowadays, we would play like school or we would play other stuff.

Like we can play like outside, like playing catch with balls.

- When I first found out about the book, at first, I was very hesitant 'cause knowing Itzel, I thought she will turn it down, the idea of someone writing about her.

But after that was like, I think it's gonna be a great story for others to see and learn more about cancer and what other kids have to go through, especially mostly because I think her book is gonna be mostly about relapse and something we really don't hear much in the cancer community.

- I like to write the books because, like how Linkin said, bring joy to others and then to get to know them and make new friends and help that person, that we're writing about, to have their story be let out into the world.

- I wanted people to know what they're going through.

- It was their idea to write the book as bilingual.

- Another thing I want them to put in the book is, other than what I'm going through, everything is still fun.

Even if cancer is in your way, I'm pretty sure it's not gonna stop you from doing the things that you love most like how it doesn't really stop me from doing my art.

- [Linkin] My hair looks different.

- It's like this, but weird.

- I am growing my hair out.

I'm gonna give it to another kid with cancer.

- Well Linkin is funny because he does funny jokes.

- What do you call a pig that knows karate?

A pork chop.

- A pork chop?

- What kind of sushi does Lady Gaga like?

- [Maryann] I don't know.

- She likes it raw raw raw.

(Naudia and Linkin laugh) - I do tell a lot of jokes as well and I do a ton of pranks.

- I think it means, like brings them joy and happiness and it just cheers them up a lot when they're feeling down.

- I feel like they're amazing people to be with.

(upbeat music) - When Naudia Greenawalt's friend, Linkin Eger, needed chemotherapy for a brain tumor in 2017, she decided to write a book.

- She was in the People's magazine, right?

It's girls changing the world.

It was really interesting when I found out and I just blew my mind too.

- They found out about us from the first PBA show, from what (indistinct) did.

People magazine, it says that we have raised $30,000.

- The money goes to the families that we write books to about and other cancer organizations.

- I am extremely proud of Naudia.

I never thought that it would turn into anything.

And it's amazing to see how much she's been able to accomplish in her short 12 years, here, on life and the impact that she's had on other people.

And if there's a way to make someone feel better, Naudia will always step in.

- I want to be a pediatrician and a primatologist on the side.

I wanna be a nurse because the nurses, when I was younger, were so special to me.

So I wanna be, I want the kids that go through cancer have that thought too, to feel special.

- [Maryann] What's your hope for the future for Linkin?

- I know he wants to be a nurse and I really hope someday that that comes true because I can see the joy he brings into these kids' worlds now.

And I can just see him being this adult child, (Kelly chuckles) always carrying that with him, that I hope he never loses that sense of humor.

I hope he never loses the willingness to make a kid smile.

And I just truly can see him doing that someday, regardless if it's being a nurse or some other occupation.

I hope he never loses that sense of I'm Peter Pan.

(upbeat music) - [Naudia] I love my friend Linkin and I'll always be here for him.

- I want to congratulate all of our award winners and thank the entire staff of Milwaukee PBS for all they do to fulfill our mission of service to this community.

And thank you, our viewers.

We do this for you, with you, and because of you.

Your support makes stories like these possible.

To see more of Milwaukee PBS, visit our website or download the PBS app on your streaming device.

Again, thank you.

(upbeat music)