We were lucky to catch up with Samer Ghani recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Samer thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

The art of taking a risk….
I work as a full time artist in Milwaukee, WI. Fun fact we like to throw around these parts is that (depending on where your research lands you) we are 50th or 49th of 50 states dead last in public arts funding. To be a little more specific, we annually spend 18 cents per capita. The art of taking a risk is choosing to be a full time artist in a economic landscape that rejects the concept of me (and others like me). The art of reframing the concept is that, to me, working artists make up a sizable % of “small business taxes” within Wisconsin. Is Wisconsin truly disinterested in supporting its artists but bragging about it’s entertainment and tourism, that also sounds…risky.

The choice to work as an artist in an economic environment that has chosen to reject you is a risk I take every day of my life.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m a first generation Palestinian American full time working artist in Milwaukee, WI. I serve on the board of an arts non-profit named Cactus+, as Vice President. In my work as an artist and my time volunteering on the board of Cactus+ my goals are to realign public arts funding within our community, and increase accessibility within our spaces that intersect arts, education, and intergenerational collaboration of shared wisdom. These core pillars connect to my roots, as well as extend to the community I serve every day.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Yeah I work as an artist in Milwaukee, WI.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I do think between myself and some of my closest allies, our shared mission is to increase public arts funding within Milwaukee (and more broadly Wisconsin) by challenging and advocating for change to antiquated policies and laws that have been in place longer than the issues they were implemented to solve have existed.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.samerghani.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/samerghani

Image Credits

Portrait of Samer Ghani & Ren by Anna Rardin
Portrait of Samer Ghani by Dylan Mazurkiewicz