Event Description

ACM returns to Milwaukee for another exciting Doors Open collaboration. We’ve commissioned three composers to write music inspired by three historic buildings in downtown Milwaukee and will place musicians in each space to play the pieces every fifteen minutes for guided tours.

– Music by Debra Kaye
The Grain Exchange Room located in the Mackie Building, showcases beautiful “Simple Italian” architecture, soaring ceilings, hand painted frescoes, gold leaf and over 10,000 sq. feet of usable event space in an outstanding and historical location.

The three story “cathedral of commerce” was closely linked with the early commercial history of Milwaukee, when for a brief time, the city was the world’s largest primary wheat market for trading, exporting and inspecting grain.

Milwaukee’s lake port was near vast acres of wheat so the Milwaukee Grain Exchange made its home in the Chamber of Commerce building, inventing and utilizing the very first octagonal trading pit.

WE Energies

– Music by Shanan Estreicher
Construction of The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company’s (now known as We Energies) Public Service Building began in 1902, as the company replaced horse-drawn trolleys with electric interurban trains. Electric trains rolled through the building’s first floor when it was completed in 1905.

This 112 year old, neoclassic gem, with matched Italian marble walls and a second-floor art deco auditorium, played an important role in changing Milwaukee with trains, buses, electricity, natural gas, steam heat and even appliances sales, serving as the utility’s headquarters the entire time.

Visitors to the Public Service Building will take self-guided tours of the ornate lobby, corporate conference center, and the second-floor art deco auditorium. Employee volunteers will be on hand to provide information. There will be a continuously-running presentation about the building and company history in the auditorium. Enjoy displays of historic company photographs and Cookie Book covers from past years.

Milwaukee Ballet

– Music by Gene Pritsker
Be among the first guests to see this new 52,000-foot, state-of-the-art facility for the organization’s professional dancers, School & Academy classes and Community Engagement Programs. Hear from Milwaukee Ballet artists as you tour the costume shop, rehearsal studios, performance studio and its space dedicated to the community