Moving into Milwaukee’s Historic Bronzeville Neighborhood
CopyWrite (CW) Magazine began as a project in 2015 for Lexi Brunson to give her community a voice and showcase the stories coming out of Milwaukee’s Black and Brown neighborhoods that traditional news seems to be missing. CW focuses on all things urban covering everything from fashion to music to art, connecting everything to the local community, social attitudes, and current events.
In 2023, CW attained its first brick-and-mortar and opened its headquarters CW Creative Studios and Shop at 2201 N Doctor Martin Luther King Drive in the Bronzeville neighborhood on Milwaukee’s Northside; this was an intentional choice made by Brunson. As the neighborhood has been experiencing a boom in growth and revitalization, Brunson wanted to keep Black creatives in the neighborhood to act as a safeguard against gentrification.
It was vital for CW to provide a space where Black creatives could contribute and participate in the growth and evolution of the Bronzeville neighborhood.
“We noticed there was a lot of increase in development in the area and usually high-profile development turns into gentrification,” said Brunson. “Obviously that goes against our values as a company, so we wanted to make sure we plant roots here.”
Vadale Hill is the facilities manager for CW Creative Studios and Shop as well as a fine artist and professor at MIAD, and Brunson’s fiancé. Hill played a role in developing the space to better serve the community’s needs.
“Utilize the space we built that was asked of us. This ain’t far-fetched as us making up something, this was asked [for] over years and years,” said Hill.
Bronzeville Business of the Year
Earlier this year, CW won the Bronzeville Business of the Year Award for the work the team commits themselves to daily. From the content produced for its magazine to its fashion shows to its headquarters, everything CW does is geared towards the community.
The CW Headquarters features a podcast studio, rentable event rooms, a photography studio, a holding space for local designers, and an active gallery space. The gallery space depicts nostalgic scenes that are key to the Black experience such as the barber shop, the beauty store, the corner store, and the “untouchable” living room, as seen through the eyes of Brunson.
“The idea is that having places where people feel like they can work on their next projects, start a business, find people who are like-minded,” said Brunson. “Having those spaces in our community is so important and so valuable.”
The magazine also takes on interns during the year to allow students hands-on experience in fields of interest ranging from journalism to graphic design.
CW’s Entertainment and Social Journalism intern Desriana Gilbert decided CW is where her talents would benefit her community the most.
“I think this year I got the courage to be like okay well I’m going to do something here, whether it’s a real job, whether it’s just being a part of the team in a creative way. I wanted to be a part of something here,” said Gilbert. “You look at the city, you look at just Wisconsin period, and there’s nothing like CopyWrite.”
Anything but Traditional
For Brunson and the CW staff, the magazine and studio are the brand’s way of going against the grain.
“We don’t have to follow the rules,” said Brunson. “That is the best part. There are things that we can write, there are things that we can cover, things we can showcase, and we don’t have to worry about being politically correct, or the offense. We don’t have corporate stakeholders [or] sponsors who are going to pull their money because we said something.”
Outside of its free coverage of Milwaukee’s creative life, the company also offers other ways to keep revenue coming in. This includes services such as photography, videography, event hosting, creative project management, as well as other creative services. The services they offer support their mission to support the local and connect local talent to larger networks while also supporting their own local business.