Isthmus

Billed as a “surprise public market preview,” the Wednesday markets feature vendors that are accepted merchants as well as those hopeful of scoring a permanent space or interested in vending in the smaller kiosk spaces. About 20 vendors were on site at the June 10 event. It’s also a way to invite the public into the building before the scheduled grand opening on July 23.

Market CEO Keisha Harrison said the bad weather had kept several pop-up vendors away.

The inaugural June Wednesday pop-up included a variety of small businesses. Some, such as Capri Cheese, Mango Man Cooks and Yalla Dips, are familiar from area farmers’ markets. Others sold handmade decorative items, from TacoCat Creations’ cat toys to The Stillroom Scientist’s candles and air fresheners.

Grace Christensen of The Stillroom Scientist said she had tried to get a merchant space, but was not accepted. Nonetheless she signed up for all four June pop-ups. Joe Whitney of Air Joe Farms, who grows microgreens, said he is also coming to all four markets and is interested in a kiosk space. Hannah Burwell of Sun and Moon Farm, selling spring turnips, lettuce mix, kale and other fresh produce, is interested in continuing to sell at the public market’s pop-ups, and said that there was currently nothing other than the pop-ups for her to apply for at the market.

Sam McDaniel of the the sweet nut company Fortune Favors, one of the accepted permanent merchants, noted that “everything takes a long time,” and that while opening the market “looks like it should be easy,” it’s hard for the public to see all the work that goes on behind the scenes, even the work that goes into signing the multiple leases. Fortune Favors closed its storefront on Atwood Avenue last September and McDaniel is looking forward to the cooperative nature of selling in a group at the market. “It’s hard for small retail if it requires the shopper to make an independent trip,” he said, noting that the multiple and varied businesses at the market can be “an engine for bringing people in.”

Read more at isthmus.com

SPONSORED | Each month Community Shares of Wisconsin presents the Backyard Hero Award to organizations and people making change happen in our community. This month’s hero is Margaret Brauer, a board member and volunteer manager for Open Doors for Refugees, an organization that helps refugees make a home in the Madison area. Margaret coordinates transportation and winter wear donations, manages volunteers, and works with partner organizations. She does this with grace and perseverance, even in these challenging times. Thank you, Margaret!

The Backyard Hero Awards are sponsored by Isthmus, 105.5 Triple M, and Budget Signs Specialties.

https://www.communityshares.com/backyard-hero-margaret-brauer/

Madison school board member Ali Muldrow is pushing back on criticism that the board has been “dragging their feet” in finalizing a cell phone policy for the district.

“I am interested in having a highly effective cell phone policy, and I don’t think what we have in front of us tonight is that,” she said at a board work group meeting on June 1.

The board is facing a state-imposed July 1 deadline to finalize a district-wide cell phone policy. A draft policy, prepared by district leadership, would prohibit K-8 students from using phones throughout the school day — they would need to be stored securely for the entire day — while allowing high school students to use their phones during passing periods and lunch.

Parents and teachers have been pushing the district to adopt the stricter policy for high school students too. But some board members at the meeting raised concerns that under a stricter policy a disproportionate number of students of color would be disciplined for infractions and reinforce disparities already reflected in the district’s discipline data.

“It would be hard for me to vote in favor of what we’re currently looking at because I think it would reinforce pretty negative and racialized phenomena,” said Muldrow.

Read more at isthmus.com

Hand-painted Ghanaian movie posters? Why not.

On Saturday, paintings offering a surrealist twist on movies new and old crowded the walls at a pop-up shop from the Chicago-based Deadly Prey Gallery. Skulls and serpents made their way into movies that didn’t feature them, along with a lot of blood, a lot of muscle, contorted faces and at least several severed pen*ses.

The posters are part of Ghana's "mobile cinema," which peaked in the mid-1980's with makeshift video clubs that traveled through the country and played movies off of VHS. Hand-painted movie posters like these showcased the films.

“It was very common for the video operator to explain to the artists what to paint or give them reference material which might not exactly be central to the plot of the movie,” explains a handout, and while “the artists were encouraged to watch each film,” they were told “to focus on aspects outside the traditional printed posters.” Often, artists would add extra violence, horror and s*x to compete.

Mobile cinema has now mostly died in Ghana, but Deadly Prey Gallery continues to offer paintings, prints, books and other merch, with profits directly with the artists. Isthmus art director Tommy Washbush picked up five movie prints: Black Sheep, The Office (BBC), Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Wild Style, and The Naked Gun.

Madison’s pop-up came together at Next Wave Studios, an artist workspace just off of Stoughton Road. Deadly Prey's traveling pop-up continues today in Milwaukee at the Charles Allis Art Museum.