Each year Express Yourself Milwaukee, Inc. presents a grand performance that represents the culmination of a year’s worth of multi-disciplined arts study, creation, and practice by the participants of five Milwaukee agencies and schools serving youth in-risk.

Think back to seeing a small child busy with her coloring, lost in creation. No hunger, no fighting, no need other than the task at hand. Her breathing slows, her eyes, hands, mouth and spirit all connected in the present. I have seen this same shift in the kids I work with at the detention center, and in adults and kids in psychiatric facilities, excused for a brief time from their turmoil. The energy changes, the molecules in the room seem to shift...healing is present.

Would you speak up if you thought nobody listened—or cared? Would you tell the truth if it was painful? Probably not. But the kids who participate in Express Yourself Milwaukee Inc. (EYM) are encouraged to share their thoughts, feelings and creativity with their peers and the community, even when it’s difficult.