Center for Black Excellence and Culture to break ground

“That we’re working together on telling this story of Black brilliance and perseverance from around the state, and the broader community celebrating and supporting us — it’s just fantastic,” Gee said. “I’m very proud of my state and my community that has rallied around this vision and has helped it to come to this point.”

The center has raised $28.5 million, putting it about $2.5 million away from its target of $31 million, Gee said. It also aims to raise at least another $2 million to support staff and programming.

While the original plan was to raise all of the money needed for the facilities before starting construction, “I know that we will close that gap quickly as the broader community responds and continues to respond,” Gee said.

“We had to cut back space in the building to meet budget, because you know, there’s just so many things going on in our world that if we wanted to get building this, we had to really adjust the footprint,” he said. The center will be 37,500 square feet, he said, on 3.5 acres along the 700 block of West Badger Road, near the Beltline.

The groundbreaking will take place on Wednesday, June 19 — Juneteenth, the holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in the United States and became a federal holiday in 2021. The center’s project team chose the date because of its connection to hope, citizenship and perseverance, Gee said.

A grand opening is slated for late 2025.

By then, the center’s library and art gallery will be filled with Black works. A co-working space will support leadership development programs and Black innovation. Two theaters will host plays, concerts, film festivals, lectures and more, while a recording studio will facilitate other forms of storytelling. A senior space will bring multiple generations together.

Gee has often been asked why the center is focusing on culture, he said. “Every major city has an arts district, a cultural district, because it reinforces our human story that humanizes us, and it empowers us. … Those spaces don’t exist for Black people readily around our state.”

He hopes people from across Wisconsin will also use the center for holidays, cultural celebrations, weddings and other gatherings.

“We have very strong, very prescribed programming,” he said. “But we know that by creating space, like the meeting rooms, the Black lounge, the innovation space — we know that when Black people are able to come together and dream of solutions, we do.”

And as excited as Gee is about everything the center will include, he sees even more promise in the intangible benefits it will provide.

“I’m most happy that all of the programming will culminate in a stronger sense of mental wellness and physical wellness and emotional wellness,” he said. “The fact that we can do something that will make us live better, healthier lives is probably what brings me the greatest joy in this project.”