Accessibility Initiative
Oct 7, 2025 update
The ramp construction is almost complete. We are just waiting on the railings to be powder-coated and installed. The installation will happen in November 2025. Thanks for your support and patience!
July 18, 2025 update
The ramp construction is underway. In June the city of Milwaukee conditionalized approval of the project on a significant curb bump out. The cost of that new curb was $20,000. Through community fundraising, we covered that unexpected project expense. The ramp railings are currently being fabricated. The railings and mosaic will be affixed soon. We are planning a celebration Wednesday, August 20 from 4-8pm.
Priorities:
• Finishing railings; installing mosaic
• Improving bathroom & stage accessibility
• Adding accessible outdoor seating
Thanks to our incredible team:
• Automatic Entrances of Wisconsin for donating the door sensors and installation
• Keith from KSK Architects
• Barber Engineering
• SB Construction, our concrete boys
• Red River Construction
• Kevin Sullivan, accessibility consulting
• Rebecca Rabatin, Independence First
• Kate Klingbeil, mosaic artist
• Mikail Dance, railings fabricator
Timeline
Background
The bones of CC are nearly 140 years old and for majority of its existence, it required using four stairs to enter. The building is considered “legacied”– there’s no regulatory requirement to make it accessible. We believe in universal design. Everyone uses the same front door. Everyone deserves to enjoy live music.
The Cactus+ Accessibility Initiative is a special project that braids infrastructure improvements with artist resourcing and community programming. This work will broaden the reach of who can access the space and impact public understandings of how accessibility is defined. We’re fundraising to make our 140 year old building more accessible to artists and attendees of all mobilities.
Defining accessibility is supremely important to understanding the scope of our work. Improving accessibility is the dismantling of barriers: physical/sensorial, financial, legislative, and cultural. This project is rooted in the belief that art is the road to liberation and that our struggles are interconnected. This project begins with a desire to address needs for mobility access to and within our physical space. The overarching vision is to resource disabled, neurodiverse, poor, multiracial, undocumented, chronically ill, queer and intergenerational artists and community members.
300 Bishop Ave. (Former street name) Meeting Place of Anarchist Club 1917
In 2024 this project received a Wisconsin Special Projects Grant from Ruth Foundation for the Arts. This support enables us to launch two exciting programs: In The Clouds (ITC), a residency program, and Ground Level (GL), an artist empowerment series. Through the residency program we will be installing a 26-foot ramp to the front door in the spring of 2025. We are working with Milwaukee-based artist Kate Klingbeil to design and install a mosaic facade on the ramp and stairs.
We are working with architects and community partners to determine the scope of the mobility-centered renovations and expansion. This is an ambitious cultural project and building project. We want to invite artists and community members to be part of the process, beyond just fundraising, but also in dreaming and determining how we move forward with it.
