No Public Input
Several times a year, Dr. Ellen Censky has appeared before the Milwaukee County Board with updates on the museum project — but the hard questions are never asked. Why don’t we truly know what is happening with our museum? PreserveMKE and community members have spent years pressing for information, advocacy, and access, yet transparency remains out of reach.
New Museum Design
Through an open records request, we obtained the actual design specifications showing the new museum will be about half the size of the current building. At the same time, leadership has begun redefining beloved exhibits as mere “components.” This maneuver shifts public assets—funded and owned by Milwaukee County—into the hands of a private nonprofit, stripping the community of ownership and oversight.
Collections
By labeling historic environments like the Streets of Old Milwaukee and the European Village as mere “components” instead of public assets, the museum’s leadership sidesteps Milwaukee County’s ownership. This redefinition clears the way for transfer to a private nonprofit, stripping the public of control over collections our community built and paid for.
Components
How Are They Cutting the Public Out?
The Bottom Line:
The Public Is Being Cut Out of the Milwaukee Public Museum
The future of our museum is being decided behind closed doors. Beloved exhibits, collections, and dioramas face an uncertain fate — with no real public input. The Milwaukee Public Museum is the largest municipally owned museum in the world. Yet the people it belongs to — the public — are being left in the dark. What will be preserved? What will be discarded? No clear answers have been given.
This isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about ownership, accountability, and what we leave for the next generation.
The public is being cut out of the Milwaukee Public Museum’s future. County and state leaders approved $85 million in taxpayer funding with almost no debate, while museum officials shifted cost estimates, withheld exhibit plans, and used vague “equity” claims to justify dismantling beloved exhibits. Promised hearings never materialized into true public process, and requests for transparency have been met with silence. Decisions about our museum—its exhibits, its collections, and its very identity—are being made behind closed doors.
From treasures to ‘components’ — that’s how a MPM took control of Milwaukee's Public Museum
On June 10, 2025, the public had a rare opportunity to ask questions directly of Dr. Ellen Censky and her corporate communications team. Out of that exchange came a telling phrase: for the first time, the word “components” was used to describe the Milwaukee Public Museum’s exhibits — signaling how MPM intends to claim ownership and control over what generations of Milwaukeeans consider public treasures.
Quote:
“I consider it [Streets of Old Milwaukee] to be an exhibit component that is built to help us interpret the exhibits.”
— Dr. Ellen Censky, June 10, 2025
Equity for Whom? The Parks Committee and the Museum Project
Equity for Whom? The Parks Committee and the Museum Project
The Milwaukee County Parks Committee is charged with oversight of the Milwaukee Public Museum project. Yet as decisions move forward, one key question remains unanswered: how is the Parks Equity Index being applied in this process?
If equity is meant to guide public decision-making, the community deserves to know how this tool is shaping — or being ignored in — one of the largest cultural projects in our county’s history.