It was about 11am on a Friday, roughly a month after the COVID pandemic started when I unexpectedly ran into my old college classmate, Brandon Minga (Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design Class of 2004, whaddup!). He had recently started a creative collective with co-founder Tim Priebe, called House of RAD, which stands for Resident Artist Doer, and moved into an industrial space within the Riverworks Business Improvement District near Fratney and Keefe. This is an area that has been quickly transforming into a hub for artisans and craftspeople.
Minga told me to stop by later in the day for a tour of the place, and to catch up on what he’s been up to, which I happily obliged, but by the time I got to his space some three hours later, everything had changed.
“We just got done talking with the new owner of the C&D building, and…