The New State is a local nonprofit working to transform an old historic venue into a new music hub for the community.
The State Theater in Milwaukee’s Near West Side neighborhood first opened its doors in 1915 — it showed silent movies and transitioned to talkies in the late 1920s. It later became the iconic venue known as The Electric Ballroom and The Palms in the ’70s and ’80s. Artists such as AC/DC, The Ramones and Tom Petty rocked the stage until it closed in 1986.
After the venue sat vacant for decades and survived a fire in 2017, The New State team bought the building (at 2612 W. State St.) in 2018 to redevelop it into an all-ages music hub and venue.
“A developer in the neighborhood, Mr. [John] Hennessy, knew the historic value of the building and didn't want to see it go,” says Dima Pochtarev, executive director of The New State. “And I knew the importance of it to the music scene. It was budding in the early 2000s — I found a lot of talent in Milwaukee, and it inspired me to support artists, start an independent record label, etc. So John and I met through our independent works … and we came up with this idea.”
Pochtarev says the redeveloped The New State Theater would be a sober venue for people of all ages, but especially for young people, to engage with live performances. “Because there’s a lot of need for that — for young people to have those experiences, build those relationships, and have somewhere to go outside of work, school or home to be social and to really evolve into great human beings.”
So far, The New State has removed all the asbestos from the building fire, and has built a community music park that’s brought dozens of performances, educational workshops and art markets to the neighborhood. Pochtarev says The New State also has a new restaurant space ready for operation.
“It’s really exciting because this restaurant has east-facing garage doors that go into the [music] park – so it can have outdoor seating – and it’s also got a brand new kitchen,” Pochtarev says. “It’s a lot of opportunity, so if anybody’s looking to expand their current business or open a new restaurant from a food truck, we’re looking for a tenant that would help with cash flow [to redevelop the theater] and operate the restaurant.”
Although the theater is still in redevelopment, the nonprofit has already been working toward its mission of uplifting Milwaukee’s creative youth by providing them the tools, training and opportunities to thrive in music production.
“I think the arts have gone a long way [in Milwaukee], but there's always room for more support,” Pochtarev says. “One thing I think that lacks is the opportunity to have professional development at a younger age that leads to fruitful careers in a space that's really hard to get into… So the curriculum aspect is really important to us because we wanna also break the barriers of finance.”
Through grants and partnerships with local organizations – such as Milwaukee Community Crossroads and Your Move MKE – The New State offers free music courses to teach young people how to DJ, produce beats, write songs and more.
It also hosts an Earn & Learn program that offers paid opportunities to teach young people how to set up live performances. One example is a partnership with Washington Park Neighbors: The New State hires and trains young people to set up and take down the professional sound system needed for every Washington Park Wednesday concert throughout the summer.
“We want to make free opportunities and engage young people to let them know it’s a safe space that you can go to and play, and to stay out of trouble and stick with us,” Pochtarev says. “Once you learn these skills, let us hire you and let us have you DJ our next block party. Let us have you make some beats and take you to the studio next season. We can make a project together and release it together. And that music technology aspect, it’s not just focused on music — we’re also teaching students content creation for the purpose of branding. So all of these things will bleed over to other careers.”
Pochtarev says making the arts accessible and having a safe space for young people to explore and get inspired by local art and music is a need in Milwaukee; he hopes The New State can expand the programs it currently offers to create more of those opportunities.
“Long term, we'd love to get some of this music technology programming into public schools,” Pochtarev says. “Young people need that release, and that release could come through creativity, through music, through writing. Or some people may not know what they want to do and they explore all of these things, build friendships, and find those passions that they can then follow and say, ‘This is really what I want to do.’”
You can learn more about The New State’s redevelopment project, nonprofit mission and free classes on its website. You can also take a 360 tour of the inside of The New State Theater on its website.
