The program concludes each year with a lavish showcase featuring music, art pieces, dances and spoken-word presentations from the kids—even the sets were created by the program’s participants. ExpressMilwaukee.com, a proud sponsor of the program, spoke with the organization’s founder, Lori Vance, in advance of this year’s show, “Celebrate,” which is performed at 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. this Thursday, May 15 at Marquette University’s Halfaer Theater.

How did you come up with the theme “Celebrate?”

We work with a different theme every year, and this year we’re five years old, so we choose “Celebrate” because we’re five, and we thought we’d hit a benchmark for the organization. The “Celebrate” theme also fits because in the performance, a message from the Hobi elders will be read. It’s a message to people of this time saying that we need to ban the word “struggle” from our vocabulary and find reasons to celebrate together, so that’s been our focus. As we’re all challenged by situations in our society and the effects that they have on each of us: the war, kids living in poverty, and all the challenges people face, we were really exploring “how do we celebrate everyday?”

Are there any pieces in the performance you’re particularly excited about?

[Laughs] Well, I’ve worked with the kids at West Side Academy. We have different teams at each site, but I’m particularly excited about this piece because it’s a new site this year, and those kids live in one of the most challenged neighborhoods in our city. We focused on celebrating growing, and urban gardening. The kids wrote an operetta, and they’re dancing and singing, so I’m very excited about that piece. We’ll have these huge, 10-foot flowers that are gracing the stage for that, so I’m excited.

Another really cool thing is Stomp was in Appleton a couple months ago working with our kids, and we have kids doing a Stomp piece, which two members of the Stomp cast are coming back for. It’s kind of a West Side Story-ish, “instead of fighting, let’s stomp it out” piece. There’s also a Dragon Dance from the kids in Our Next Generation, which is an after-school program, and a piece celebrating the sun.

How many sites are involved in Express Yourself Milwaukee?

We have five sites. Of course, the kids from the detention center aren’t actually able to be on stage with us, but we have two video pieces that are from the kids at the detention center. One is a labyrinth piece about walking and making choices in our life.

Is it difficult coordinating the involvement of kids in the detention center?

Well, we have contract with the detention center. We go in there every week. That’s one of the things that is unique about Express Yourself: I’m an art therapist, so the idea of confidentiality, and a treatment-like focus, is important. We’re very careful about the confidentiality of the kids at the detention center, and we’re very consistent. We build up a relationship, we have a team of artists that go in, and the detention center staff understands what we’re doing. We communicate with them so they know what our purpose is. This is our third year with the detention center kids. Last year, space was our theme, and the year before was the river. It’s up to the artist to figure out how to integrate the detention center kids into this performance.

This may be thinking too far out, but have you thought of the theme for next year’s performance?

Actually, we have. We think it’s going to be something like “Let’s Grow.” We’re starting a new collaboration with Running Rebels, which is another organization that works with similar kinds of kids in the city. We’re going to be renting studio space from them, so our hope is to grow a studio this year, but there’s also this idea of growing, planting and urban gardens—I think that’s going to make a wonderful theme for next year.