10th Annual Beet Street




In 2016 Cactus Club, Palomino, and Goodkind, three pillars of Milwaukee’s food, beverage, and music industries, came together to organize a neighborhood block party to celebrate food and music and to give a platform to citywide community organizations.
Environmentalism, voter registration, and LGBT+ resources are just a few causes highlighted.

Festival goals:
-Connect individuals, communities, and causes
-Center youth participation and activities
-Offer eclectic music programming
-Provide a warm, welcoming atmosphere for all to enjoy

Bay View neighborhood groups, environmental justice organizers, art collectives, community health clinics, harm reduction advocates, abolitionists, voter registrants, LGBTQ+ resources—all have a presence! Each table aims to engage intergenerational audiences with educational materials. We uplift the intersections of art and movement building.

Vendors include a punk rock rummage sale, maker market, face painting, activity stations, a juried pie contest “The Great Midwestern Pie Championship” at Palomino, local farmers, and screen-printing station.


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Transport

Cactus Club’s own late-night dance party that focuses on the psychedelic sounds of Midwest house and techno, both classic and cutting edge. Transport brings DJs from across the region to share the the variety of this rich tradition on the Cactus dance floor.


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Cactus+ Programs

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.


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ITC is one part of Cactus Plus’s Accessibility Initiative. It is intended to provide resources to disabled, neurodiverse, poor, undocumented, multiracial, and intergenerational artists and community members. This project is rooted in the belief that art is the road to liberation and that our struggles are interconnected. 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.

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Digital and Vinyl DJ Lessons

All people of all levels of familiarity with DJing are invited. Guidance for the equipment will be readily available. Play a couple songs, chat about records and hear new music. If you don’t have your own tracks, you are welcome to play ours.

• Free & All Ages
• Hosted by local artist, Language Models
• two Saturdays each month from 1-5p

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Launched in Fall 2025, Take One is Cactus Plus’ new teen filmmaking course. The program follows a semester-long format with two instructors to guide the classes. The goal is to impart students with an understanding of all elements of the filmmaking process, find what areas of filmmaking interest them the most, make professional connections in the filmmaking community (locally and nationally/internationally), and build confidence as emerging filmmakers. The class accommodates 30 students each semester and registration will be free to all.

Take One aims to foster talent, connect students to broader communities of their interests and celebrate a culture of symbiotic arts education. This program is a crucial exercise in worldbuilding and will demonstrate that access to free equipment and educational resources transforms student experiences and creative communities.


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Grilled Cheese Grant




The Grilled Cheese Grant (GCG) is an annual community fundraising event and visual artist grant that provides financial support for undergraduate seniors and emerging artists in Wisconsin by making grilled cheese sandwiches.  The Grilled Cheese Grant was created in 2016 as a secondary platform for graduating seniors from the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) and the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (UWM) to receive financial support for their senior exhibition projects outside of their institution. In 2024, GCG expanded by opening applications to include all emerging visual artists working within Southern Wisconsin.

The funds raised prior to and during the Grilled Cheese Grant are totaled and awarded to the selected finalists in the form of an artist/project grant to support their proposed projects. The grant amounts are determined by the money raised during the event. Selected finalists receive the largest portion of funds and a percentage is retained by GCG organizers, collaborators, and partners for future programming support. Additionally, a portion of the proceeds go towards our bi-annual MICRO reGrant program, started in 2024. The goal of that program is to support the presence of artist-run spaces and organizations that are integral to the health and success of the arts ecosystem in Milwaukee, WI.


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Cactus Club Merch

Most items are 100% cotton and USA made. Exceptions are the trucker hat and flower crop tops.

All items printed by hand in Milwaukee, WI.


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