Ballet dancer Misty Copeland said the Boys & Girls Clubs helped her launch her trailblazing career. Now, she hopes the new expansion of arts programs at the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee will help other youths do the same.
Copeland was in the city Oct. 12 to help celebrate the announcement during the 2026 Presidents Society Gathering at The Pfister Hotel.
“I was trying to find an entryway into how I was discovering myself, and ballet was exactly what I needed,” Copeland said.
The Boys & Girls Clubs is a national nonprofit that supports youths by providing them with resources, opportunities and a chance to build long-lasting relationships.
Diving into the expansion
President and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee Jeff Snell said the expansion of arts programming for youths includes the launch of the MarVan Sports & Arts Program and a partnership with Contessa Cole, founder and executive director of TBEY Arts Center.
TBEY Arts Center is a 26-year-old nonprofit that Cole founded at 16 in response to art program cuts at MPS.
The program’s mission is to strengthen young people through exposure to visual arts, dance, music and theater by providing them with opportunities for creative expression.
The MarVan Sports & Arts Program will provide opportunities in sports, performing arts, visual arts, music and other activities to help youths.
The new director of the program, Randy Howard, said he wants an environment that gives youths an opportunity to discover their identity, build confidence and explore their passions.
“Ultimately, my goal is to build a program that not only develops athletes and artists but also empowers young people to grow as individuals, build lasting relationships and recognize their full potential,” he said.
Snell said having both Cole and Howard there to support arts programs at the club will have an immediate impact.
“I thought that before we really start from a dead stop, let’s have the advantage of Contessa and what she’s already built across the city with youth arts programming,” Snell said. “Instead of pushing donor money out the door and offering things that may not be attractive to the kids … now we have Randy’s magic and Contessa’s help.”
Copeland’s journey
Copeland, who was born in Kansas City, Mo., said her dance teacher discovered her during a difficult period of her family’s life. She was one of six children being raised by a single mother who worked multiple jobs and had experienced homelessness.
“My family was living in a one-bedroom motel. I was sleeping on the floor, and ballet was the farthest thing from anything I could imagine being a part of,” Copeland said. “I didn’t have the clothes or the training, my family didn’t have the resources to put me into a ballet school, but what I had was a club where I built a relationship with the teacher who brought an opportunity directly to where I already felt at home.”
Copeland, a Boys & Girls Clubs of America Hall of Fame alumna, said she felt glad to support the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee as it focuses more on arts. She remembers first taking free dance classes at the San Pedro Boys & Girls Club in California at 13, after club dance teacher Cindy Bradley saw her on a basketball court.
Copeland said the Boys & Girls Clubs’ environment also made her mom feel at ease, knowing that she and her siblings were kept safe and doing something productive.
“I think it really was the first time where she felt like she could breathe because there was a safe space that she wasn’t constantly worrying about,” Copeland said.
Copeland, who became the first Black woman to be principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre in 2015, has made a lasting commitment to the Boys & Girls Clubs.
Why arts programming matters
Despite Copeland’s circumstances, she said the Boys & Girls Club was the place where she found self-expression through movement, built confidence and more. She described it as her first home.
“With so much around me constantly changing, the club gave me consistency, familiar faces. People knew me and knew my name, and it was just a place where I could be a child,” she said. “I felt free to be myself for the first time.”
Copeland said her Boys & Girls Club ballet experience inspired her to develop her afterschool dance initiative, BE Bold, through The Misty Copeland Foundation. The initiative gives children of color ages 5 through 12 access to ballet.
“Through our signature program we bring ballet into communities that are underserved by meeting them where they are,” Copeland said. “We consider what access actually means for them and their families.”
Making a difference
Snell said Copeland’s ballet journey is an example of why local youths need arts programming opportunities to thrive.
Copeland believes that one of the ways they thrive is through mentorship. She encourages youths in arts not to be afraid of utilizing the mentors around them so they can get the support they need.
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have that type of guidance,” she said. “They will be there, but it’s also up to you on how you open up and allow them to connect you.”
The dancer said she hopes that Milwaukee youths take advantage of the expanded arts programs at the Boys & Girls Clubs.
“I had no consistency and no stability in my life,” she said. “The Boys & Girls Club became the first thing that really was that. I knew exactly when I was going to go there and what I was going to be looking forward to.”
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
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