FSM

01/29/2025

Next Saturday, Feb 8th, at the fsm. Konsthus! There is still space to sign up for this workshop with Rebecca Zornow!

Want to write great fiction? It all starts with a great character.

On February 8, Rebecca is leading a character building workshop at the new FSM arts house in Appleton. In the 90-minute workshop you will:

️-Discuss what makes a dynamic character
-Learn what you should know about your main character before drafting your book
-Start building your character
-Get feedback from a book coach who has edited over 4 million words
-Leave with a character guide you can use for each new project

Participants should bring writing materials. This workshop is open to writers of all levels and genres within fiction. Register on the Conquer Books website: https://tinyurl.com/yym26pme

Date: Saturday, February 8, 2025, 9:30-11 AM
Location: FSM at 918 N. Oneida St., Appleton, WI 54911

05/26/2024

What a fun evening! Congratulations to all of the teen poets who participated in this end of year reading and open mic, presented by the West Poets Society and fsm.! Thank you to all who came out to support them and to Copper Rock downtown Appleton for letting us use your space!

02/06/2024

‘Book Review: Natasha Stagg’s: Artless’
by Grace Grocholski

“With insider knowledge of New York fashion, art, and commerce, Stagg explores the tension between art and advertising. Stagg makes a living primarily working for brands writing ad copy, and this complicity adds a layer of complexity to her work. In her introduction, she describes working on set as the questioner at a behind-the-scenes interview, which was intended to be repurposed in advertising. It does not go as planned.”
Featured in Volume 4 Issue 1, distributed across NE Wisconsin. Find your copy today, or now available on the website

01/30/2024

Join us this Friday, February 2nd 5-9PM for ‘Ad infinitum: an fsm. performance series’ Featuring poetry and acoustic music, with local Wisconsin artists.
This community engagement event will be an excellent way to get to know all of us at fsm.ink, supporting the art community together, in art and in action!
Located 401 N. Main Street, Oshkosh, WI. February 2nd, 5-9PM.
$10 suggested donation, we will see you there!

01/24/2024

Join us February 2nd 5-9PM for ‘Ad infinitum: an fsm. performance series’ Featuring poetry and acoustic music, with local Wisconsin artists.
This community engagement event will be an excellent way to get to know all of us at fsm.ink, supporting the art community together, in art and in action!
Located 401 N. Main Street, Oshkosh, WI. February 2nd, 5-9PM.
Additional updates coming soon, we will see you there!

01/16/2024

‘In Control and In Charge’
by Michelle Sharp

“There are key differences between being in control and being in charge. Control is being able to dictate actions and itinerary, able to create choices for others, anticipating changes and having contingency plans. Being in charge is about handling whatever comes your way, regardless of if you are able to control it...”
Find this editorial in full: Volume 3 Issue 11, distributed across NE Wisconsin, now available on our website.
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01/11/2024

Acclaimed poet Paul Tran will give a reading in Harper Hall the evening of Thursday, January 18th at 7pm.
Sponsored by the Mia Paul Poetry Series and the Lawrence University Pride Network, this event is free and open to the public. Paul is the author of the debut poetry collection, All the Flowers Kneeling (Penguin, 2022), winner of the California Independent Bookseller Association Golden Poppy Award and Wisconsin Library Association Poetry Award, finalist for the PEN Open Book Award, Lambda Literary Foundation Transgender Poetry Award, and the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, and named “Editor’s Choice” by The New York Times, “Best Book of 2022” by The New Yorker, and “Books We Love” by NPR. Paul is an Assistant Professor of English and Asian American Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
A reception will follow the reading in the Harper Lobby.
Thursday, January 18
Event by Lawrence University Pride Network ft
Harper Hall 7:00 – 8:30 PM

01/09/2024

‘Algorithmic Aesthetics & the Sad Girl Archtype’
by Lauren Woodzicka

“n September 2022, Fiona Apple’s music was abruptly removed from TikTok. Speculation and frustration ensued regarding the intent and basis of the decision, largely focusing on how Apple’s music had come to represent the “sad girl music” archetype, along with the tracks of other female musicians like Phoebe Bridgers and Billie Eilish. Sad girl music had become an entire brand, from Spotify’s official “sad girl starter pack” playlist (with the subheading: sapphic songs that described your music taste as yearning) to Pinterest boards titled “sad girl aesthetic”. The typecasting of female artists is simultaneously seen as a method of empowerment and a trivial exercise in commodification. By creating new genre labels and associations, the music is rendered new and interesting, only to become mutated through algorithmic comfort.”
This editorial can be found in full, featured in print with Volume 3 Issue 11 and now available on our website.

01/04/2024

The opening reception for newART/iV celebrates the third year of art exhibitions and related programs at
This annual exhibition of new dynamic array of artists, displaying a wide-range of media choices. From Wisconsin-at-large (special emphasis on artists who live and work in the Northeastern region of the state-) featuring; Carrie Dorski, Erin Labonte, Savannah Mikle, Alex Simpson, Michael Warrgow, and Christopher T Wood.
Meet the artists during their opening reception, 5-8PM January 12, 2024, located at 124 N.Broadway, Ste. A, De Pere, WI.
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01/02/2024

‘Memories of Klezmering in Appleton’
by Miri Verona

“During the pandemic, klezmer music became my quarantine obsession — one of the only consistent things tethering me to reality. From being my rock during the pandemic, klezmer for me blossomed into a surprisingly thrilling medium for community engagement. Despite Appleton being famously home to Jewish magician Harry Houdini, it has an incredibly small Jewish community. In total, less than half a percent of the Appleton population is Jewish. Even so, Appleton maintains a small and close-knit Jewish community centered around Moses Montefiore Synagogue.

Klezmer, for those who are unfamiliar, is a Jewish music genre that has its roots in the musical traditions and practices of Ashkenazi Jews in Central and Eastern Europe. The Jews who wandered around those parts of Europe played a variety of Jewish and non-Jewish musical styles and dances in various settings. Over centuries, this synthesized into this genre we now call klezmer. Yes, even a Wisconsin-spun, Liberace-style Beer Barrel Polka might be klezmer in the right context.”
Music, community, culture; full writing is now available in print distributed across NE Wisconsin, and can be found online
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12/19/2023

‘An Ode to Taylor’s Versions’
by G. Chaver

“Taylor Swift was one of the first performers to teach me that women not only existed in music but could express their stories through art. This was crucial to developing my identity as a songwriter and human...”
Full editorial available in print, distributed across NE Wisconsin, and now be found website, link attached to bio.
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