By Ana Martinez-Ortiz
The Retreat’s bright orange hue was chosen for its energy. (Photo provided by The Retreat)
Driving down Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, The Retreat is hard to miss. With its orange lettering, The Retreat, 2215 N. Martin Luther King Dr., has an eye-catching storefront that carries through the entire space. Dasha Kelly Hamilton, who founded the space with her husband Kima Hamilton, said that everything from the color orange to the feng shui of the place was intentional.
For example, she and Hamilton wanted a color that could invigorate and inspire the people who come to work in the space. But the space is for more than just working in. In fact, the space serves multiple purposes and is a place to gather, work and learn.
Kelly Hamilton explained that The Retreat, which is 1,800 sq. ft., is meant to be space for nonprofits, businesses, theatre troupes and whoever to rent out and host events. The Retreat tries to aim for events that are geared towards human and social wellness from classes to workshops to conversations to meetings to poetry shows and more.
Dasha Kelly Hamilton and her husband Kima Hamilton opened The Retreat in October 2019. (Photo provided by The Retreat)
The idea was to have a venue for and of the community, that didn’t cost a lot and wasn’t on the other side of the city. The overarching goal is to be a resource by providing a space for the organizations that are having the difficult conversations and finding solutions.
“We want people to think of this space when they’re trying to plan for solutions and when they want to bring folks together for the good,” Kelly Hamilton said.
The name came from the view that a retreat is an opportunity to fall back and figure it out. Building off that concept, The Retreat created its mission to be place “where ideas plan and play.”
Kelly Hamilton said that the space practically fell into Hamilton and hers laps. They had originally planned to open a café, but eventually decided on creating a space for programming.
It was a synthesis of creative forces, she said.
The space is multifunctional and be used for anything from parties, to meetings, to workshops and more. (Photo by Ana Martinez-Ortiz)
With the help of the Brew City Match, Kelly Hamilton and Hamilton were able to build upon their idea and create a space that was both aesthetically pleasing and functional. After a year of hard work, The Retreat officially opened in October 2019.
The Retreat has couches, plants, desks, a podcast studio and a gallery wall, which pays an homage to individuals and groups in the community and the nation. The first image, for example, is a photo of Gee’s Clippers with its iconic basketball floor, which had been housed previously in the space.
“These are all narratives of places across the country and across timelines that were unexpected places where important conversations happened,” she said.
Other images feature places such as the Los Angeles’s Good Life Café, which became a well-known space during the hip hop movement of the nineties and the deli where civil rights leader Medgar Evers often convened
Part of The Retreat’s efforts in the community rely on the partnerships is has with organizations and individuals. Thanks to those partnerships, The Retreat has already provided a space for a theatre production, a poetry open mic night, a workshop on flipping properties, a board meeting, a bazaar and much more.
While a majority of the events have been through organizations, The Retreat offers its own activities as well. On Mondays there’s a Pop Café, where creatives can get a bottomless cup of tea or coffee for $5. It has a conversation series titled “About That” which examines a piece of art and the relevance it has to certain topics such as aging, gentrification, sensuality, politics and more. The Retreat also has a Folk School.
“So, folks that have a high level of knowledge have a place to teach it,” she said, adding that its a place for experts to leverage their knowledge and spread it around.
The range of events have led to a range of people, Kelly Hamilton said. The result is people learning about the space and each other. There’s a range of expertise, she added.
With several events and workshops already planned, Kelly Hamilton said right now the goal is to keep the momentum going. And although it’s only been a few months, The Retreat is well on its way to becoming an established place in not only Bronzeville but in the entire Milwaukee community.
To learn more about The Retreat or about renting the space, visit theretreatmke.com.