March 11th, 2026
Welcome to our series, Spotlighting Wisconsin! This series spotlights arts organizations across the state (including some of our wonderful grantees), and showcases the amazing work they do in their communities, along with sharing the why, or what drives them as an organization to do the work they do.
Arts Board Grantee
Prairie Music & Arts, INC.
Sun Prairie
Prairie Music & Arts (PMA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit community arts organization representing Sun Prairie and greater Dane County, Wisconsin. With a 26-year history of developing arts-based educational programs, PMA is now fully mobile, providing programs in community centers, schools, and outdoor spaces.
Current programs offered at no cost to participants include:
1) Sun Prairie Creates—A collaboration between Prairie Music & Arts and Sun Prairie Community Schools that exposes youth to culturally responsive arts-based programming, such as dance, music, art, poetry, theater, digital arts, and entrepreneurship for grades 2-8 in the Sun Prairie Area School District.
2) GO-CART—A community, arts, and recreation trailer in partnership with the Sun Prairie Parks, Recreation & Forestry Department that goes directly to city parks, offering enriching arts and recreation activities.
3) Make Music Sun Prairie—A global and local annual music festival open to musicians of all ages and skill levels—takes place on June 21st at businesses, community centers, and outdoor spaces.
4) Hearts for Arts—Prairie Music & Arts provides take-home art kits for disadvantaged youth at meal distribution centers during the summer months. Over 1100 kits were prepared by volunteers and offered to youth in 2025.
5) Coming in 2026! Artful Memories - a new project is being developed in partnership with the Colonial Club Senior Center in Sun Prairie, which takes arts-based experiences, such as art, poetry, and video interviews, to adults with memory loss to capture participants' lived experiences through art and storytelling.
The Sun Prairie Creates program will include two Spring Break Arts Camps: Elementary Arts & STEAM Camp and Arts Entrepreneurship Camp, taking place from March 23 to 27 at Central Heights Middle School, from 8 am to 4 pm. The camps are being held in partnership with Prairie Music & Arts, Sun Prairie Community Schools, Jamarek, and CEOs of Tomorrow, and will include teaching artists from the Dane County area and the UW-Madison Whoopensocker theater program. The camps will end with a public Arts Night from 4 to 5:30 pm on March 27.
GO-CART programs will take place from June through October at Sun Prairie parks. Activities include music, poetry, art, dance, and active play experiences. A new GO-CART Kids Cabaret, featuring children- and family-focused cultural performances, is being developed in conjunction with the city’s 2026 summer Concerts in the Park Series on June 9, June 26, July 7, July 21, August 11, and August 21, 2026, at Wetmore Park in Sun Prairie.
Make Music Sun Prairie will take place on June 21 throughout the downtown area.