By Contessa Cole, Founder & Executive Director
When I reflect on the journey of TBEY Arts Center, I am filled with gratitude, humility, and deep hope for the future.
What began as a young person’s response to the loss of arts education has grown into a thriving community institution that has served more than 20,000 children and teens across Milwaukee and Southeastern Wisconsin. For over 25 years, TBEY has been a place where young people feel seen, valued, and empowered, a creative home where they can explore who they are and who they are becoming.
TBEY is more than an arts organization. It is a safe haven. It is a space for expression, healing, confidence-building, and leadership development. Through dance, theatre, music, and visual arts, our students learn discipline, collaboration, and resilience, skills that stay with them long after they leave our classrooms and stages.
In January 2024, our story was shared nationally on TODAY Show with Hoda & Jenna, a moment that reminded me just how far this work has traveled, from a dream sketched in a high school classroom to a nationally recognized model for youth arts and community impact. That moment belonged not to me alone, but to every young person, family, teaching artist, partner, donor, and believer who has walked alongside us.
As we look ahead, TBEY is entering a bold new chapter, expanding our programs, strengthening our infrastructure, and deepening our role as a leader at the intersection of arts, youth development, wellness, and community building. Our vision for the future is rooted in sustainability, equity, and access, ensuring that creativity remains a right, not a privilege.
I am endlessly grateful to the individuals, corporate partners, community-based organizations, foundations, and public agencies who believed in this work early on, and who continue to invest in the power of the arts to change lives. Because of you, TBEY continues to thrive, and young people continue to dream boldly.
With appreciation and hope,
Contessa Cole
Founder & Executive Director
TBEY Arts Center, Inc.
Contessa Cole’s Journey: The Birth of TBEY Arts Center
TBEY Arts Center was founded when I was just 16 years old, sparked by a moment that would forever shape my life’s work.
One evening, while watching the news with my father, we learned that arts programming was being cut across Milwaukee Public Schools due to budget constraints. By that point, I had already witnessed the gradual disappearance of band, art, drama, and music classes at my own high school, John Marshall High School. Seeing the official announcement confirmed my fears, and broke my heart. I couldn’t imagine a future where young people would grow up without access to the arts.
Dance had been my first love for as long as I could remember. My parents often tell the story of me breakdancing at just 11 months old. I grew up in a creatively vibrant household, my older sister is a visual artist, and my younger sister is a dancer, but even with that support, I often struggled to find spaces where I felt fully welcomed. Many dance programs lacked representation and diversity, and it was rare to see students who looked like me. Many of my peers shared my passion for the arts but simply could not afford to participate.
One night, while watching an awards show on BET, I felt an overwhelming sense of possibility. Seeing a Black-owned network celebrating artists who looked like me, thriving, creating, and being celebrated, was powerful. In that moment, I envisioned a place where my peers and I could learn, perform, and grow together.
That vision followed me into my social studies classroom, where I began doodling ideas and writing down names. That’s when Tessa’s Black Entertainment & Youth Center—TBEY—was born.
My earliest efforts were humble: organizing talent shows at family gatherings and community events. After graduating high school, I enrolled at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, studying business with the original goal of opening a dance studio. But my thinking continued to evolve. I thought about the students coming after me, the ones who wouldn’t have parents who could afford private lessons, the ones whose schools no longer offered arts classes at all.
I began researching after-school programs and learned about the nonprofit sector, realizing that grants and public funding could support youth arts education. I spent two years studying, planning, and learning what it would take to build a sustainable organization.
In 2000, TBEY Arts Center was officially founded.
Building TBEY required resilience, faith, and determination. As a young woman of color, I faced barriers related to access, funding, and credibility, but my commitment to young people and community never wavered. Over time, TBEY grew into a trusted community institution, offering inclusive, high-quality arts education that supports academic success, social-emotional growth, and leadership development.
For more than 25 years, this work has been my calling.
I believe deeply that representation matters, that creativity heals, and that access to the arts can transform lives. TBEY stands as living proof of what is possible when young people are trusted with vision, when communities invest in creativity, and when the arts are treated as essential, not optional.
#theartsmatter
Cole holds a master’s degree in Cultural Foundations of Education and a Bachelor of Science degree in Community Education and business minor from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and plans to pursue a doctorate in nonprofit management. She is an inaugural cohort of the Village MKE, Black Executive Leadership program (2024), and an alumna of Forward 48 leadership program (Spring 2022) and the National Guild for Community Arts Education: Community Arts Education Leadership Intercultural Institute (CAELII 2016).
Her accolades include being named a 2025 Wisconsin Titan100, a 2025 BizTimes Notable BIPOC Executives honoree, a Danae Davis Recipient Award presented by HYFIN, a 2024 UNCF Milwaukee Mastermind, a 2022 Woman of Influence by the Milwaukee Business Journal, and a “Woman of Impact” by The KNOW Milwaukee chapter in 2021. Cole also received the CEO of Me Business Award by the Center for Teaching Entrepreneurship in 2011 and was featured in Who’s Who in Black Milwaukee. She has taught nonprofit and entrepreneurship classes at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Milwaukee Public School Recreation Programs. As a dedicated mentor and advocate, Cole is committed to enhancing the Greater Milwaukee community.
Cole has extensive experience in community relations and arts administration. She has actively participated in various initiatives, includes previously serving on the boards of the Catch a Rising Star Foundation and the Peace Learning Center, and on Usher’s New Look Foundation’s Milwaukee Chapter Committee. Currently she is an active board member for First Generation Professionals of Milwaukee, Wisconsin Dance Council, and The CR8TV House, Inc. She served as a consultant for Milwaukee’s Eastside Business District to support Black Cat Alley programs and initiatives. Cole has contributed to several arts and youth grant panels, including Arts Midwest’s GIG Fund, Wisconsin Arts Board and Wisconsin Department of Public Institution: 21st Century Community Learning Center’s program.
Contessa Cole is the Principal/CEO of CC Consulting Group, LLC and Hey Puddin, LLC, and the Executive Director/Founder of TBEY Arts Center, Inc., a nonprofit organization providing arts education, and mentoring programs for Milwaukee youth. Cole founded TBEY at 16, in response to arts program cuts in schools, and has led it for over 24 years. Her story was featured on The TODAY Show with Hoda & Jenna in 2024.