The Wisconsin Department of Administration was awarded two federal grants totaling $60,000 to assist with the restoration costs of the “Forward” and Col. Hans Christian Heg statues that were damaged earlier this year, according to a release from the office of Gov. Tony Evers. The grants are provided from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The statues are anticipated to be reinstalled in the summer of 2021. Additionally, a community advisory committee is working on a proposal to erect a monument to the late Vel Phillips. The committee’s proposal is likely to be finalized in early 2021. Phillips was the first African American woman to graduate from UW–Madison Law School, to win a seat on Milwaukee’s City Council, and to become a judge in Wisconsin. She also made history when she became the first African American elected statewide in Wisconsin as secretary of state.
