Stillroom
OUR MISSION
To cultivate an inclusive musical culture where composers of all identities, especially those historically underrepresented, are valued and empowered to shape the future of contemporary music.
OUR VISION
Fostering a musical culture where every composer’s voice can be heard.
Our
Story
How It All Began...
Stillroom began as a vision from recent graduates of UWM's Music Composition and Technology department that saw Milwaukee and the greater Midwest as a space for new music of all genres , written by underrepresented and underplayed composers. It all began with a conversation over coffee between founders JJ Bushman and Bella Brundage, and a passion for community and music.
Meet The Artistic Directors
JJ Bushman | President & Executive Director JJ Bushman is an award winning composer, pianist, audio engineer, and educator based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin who excels in writing in various different styles for various different ensembles. His music has premiered in multiple countries and serves to share stories of people, things and places, draw attention to these and preserve them. His goal is to provoke the minds of his audience and inspire others towards thinking inwardly about the life they live, the life others live and the world they find themselves in. He hopes to get his audience to appreciate nature and the small things that may go unnoticed around them and pursue community in as many aspects as possible. As a composer he has attended the Brevard Music Institute for Composition Du Vert A L’infini, Splice and won a position in the Flow Project. As a sound engineer, JJ has played a role in recording, soundtrack, editing and mixing several published multimedia works, such as “Jammed” by Matt Kenner and “Unconditional” by Joely Hurkman, student works “The Service” “Juxtaposition” “Knowing a person” and “Silently Screaming”. As a musician John has worked with several Milwaukee based groups such as The Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, UW-Milwauke jazz ensembles, Brew City Big Band, and The Milwaukee Ballet as a pianist, bassist and composer.
Bella Brundage | Vice President & Marketing Director Bella Brundage is an award-winning composer and arranger, performer, visual artist, and singer-songwriter out of Milwaukee, WI. They have always been fascinated by the natural and fantastic, weaving elements of fantasy into their vision of the natural world or turning inwards to translate their own experiences into music. Their music has been featured in several UWM student short films--most notably "Mise en Place" directed by Vivian Wagner which was nominated for Best UWM Film at the Milwaukee Independent Film Awards in 2025--and has been premiered internationally among various ensemble types. In Summer of 2025, Bella attended the Screen Music Program in Pavia Italy and separately, their piece "Elegy for Lost Mariners" won the WCDA Collegiate Choral Composition Award. They were also a founding officer of UWM's a cappella group Public Hearing which made history by being the second group of its age to win an ICCA Quarterfinal.
Eli Drews | Treasurer & CFO Eli Drews grew up immersed in the performing arts of the Milwaukee area, having attended public arts schools and surrounded by a family of actors and singers. He has served as principal or co-principal horn in the UW-Milwaukee Community Orchestra, the UWM Symphony Orchestra, and the UWM Wind Ensemble and Symphony Band. He’s also performed with the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, as well as in many community groups and pit orchestras in the area. He has composed works for ensembles ranging from band and orchestra to chamber groups and solo works, with compositions performed or recorded by the Brevard Music Center Orchestra, Transient Canvas, Third Coast Percussion, Present Music’s Tatine String Quartet, the Cosmo Reed Quintet, the UW-Milwaukee New Music Ensemble, and by the Milwaukee Youth Symphony. He has studied horn with Richard Tremarello and Gregory Flint and composition with Ron Foster, Phillip Sink, William Heinrichs, Robert Aldridge, David Dzubay and Nathan Hearing. He has Bachelor’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee in Composition & Technology and in Horn Performance. Mr. Drews is also the brass repair technician at Brass Bell Music Store in the Northshore of Milwaukee.