Ravinia Festival Raises More Than $1 Mil for Highland Park

Submitted by Ravinia Festival

Ravinia Festival, a not-for-profit that raises about half its annual budget through ticket sales and the rest through private donations, has contributed $1,046,308 to its hometown of Highland Park in 2014.

This is the sixth year of a 10-year agreement through which the festival donates 5 percent of its annual gross ticket revenue to the city. The arrangement has yielded for the city $1,054,573 in 2013, $798,818 in 2012, $780,655 in 2011, $758,000 in 2010 and $710,000 in 2009, for a total of more than $5,148,000.

The financial arrangement is unique in that communities such as Joliet and Waukegan pay their local arts facilities to exist, and comparable music festivals such as the Hollywood Bowl depend on funding from the municipalities where they are based.

“We don’t forget for a single day how fortunate we are that Ravinia makes its home in Highland Park, a vibrant community of socially active and culturally engaged supporters of the arts,” said Ravinia President and CEO Welz Kauffman. “This is especially important in this era when audiences for classical music are declining at similar institutions around the world. I’m happy to report that Ravinia exceeded its goal of selling an average of 2,000 Pavilion seats for each of its CSO concerts. This annual check comes with our gratitude.”

“In addition to providing important funding to the community, Ravinia provides so much more. Ravinia is the GPS that shows more than 600,000 visitors the way to Highland Park every summer, while local residents enjoy Ravinia in their backyard, appreciating a wide range of world-stage artists, from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to John Legend,” said Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering, noting that patrons spend $7 in the community for every dollar they spend at a cultural destination. “The identities of the city and the festival are intertwined, and Ravinia is at the heart of Highland Park’s reputation as a culturally vibrant community. Ravinia works closely with the city on a variety of issues and opportunities and has made impactful infrastructure improvements over the past decade with its neighbors in mind, such as the current reconstruction of the north bus turnaround, which will mitigate emissions and noise following concerts.”

While most of Ravinia’s contribution goes to the city’s general fund, Highland Park turns over about a third of the Ravinia donation to the not-for-profit YEA! Highland Park, which distributes funds to organizations supporting youth, education, arts and social programs in the community. Beneficiaries of Ravinia’s largesse through YEA! include the Tri-Con Child Care Center, Highland Park High School’s Focus on the Arts, the Highland Park/Highwood Child Care Association, and the Zacharias Sexual Abuse Center. To apply for a 2015 YEA! grant, visit www.yeahp.org/grants.html. Ravinia also offers its facilities free of charge or at deep discounts to Highland Park not-for-profits, including high school graduations, Highland Park Strings and Midwest Young Artists.