Please join us and support the Festival. Gather together with great friends of the arts to enjoy great performances and celebrate the Festival’s vital role in enriching our city with world-class music experiences that are free and open to all.
We are proud to present the 2025 Advocate for the Arts Award to Amy Lee Boonstra—an unwavering champion for the Festival and music education—and Amsted Industries, recognizing the outstanding contributions of Chairman, President and CEO Stephen Smith, and his late predecessor Bob Reum, whose transformational leadership helped to shape Amsted’s commitment to Chicago’s arts and cultural landscape.
Many thanks to Karen Zupko, 2025 Awards Benefit Chair
Emcee: Irika Sargent, Evening News Anchor, CBS Chicago
Business Attire
If possible, kindly consider check or wire transfer payment for gifts of $5,000+.
If you prefer to pay by check, please mail your contribution to:
Grant Park Orchestral Association
PO BOX 8930
Carol Stream, IL 60197-8930
Event Contact: Colleen Woodhouse
About Grant Park Music Festival
The Grant Park Music Festival is the nation’s only free, outdoor classical music series of its kind. Created as a response to the Great Depression of the 1930s, by Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak and James Petrillo, President of the Musicians’ Union, the ten-week festival has become a beloved summertime tradition in Chicago.
The Grammy® Award-nominated Grant Park Orchestra and the award-winning Grant Park Chorus feature more than 250 professional musicians who perform at the Festival for the ten-week season each summer. Throughout the rest of the year, they can be found playing with major orchestras, teaching at universities and appearing on concert stages throughout the U.S.
The Festival offers more than 270 free events each summer, including concerts in Millennium Park and in neighborhoods throughout the city, docent-led open rehearsals, pre-concert lectures as well as additional community engagement events. The Grant Park Music Festival serves more than 800,000 people each summer, including Chicagoans and visitors alike.
Over the past decade, under the leadership of Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Carlos Kalmar and Chorus Director Christopher Bell, the Grant Park Music Festival has established a reputation for providing adventurous programing at world-class standards, in an environment welcoming and accessible to all.
The Festival operates today as a unique collaboration among the Grant Park Orchestral Association, the City of Chicago, and the Chicago Park District. The contributions of corporations, foundations, and thousands of individual donors help keep the music playing all summer long.