Ravinia, North America’s oldest and most programmatically diverse music festival, is proud to welcome Allstate Insurance Company as its Lead Classical Sponsor. This is the first time in the festival’s 111-year history that one organization has received this designation.
“It’s no secret that classical music presenters around the world are struggling to keep this historically invaluable music viable in a world where so many forms of entertainment and technology are competing for people’s leisure time and money,” Ravinia President and CEO Welz Kauffman said. “While Ravinia is like an outdoor Carnegie Hall in that it presents the best artists from all genres, making classical music accessible to the entire population—particularly children and other first-time listeners—is crucial to Ravinia’s mission. And that’s not a money-making proposition. That is why Allstate’s generous support is so well-directed, desperately needed and infinitely appreciated.”
In addition to inhabiting a naturally inviting, family-friendly environment free of the trappings and formality of most classical music venues, Ravinia—with Allstate’s support—helps build audiences for classical music through several initiatives. This includes low, attractive pricing, with most reserved seats to all CSO concerts in the Pavilion costing only $25. Lawn admission to all classical concerts (excluding movie nights) is only $10 and is free for children and students attending a college or university. The festival also works to entice new listeners with pre-concert videos; guest chefs in its restaurants; marketing materials that describe classical events in greater, reader-friendly detail; program notes available online in advance of concerts; parties hosted by the Ravinia Associates Board; and programming an attractive array of symphonic, recital, chamber music, and special events for new ears and connoisseurs alike.
Allstate is also lending support to the Ravinia Women’s Board’s annual gala dinner following the Aug. 1 “Tchaikovsky Spectacular” concert, which features James Conlon conducting the CSO and violin soloist Maxim Vengerov. The annual gala is Ravinia’s only concert fundraiser.