Advocate for the Arts Awards Benefit

On Tuesday, October 1, Grant Park Music Festival celebrated its 2019 Advocate for the Arts Awards Benefit, raising more than $850,000 for the Festival’s 10-week summer season of free concerts and community engagement programs—impacting more than 800,000 people each year.

The event included performances by the Festival’s Project Inclusion String Quartet and Chicago’s own violin virtuoso Rachel Barton Pine, as well as presentations of the annual Advocate for the Arts Awards, honoring those who have exhibited outstanding leadership and commitment to Chicago’s cultural landscape and the arts. We are grateful to the generous individuals, corporations, and foundations for supporting this important fundraising initiative for the Festival. Special thanks to our outstanding event co-chairs, Julian Oettinger and Sondra Berman Epstein; amazing Master of Ceremonies, Ron Magers; and deserving honorees, Robert J. Buford (President and CEO, Planned Realty Group, Inc.) and William Blair & Company (Accepted by John Ettelson, President and CEO).

For more information about this event, please email development@gpmf.org.