Advocate for the Arts Awards Benefit
Wednesday, October 15 | 6:00 PM
Four Seasons Chicago
Business Attire
Emcee: Irika Sargent, Evening News Anchor, CBS Chicago
Chair: Karen Zupko, President, Karen Zupko & Associates, Inc.
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. Performances will feature Festival favorite violinist Will Hagen as well as 2025 Festival Fellows.
For more information about this event, please call 312.742.2729 or send us an email.
Honorees
Thank You to Our 2025 Sponsors
Sandra Allen and Jim Perlow
Amsted Industries
Amy and Brian Boonstra
Nancy Dehmlow
Reum Family Foundation
Sheli and Burt Rosenberg
Stephen and Linda Smith
Karen Zupko
Sue and Paul Freehling
James and Eileen Friestad
Jeannette and Jerry Goldstone
Freddi Greenberg and Dan Pinkert
Nora Jaskowiak and Matthew Hinerfeld
Julian Oettinger
Jeffrey Rappin and Penny Brown
Lisbeth Stiffel
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
Pamela Crutchfield, Phillip Lumpkin, and William Tedford
Bruce Czuchna and Paul Winberg
Kate Donaldson and Ryan Whitacre
Honorable Rhoda Sweeney Drucker and Fred Drucker
Adam Grais, McDonald Hopkins LLC
Nancy and Tom Hanson
David Hiller and Darcy Evon
Jones Day and The Sedlak Family
Kay and Malcolm Kamin
Sandra Kamin
McAndrews, Held & Malloy, Ltd.
Tom and Shellane Mulcahy
Jill and Jeffrey Mueller
Thomas Orlando
Hedy M. Rather
Ramon and MJ Stewart
Lauren Streicher and Jason Brett
Maureen Sullivan Taylor and Terry Taylor
Andria van der Merwe
David Whitney and Juliana Chyu
Jenny Willcox
Ruth D. Williams, MD
Elizabeth Bach
Marlys A. Beider
Barbara and Edward Burnes
Mimis Cohen
Colleen and Lloyd Fry
Charles and Caroline Huebner