The History of Ravinia’s Leading Ladies
The Ravinia Women’s Board was established in 1962 by Ravinia Trustee Margaret McClure and a group of 29 women who wanted to assist the festival by participating in and promoting its activities.
In the early years, these members volunteers to provide lodging for visiting Ravinia artists in their homes and prepared dinners before and after the performances.
They organized a very successful series of Saturday morning children’s concerts. They helped with the annual Ravinia Art Exhibit and sponsored fashion shows and flower festivals to raise money for Ravinia’s programming.
The first gala evening was held in 1967 and began as a thank-you to Ravinia supporters rather than as a fundraiser. Over the years, the Gala has grown to become the single most profitable fundraiser that the Women’s Board plans and executes.
Through the 1970s the Women’s Board focused on fundraising activities for their projects and the festival. During this decade, they created “To Beautify,” which raises funds to purchase flowers and plantings for the park, and the Tribute Fund, a way to honor or remember a friend or loved one.
The women also created the Friendship Booth, which sold Ravinia T-shirts and sweatshirts. Over the years, this retail business has gone from a small booth, to a walk-up gift shop located at the back of the Martin Theatre, to the Festival Shop, a walk-in retail store in the dining pavilion.
In the mid-1980s, the Women’s Board came up with the idea to produce a high-quality cookbook to be sold as a fundraiser. In 1986, Noteworthy made its debut and spent 10 weeks on the Chicago Tribune’s bestseller list. Together with the 1995 follow-up book, Noteworthy Two, these cookbooks have raised over $1 million for the festival.
Other women’s Board fundraising projects have included the children’s book Ribbee Dibbee Doo, a carousel horse auction in honor of Ravinia’s centennial, and a biennial international cruise. New in 2012 was a chair rental business that alone generated over $135,000 in revenue for the festival.
Over the years, the Women’s Board has reached out to the community in a number of ways. In 1974, the Board introduced the annual poster competition, in which students (and now professionals too) submit their entries to be considered for the season poster. The winning artist receives a small monetary award and the honor of seeing the poster featured throughout the park all summer. The poster is also sold at the Festival Shop.
The Women’s Board has also initiated many of the programs that exist today under the umbrella of Reach Teach Play, including:
- Organizing and funding the Opportunity Lawn Pass program, which provides free Ravinia lawn admission to kids in underserved communities;
- Assisting with Classical Invitations, which welcomes over 1,000 young students every summer to attend CSO concerts free of charge as well as meet-and-greets with artists;
- Participating in Music Discovery, which includes artist residencies and active student participation in the K-3 grade levels,;
- Volunteering their time in third-grade classrooms as part of the Classical Connections program; and
- Creating and funding Ravinia’s newest program, Sistema Ravinia, an “El Sistema”-based student orchestra at Circle Rock Charter School in the Austin neighborhood and the new Harza nucleo for Lake County based schools.
In the more than fifty years since the Ravinia Women’s Board was formed, 359 women have been privileged to become members. They have given a total of 5198 years of service and raised more than $25 million for the Festival. There is no doubt that they are, indeed, Ravinia’s Leading Ladies.