Episode 67: Stern Grove Festival

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Stern Grove Festival Shows, Performers and Education Programs

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“We made the commitment that even with an expected deficit, we want to give this gift to the city. It's so necessary for the community to come back together”-Ilana Vasconcelos

In this episode, our featured voice is the Director of Development of Stern Grove Festival Ilana Vasconcelos. With the State of California officially reopening on June 15th and performing arts organizations working their way through all of the ever-changing health and safety protocols we wanted to feature one of the oldest outdoor music festivals in the City of San Francisco to hear how they’re working together with artists, staff and the local government, to bring the community back together through music.

Ilana Vasconcelos

Ilana Vasconcelos has been the Director of Development for Stern Grove Festival since 2018. Prior to her current role with the Festival, she worked in Fundraising, Events, and Education at several local and international non-profit arts organizations, including Fine Arts Museums San Francisco (de Young & Legion of Honor), Contemporary Jewish Museum, Royal Academy of Arts (London), UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Ilana has worked in the non-profit sector for the past 20 years and enjoys cultivating funders of Arts organizations and connecting those organizations with the community they serve. Currently focusing on fundraising for Stern Grove Festival, her past experiences in Education, Programming, Operations, and Volunteer Management within museum settings have all led to a greater understanding of how best to support non-profit institutions. Ilana has a strong belief that a diverse and well-connected arts climate binds the community together and helps break down cultural barriers.

Stern Grove Festival

Stern Grove Festival History

Rosalie M. Stern purchased Stern Grove and gave it as a gift to the City of San Francisco in 1931, in memory of her husband Sigmund, a prominent civic leader. George Greene originally homesteaded the Grove, a tract of sand dunes and marshes, in the 1840s. The Greene family planted the first eucalyptus trees in the Grove and built the Trocadero Inn, a popular recreation spot until its closure in 1916.

Marveling at the Grove's natural acoustics, Mrs. Stern determined that the site would be preserved as a park in which the public could enjoy admission-free music, dance, and theater performances. On June 4, 1932, Stern Grove was dedicated. Two weeks later, the San Francisco Symphony played the first concert in the Grove. Mrs. Stern, then President of the San Francisco Recreation Commission, formed the non-profit Stern Grove Festival Association in 1938, stipulating that all concerts were to be free to the public and designed for everyone's enjoyment.

Mrs. Stern chaired the Festival until her death in 1956. Her daughter, Elise Stern Haas, served as Board Chairperson until 1969; she was succeeded by her daughter, Rhoda Haas Goldman. Following Rhoda Goldman's untimely death in 1996, her son, Dr. Douglas E. Goldman, became Festival Board Chair. In February 2020, Dr. Goldman retired as Chair, and his son Matthew Goldman was named the new Festival Board Chair.

Today Stern Grove, a natural amphitheater surrounded by giant eucalyptus, redwood, and fir trees, is one of Northern California's favorite concert sites.
In keeping with Mrs. Stern's vision, the wide selection of performers reflects the Festival's commitment to exceptional programming and to serving diverse audiences. A beloved Bay Area tradition, every summer Sunday, family, and friends gather to relax, picnic, and enjoy performances by some of the world's greatest artists in this glorious natural setting.

While Stern Grove itself is still owned and operated by the City of San Francisco, and Mrs. Stern's descendants remain actively involved, today the Festival is truly a community institution. Each year, the Festival must raise nearly $3 million to produce concerts and related outreach and education programs. Individual donors, volunteers, foundations, government agencies, and businesses provide the generous support that makes it all possible.
Stern Grove Festival has brought more than eight decades of the best performing arts — completely admission-free — to the people of the Bay Area. With your ongoing help, the Festival can continue for generations to come.

The 2021 line up is outlined here in Stern Grove’s 84th Season Announcement

Donation/Volunteer

Stern Grove Festival relies on donations from people like you to cover nearly 100% of the costs of presenting admission-free concerts and education programs.

Please help us keep the beat alive by making a tax-deductible donation and support admission-free access to the arts for all!

Volunteers of all ages and abilities are welcome. Individuals, families, and groups are all part of the Festival's volunteer team. More than 800 volunteers help make the Festival possible each year. If you are interested in organizing a group to volunteer with Stern Grove Festival, email us at volunteer@sterngrove.org or call 415.252.6252

Videos

Enjoy the Stern Grove Festival 2020 Virtual Season and the Virtual Education videos:

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“It’s so necessary for the community to come back together. I feel like there’s been so much, division among the community that we want to rebuild. We want to, lift everyone’s spirits and music really has the power to do that. And, as somebody who grew up in California, you love the diversity of the state, but there aren’t a lot of experiences where everybody is, side-by-side having the same experience and it really draws out all corners of the community”

— Ilana Vasconcelos,Director of Development,Stern Grove Festival

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