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25th Anniversary

In 2008, we celebrate the 25th season of the Ann Arbor Summer Festival. 25 years of world-class entertainment, fun-filled family adventures, romantic date nights, and outdoor mingling with friends on warm summer nights.

For two and a half decades, the Festival has been bringing the world to Ann Arbor: innovative artists, eager students, enthusiastic audiences, curious visitors and anyone looking to be inspired by the performing arts; all the while, garnering a reputation as once of Michigan’s premier arts events and a destination for those in search of cultural fare to spice up their idol summer evenings.

In tribute to the past 25 years, the Festival will be bringing back an “old school” favorite. WC Burgard, a long-time Festival supporter and widely celebrated local artist will create a specially commissioned piece of artwork for this landmark anniversary, which will displayed throughout the season and reproduced into a limited run poster.

The Festival is also launching a new virtual guestbook. Hosted online by the Ann Arbor News and MLive.com, it is an exciting way to turn your festival memories into stories to share. In addition to sharing your stories with the community, we will select "25 moments" to publish in this year’s Festival program guide.  

Celebrate with us at the 25th Season Gala. A night of flight and fancy that promises to take your breath away, the gala will honor the seasons of the past while soaring into seasons of the future.

This season will lift your spirit to new heights as the Festival celebrates its silver anniversary. Thank you for 25 wonderfully invigorating years!

WC Burgard

When Bill Burgard first heard that a new festival was being planned for Ann Arbor in 1984, he thought it would definitely need a poster to help put it on the map, and to create an image for people to remember.  Bill approached Gene Power, the visionary father of the Festival, and pitched his idea.  The result was the 10-color silkscreen image featuring Marcel Marceau, who was one of the first artists to perform at the Festival.  The image was subject to Marceau’s approval, and Bill quickly discovered that, for a mime, Marceau sure had a lot to say about his appearance. Starting with that inaugural season, Bill created every poster for the first 20 years of the Festival, and now returns with the 25th Anniversary edition. 

Bill Burgard is an illustrator and designer who lives and works in Ann Arbor. His specially commissioned 25th Anniversary artwork will be on display throughout the season, and reproduced into a limited run poster available for purchase.