Former Ravinia CEO Welz Kauffman named executive director of Old Town School of Folk Music

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Former Ravinia Festival chief executive officer Welz Kauffman has been named the executive director and chief executive officer of Chicago's renowned Old Town School of Folk Music.

Kauffman was appointed to the position following a national search, the Old Town School announced Thursday. He will officially take over in the role on Monday, Sept. 30.

"We are thrilled to have Welz as the next Executive Director & CEO of the Old Town School," Kate Tomford, chair of the board of directors of the Old Town School of Folk Music, said in a news release. "Welz's enthusiasm for music in all its forms is infectious. He brings not just a passion for music and dance, but tremendous depth and breadth of experience as a highly accomplished leader of arts organizations in Chicago and around the nation. We are excited to welcome him back to Chicago to lead the Old Town School and our community into a new chapter of musical discovery and growth."

Kaufmann served as CEO of the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park from 2000 through 2020. He had planned to step down after one last season in 2020, but that season ended up being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Old Town School credited Kauffman with rejuvenating and expanding educational programs at Ravinia through the Reach, Teach, Play initiative and the Steans Music Institute. Kauffman also diversified offerings at Ravinia—which during his tenure featured the longstanding summer performances by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and shows by Bob Dylan, Common, Lauryn Hill, Ramsey Lewis, and Gilberto Santa Rosa.

Kauffman also commissioned original works by Chicago composer Lita Grier, choreographer and dancer Bill T. Jones, onetime CSO composer-in-residence Ricardo Lorenz, late Chicago jazz legend Ramsey Lewis, jazz vocalist and composer Bobby McFerrin, and contemporary classical composer Nico Muhly, the Old Town School reported.

Also during Kauffman's time at the helm, Ravinia also hosted the U.S. and Midwest premieres of the first Zulu opera, "Princess Magogo," the Old Town School of Folk Music noted.

In a 2020 interview published in the Ravinia Backstage Blog, Kauffman said booking more top-tier non-classical acts was among his top priorities at Ravinia—as the north suburban venue found itself suddenly competing with the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park in downtown Chicago.

"The trick, if there was one, was either returning non-classical offerings to what they were in the late '60s and early '70s, or starting anew," he said in the interview. "I prefer to look back and say that I continued the tradition of Ike and Tina Turner, the Carpenters, Janis Joplin being here. Unbelievable."

The Old Town School also noted that Kauffman spearheaded a major growth in donors and revenue at Ravinia—and also enhanced performance facilities and food and beverage offerings. Kauffman's tenure at Ravinia also saw the opening of the Ravinia Music Box Experience Center—which, Ravinia notes, features a wraparound holographic theater and interactive gallery space for an immersive musical experience.

"I could not be more honored to collaborate with the Old Town School's teaching artists, staff, board, and community as we guide and grow the next chapter of this beloved institution," Kauffman said in the Old Town School news release. "Music is a universal language and a powerful connector across communities and cultures. We need this language now more than ever. The Old Town School is a Chicago treasure, where music-making and community-building go hand in hand."

Before joining Ravinia, Kauffman worked as director of artistic planning for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and artistic administrator for the New York Philharmonic. He also worked with Bobby McFerrin to create a renowned education program with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra as general manager there, the Old Town School noted.

Since leaving Ravinia, Kauffman and his husband, Jon Teeuwissen, have been living in Tucson, Arizona, where Kauffman most recently had been heading up the Tucson Festival of Books. Before that, he served as managing director of the True Concord Voices & Orchestra choir in Tucson, according to published reports.

The Old Town School of Folk Music: 67 years of music and culture

The Old Town School of Folk Music was founded in 1957 by folk musicians Win Stracke and Frank Hamilton. The first location for the music school was in the Old Town neighborhood at 333 W. North Ave., and the school noted that Studs Terkel was among those in attendance for the school's first night in operation.

The Old Town School said during its first five years in operation, more than 150 students took weekly group guitar and banjo classes at the school. The Old Town School also offered folk dancing, family singalongs, and concerts by the likes of Pete Seeger, Mahalia Jackson, and Big Bill Broonzy.

The Old Town School grew in the 1960s—contributing to a folk music revival scene that took root across the country and in the Old Town neighborhood in particular. Notably, the Earl of Old Town folk music club opened around the corner on Wells Street in 1962.

Notable musicians such as John Prine, Bob Gibson, Bonnie Koloc, Steve Goodman, and Roger McGuinn of the Byrds all studied at the Old Town School in its early days, the school noted. Musician and club owner Fred Holstein also took lessons at the Old Town School in its earliest days beginning in 1960, while his brother, Ed Holstein, teaches at the Old Town School to this day.

In 1968—with its North Avenue headquarters set to be torn down—the Old Town School moved to The Aldine Hall, a 13,000-square-foot Romanesque Revival building at 909 W. Armitage Ave. in Lincoln Park that the school still uses as a secondary location. In the early 70s, the Old Town School began offering not only group, but also private lessons in all different instruments—with instruction available in classical guitar, banjo, mandolin, and mountain dulcimer, its history page noted.

The Old Town School also opened satellite locations in Skokie and Evanston in the 70s, and enrollment peaked in 1975 with more than 650 students coming for classes weekly, the school's history website noted.

From 1983 until 1986, the concert hall at Old Town School's Armitage Avenue location hosted the live Sunday night "Flea Market" radio show, which was produced by WBEZ and broadcast nationally. Musicians Larry Rand and Art Thieme, Jim Post, and Stuart Rosenberg all had stints hosting the "Flea Market" program—which doubled as a concert with a live audience.

The "Flea Market" featured performers ranging from the Balkan Rhythm Band with its fusion of jazz and traditional Balkan music to "Dr. Demento Show" staple Jan Hobson and Her Bad Review of "Raccoon Song" fame, and from renowned zydeco accordionist Queen Ida to Hawaiian shirt-clad folk trio Free Hot Lunch! of Madison, Wisconsin, among countless others.

Families also flocked to the same auditorium for children's concerts during that time period—Fred and Teddi Koch of "This Lil' Cow" fame were among the acts that drew kids to the Old Town School in the 80s.

Meanwhile, after a period of declining enrollment that left the Old Town School nearing bankruptcy by 1981, fundraising efforts and a redesigned curriculum soon led enrollment and revenue to rebound, according to the school's website. A major renovation of the Armitage Avenue building followed in 1987.

By the 1990s, demand at the Old Town School was growing again—to the point where the school was supplementing its space by holding some classes in an apartment building down the street at 939 W. Armitage Ave.

The Wiggleworms program for young children boomed in particular at the Old Town School in the 90s. Meanwhile, offerings branched out from folk music with a new Blues School program, and acoustic guitar ensemble programs where classes would learn to master one album by a classic artist or band per session—such as teacher Jimmy Tomasello's Bob Dylan and Grateful Dead ensembles and teacher Steve Levitt's Beatles ensemble. Teens rocked out at the Riff Café open mic.

In 1998, the Old Town School opened its current main headquarters in the old Hild Library building at 4544 N. Lincoln Ave., a 43,000 square-foot structure that features a 400-seat concert hall and vast additional classroom space. The new Old Town School was dedicated on Sept. 18, 1998, with a concert by Joni Mitchell and Peter Yarrow, the school noted.

The old circulation desk at the former library became the concert stage, while the semicircular reading room became the new two-story concert hall, the Old Town School's history pages noted. Revenues and enrollment soared over the next several years.

As it took root in Lincoln Square, the Old Town School also began offering classes beyond instrument or voice lessons and even beyond music—including recording arts, theatre improv, yoga, Pilates, and qi gong, the Old Town School noted. By the mid-2000s, the school was also putting on 120 weekend concerts a year.

The Old Town School expanded to an additional building across the street at 4545 N. Lincoln Ave. in 2012.

Currently, the Old Town School of Folk Music enrolls nearly 6,600 students, of whom 2,700 are children. It offers 700 accredited weekly classes, private lessons, and more than 400 concerts and community events.

Since 1998, the Old Town School has also organized the Square Roots Festival—originally called the Folk & Roots Festival—in nearby Welles Park. X, The New Pornographers, and The Big Star Quintet were the headliners this year.