In 2025, the Emberlight Festival celebrates its fifth anniversary with “Cadences of Connection,” a theme that explores the rhythms that unite us — through music, film, storytelling, visual art, and shared experiences. Just as a cadence in music signals resolution and harmony, this season highlights the ways in which art deepens our bonds with one another, our histories, and the world around us.
From June 28 until August 23, audiences can experience Art in the Park, a stunning outdoor gallery in Miners Memorial Heritage Park, and The Seventh Fire: A Decolonizing Experience, an exhibit exploring Anishinaabe history and the ongoing process of decolonization. The popular Performance Infusion series colors Miners Park with a Mongolian yurt, Polish folk music, and the great Bard himself, William Shakespeare.
Emberlight Photographers returns to the Historic Depot Museum featuring the work of our professional photography team, and Click • Capture • Create brings the stories of our photographers to life. The Emberlight International Film Festival will once again welcome films from around the world in four screenings at The Ember Club. The 2025 season will culminate in two concerts at the Hurley School Auditorium featuring pianist Adam Rothenberg and The Broadway Strings playing George Gershwin’s iconic Rhapsody in Blue and Johannes Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F Minor.
You can be the first to enjoy two debut projects this summer: Pathways in Photography invites participants to step behind the lens with free hands-on workshops in photojournalism, portraiture, and nature photography. Art on Film expands the festival’s cinematic programming with screenings of Fantasia 2000, The Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened, and Waitress – The Musical.
Emberlight Festival 2025 invites audiences to embrace the connections that shape us — between past and present, artist and audience, individual and community. Whether through a photograph that captures a fleeting moment, a melody that stirs the soul, a story that challenges perspectives, or a film that sparks conversation, these artistic experiences remind us that we are all part of a larger, shared rhythm.
Join us this summer in Ironwood, Michigan and Hurley, Wisconsin, as we celebrate five years of bringing world-class art to the Northwoods — one cadence at a time.
Chamber Music
Concerts featuring world-class musicians from Broadway and The Metropolitan Opera
Performance Infusions
Unique presentations about what makes artists love and pursue their work
Art Shows
Art in the Park and Emberlight Photographers bring a stunning variety of work by local and regional artists
Film Festival
EIFF 2025 SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN The Emberlight International Film Festival …
Emberlight Arts is grateful for generous support from the Michigan Arts & Culture Council and the National Endowment for the Arts
