The Emberlight Festival returns for its 2026 season with an expanded celebration of music, film, visual art, photography, and creative exploration across Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin.
The New Ways to Dream season is anchored by two major concert events featuring internationally acclaimed artists at the heart of Emberlight’s growing artistic vision. Broadway music director, pianist, and storyteller Adam Rothenberg returns for Poets & Arborists, an intimate and deeply personal evening blending music, poetry, and conversation. The season then culminates with Something Wonderful at the Historic Ironwood Theatre, marking Emberlight’s return to the iconic venue for a celebratory concert event featuring internationally acclaimed tenor and Emberlight Founder Miles Mykkanen, Adam Rothenberg, and The Broadway Strings.
A major addition to the 2026 season is Emberlight’s new Art on Film series, featuring Metropolitan Opera HD broadcasts and acclaimed arts films presented throughout the summer. This year’s series includes the Metropolitan Opera’s celebrated production of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, starring Miles Mykkanen in a breakout performance from the opera’s sold-out premiere season at the Met, alongside the acclaimed documentary The Opera House and the classic film musical An American in Paris.
The Emberlight International Film Festival also expands to five screenings this year, including two feature films, continuing the festival’s growing commitment to international cinema and cinematic storytelling in the Northwoods. Now entering its fifth season, EIFF has rapidly emerged as one of the region’s most distinctive film events, receiving more than 950 submissions from over 80 countries for the 2026 season alone — representing more than 350 hours of film to review. With an acceptance rate of approximately 3%, the festival presents a highly curated collection of international short films, animations, documentaries, and cinematic voices from around the world. (Fun Fact: In 2025, one of EIFF’s selected films went on to receive an Academy Award nomination.)
Visual arts programming continues to grow through the return of Art in the Park, featuring expanded Art For All community installations, including a large-scale collaborative work at the trailhead entrance and a student-created installation exploring Ojibwe doodems through more than 250 individual artworks created by students across five regional school districts.
Additional programming throughout the season includes Performance Infusions — intimate Saturday afternoon experiences ranging from live blacksmithing demonstrations to artist conversations and immersive outdoor Sound Bath sessions — as well as the expanded Pathways in Photography series, offering free workshops exploring nature photography, editing techniques, and nighttime photography beneath the skies of Lake Superior.
The season also features the Emberlight Photographers Show, Click • Capture • Create, Downtown Art Place’s Find Your North exhibition, the Range Art Studio Tours, and the 72nd Annual Range Art Show.
Concerts
Chamber music, cabarets and plays featuring world-class performers from Broadway and The Metropolitan Opera
International Film Festival
Featuring the top independent films submitted from 80+ countries every year, including documentaries, narratives, animations, micros, and feature length films
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
Art on Film
Great performances. Iconic stories. Extraordinary artistry on screen. Emberlight’s Art …
Pathways in Photography
Framing the wild beauty of the Northwoods. Emberlight’s Pathways in …
Across every performance, screening, exhibition, and gathering, Emberlight continues its mission to create meaningful artistic experiences that are accessible, adventurous, and deeply connected to the spirit of the Northwoods.
Through the Emberlight Student Ticket Program, audiences ages 20 and under receive free admission to nearly all festival events, helping ensure that the next generation can experience the transformative power of the arts.
