IRONWOOD – The 2022 Emberlight Festival will feature over 30 events with singers from The Metropolitan Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago, musicians from the current Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Company, independent films from around the world, six art shows including Mary Burns’ Ancestral Women Exhibit and the return of Art in the Park, eight weekends of Performance Infusions, and our expanding Behind the Curtain series.
Our 2022 Main Stage series is packed with unforgettable performances you’ll be talking about for weeks. Enjoy a night out at the beautiful Historic Ironwood Theatre for music ranging from stunning opera arias to Broadway belting to French cabaret with lots of musical surprises along the way.
This summer will see 6 dedicated art shows. The season opens on July 1 with Mary Burns’ nationally-acclaimed Ancestral Women Exhibit: Wisconsin’s 12 Tribes at the Historic Depot Museum. Also showing at the Depot are the Emberlight Photographers and Heritage Flags until August 27.
On July 2, the ribbon will be cut for another summer of Art in the Park within the Miner’s Memorial Heritage Park. Join us on the opening day for performances, refreshments and photo opportunities with the 2022 artists. In August two additional art shows open: Downtown Art Place – Find Your North will run from August 16 – September 30 at the Historic Ironwood Theatre, and Range Art Association’s 67th Annual Show will run at the Memorial Building from August 19 – 27.
Performance Infusions will begin July 9th at 1pm, audiences can experience the creative process and learn how continuing to honor traditional methods — while exploring new ones — fuels creativity and widens artistic horizons. Emberlight will showcase an eclectic array of artists throughout July and August in the Miners Memorial Heritage Park. The 2022 Infusions range from baroque music-making to the crafting of bowls and brooms, storytelling to traditional dancing, poetry reading to collaborative knitting, and the building of the first dragon in the western Upper Peninsula.
The Behind the Curtain series presents accomplished scholars, artists and academics to lead provoking conversations that spark new ideas. Each Behind the Curtain dives into nuanced discussions on topics covering diversity, humanities, ethics, heritage, art, and scholarship. Behind the Curtains occur on Sunday afternoons during August at Theatre North. Each event is free to attend. The 2022 lineup includes Folk’s Tunes: The Upper Peninsula’s Musical Traditions (August 7), Mary Burns and the Ancestral Women Performers (August 14), United in Diversity: a Special Film Screening (August 21).
The Emberlight International Film Festival is on a mission to give back to the community that makes our programming possible. Our goal is to sow the seeds to put the western Upper Peninsula on the filmmaking map, so both our community and filmmakers will reap the benefits. The Festival is a beacon in the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan, celebrating and supporting independent filmmakers from around the world.
The Emberlight International Film Festival has received over 770 films since last October from 78 countries. Our 2022 season features 43 films in screenings from August 20 – 26. The schedule is packed with captivating animations, romantic short films, and powerful documentaries — including a film that was shot this March in Ukraine detailing the impact of the ongoing war.
Get ready for a busy summer featuring all of these amazing Emberlight experiences. Ticket passes are on sale June 1 with individual tickets to follow on July 1. Check out the new Emberlight website at emberlight.org, view the calendar of events and purchase tickets. Questions? Feel free to send us an email at media@emberlight.org.
The Emberlight Festival is produced by Theatre North, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.