ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Festival of Books has tapped a nationally known performing arts administrator to be its executive director beginning in January.
Welz Kauffman, who has worked with some of the country’s most prestigious classical music organizations including 20 years at the helm of North America’s oldest outdoor music event the Ravinia Festival, will assume day-to-day operations of TFOB beginning Jan. 15.
Kauffman will replace former executive director Melanie Morgan, who left in May after six years.
Kauffman has lived in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ since he left the Ravinia Festival in 2020. In fall 2021, he joined ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s Emmy- and Grammy-honored professional choir True Concord Voices & Orchestra as its managing director, a position he will leave in early January.
“It’s the most amazing organization. I love True Concord and I love Eric†Holtan, the ensemble’s music director and founder, Kauffman said, “but it was just time to do something else.â€
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“Welz came to True Concord at a critical time as we were coming out of the worst of the pandemic and going into our five-year strategic planning encompassing our 20th and upcoming 25th anniversaries,†Holtan said. “Welz played a significant role in our strategic thinking and artistic planning and messaging, helping position the organization for tremendous optimism and success. We wish him all the best in his new role at the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Festival of Books.â€
Kauffman brings to the job skills in expanding large-scale events like Ravinia and has been instrumental in getting sponsors, volunteers and audiences involved, said John M. Humenik, chair of the TFOB board and a co-founder of the festival.
“We are thrilled to welcome Welz to TFOB,†Humenik said in a written statement.
Kauffman, who volunteered at the book festival with True Concord for two years, grew up surrounded by books and reading as the son of English teachers, he said.
“Reading and books were a key part of my upbringing,†he said. “And at this time in our world where reading is under the gun because of banning of books and where AI is figuring in and what does writing mean, do I want to be part of that experience when books have been such an important part of my life? Yeah.â€
Two years before he left Ravinia, Kauffman was named Chicago Tribune’s 2018 Chicagoan of the Year for classical music. In a story on its , the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music credited Kauffman with quadrupling the number of Ravinia donors while simultaneously breaking ticket revenue records nearly every year he was with the non-profit organization.
“This was an opportunity that felt right for where I am right now,†Kauffman said of joining TFOB.
The ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Festival of Books, launched in 2009, is the third largest book festival in the U.S. In 2019, a record 135,000 people attended. Last year it topped 125,000 as attendance from COVID-19 pandemic lows rebounded.
The 2024 event on the University of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ campus is March 9-10. For the author lineup and more information, visit .