Great River Festival of Arts Records
1960-1986
- Great River Festival of Arts.
MSS 067
0.8 cubic feet
2 archives boxes
La Crosse Public Library
(Map)
The Great River Festival of Arts, held in La Crosse, Wisconsin, was begun in 1960 under the leadership of Francesco “Frank” Italiano. What began as an interest in establishing a youth symphony and a short summer season for his Coulee Region Symphony, turned into a full-fledged summer festival of the arts, not only in La Crosse, but extending also to Dodgeville and later to Shell Lake and Superior, Wisconsin. The organizations that are described in this collection as part of the festival groups are the Coulee Region Symphony, the Symphony School of America, the Symphony of the Hills at Dodgeville and the Indianhead Symphony at Shell Lake. The festival’s names have changed through time. Initially it was called the Coulee Region Music Festival in 1960 and became the Coulee Region Arts Festival in 1961, then the Coulee Region Festival of Arts in 1963, and finally the Great River Festival of Arts in 1976. This festival continues to this day (2002). The Coulee Region Summer Symphony in 1960 became the Coulee Region Symphony in 1961 and then the Great River Symphony in 1972.
Records, organized by concert season, include materials from the musical life of the festival (1960-1986) when it was under the direction of Frank Italiano. The festival programs; advertising posters; newspaper clippings; photographs that were in the newspaper; application information and forms for the Symphony School; lists of members of the symphony, board, and symphony school faculty; board reports; and a scrapbook created by Lenore Italiano, administrator of the festival, that gives an idea of the administrative components of the Coulee Region Symphony.
English
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