Milwaukee-based Aurora Health Care will have its name on a Summerfest stage as part of an expanded partnership with Milwaukee World Festival Inc., the two organizations announced Thursday.
The agreement includes naming rights and upgrades to the former Johnson Controls World Sound Stage, to be known now as the Aurora Pavilion, building upon the health system’s existing role as Summerfest’s exclusive health care provider since 2017. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
During Summerfest, the Aurora Pavilion will host a mix of local artists and national touring acts, featuring a diverse slate of artists and genres. Outside of the three-weekend music festival, Aurora plans to use the venue for free community events focused on arts and entertainment, healthy living and community giving initiatives.
“We know that music and the arts have the power to bring people together and a strong social fabric is correlated with improved health outcomes,” said Cristy Garcia-Thomas, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer at Advocate Health. “In addition to making continuous investments in accessible housing, nutritious food and stable employment, Aurora Health Care is proud to strengthen our local neighborhoods by building vibrant places to bring our communities together.”
The new Aurora Pavilion will feature several upgrades, including a widened entrance for increased venue capacity, a new permanent video screen, improved accessibility for patrons with mobility limitations, improved access in and around the venue and to nearby public restrooms, and a new hospitality area and backstage artist production support area.
Located in the center of Henry Maier Festival Park near the Mid Gate, the covered stage was previously sponsored by Johnson Controls from 2013 to 2022. This year, without an official sponsor, it was known as the Sound Waves Stage, featuring a variety of Milwaukee-area DJs and themed dance nights. The rave-style concept will “continue to be incorporated into the Aurora Pavilion programming each night,” according to a news release.
For Summerfest’s nonprofit operator Milwaukee World Festival, the expanded partnership increases opportunity for community engagement and impact, said chief executive officer Don Smiley, who is set to retire from his role at year’s end after two decades.
“This is a unique opportunity for us to join forces to bring a diverse set of artists and range of cultural experiences to Henry Maier Festival Park throughout the season and make the arts more accessible.”
Conversations around growing the MWF-Aurora relationship began mutually in January, said Garcia-Thomas.
“What was important to us was not only creating a great dynamic stage that would bring people together for Summerfest, but also that we could utilize the assets to bring the community together outside of Summerfest and do some community engagement programming. … We’re going to try to take advantage of that,” she said.
The health system joins several other corporate sponsors of Summerfest’s main stages, including BMO, Generac, MillerCoors, Briggs & Stratton, Uline and U.S. Cellular. In February, MWF announced a new multi-year sponsorship agreement with Sheboygan-based sausage maker Johnsonville as the sponsor of the new Summerville stage area spotlighting Wisconsin-based artists.
Aurora Health Care is considered the state’s largest private employer, with 17 hospitals, more than 70 pharmacies and more than 150 care sites. Following a massive merger last year, the company, along with Advocate Health Care in Illinois and Atrium Health in the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama, is now part of Advocate Health, the third-largest nonprofit, integrated health system in the U.S.
