Programs

Make Music Day Wisconsin

Friday, June 21: it's Make Music Wisconsin!

Make Music Wisconsin is part of Make Music Day, the worldwide music celebration held each June 21, the summer solstice. Make Music Day is part of the international Fête de la Musique, taking place in over 1,000 cities across 120 countries. The day-long, musical free-for-all celebrates music in all its forms, encouraging people to band together and play in free public concerts. Make Music Day is coordinated by the national Make Music Alliance in partnership with Create Wisconsin.

The program features free outdoor concerts, performances, music lessons, jam sessions, and other musical events on streets, sidewalks, parks, and public spaces in Wisconsin and across the U.S., and encourages all people, of all musical abilities, to celebrate the joy of making music. Over 85 U.S. cities and a number of other states in addition to Wisconsin take part in Make Music Day, further demonstrating the power of music to unite and uplift people, spread joy, and build community in good and bad times.

Make Music Day is open to all with free public performances in communities of all sizes. Diverse musical groups from mariachi bands to jazz combos to chamber ensembles take to their city's streets, parks, and plazas, and traditional and nontraditional venues open their doors, stages, and even parking lots. In 2023, roughly 500,000 people attended over 4,800 such performances, which took place in more than 110 cities and towns nationwide, as well as in dozens of other countries around the world.

Go to www.makemusicday.org/wi to find a Make Music Day event near you. Go out and Make Music!

Wisconsin has the largest number of Make Music communities of any state in the nation. Big thanks to the 22 host communities (so far) for making music happen on June 21, 2024:

• Appleton

• Barron

• Beloit

• Cable

• Cambridge

• Chequamegon Bay

• DeForest

• Green Bay

• Kenosha

• Land O' Lakes

• Madison

• Marshfield

• Middleton

• Milwaukee

• Monona

• Oshkosh

• Platteville

• Shell Lake/Spooner

• Stevens Point

• Sun Prairie

• Superior

• Waunakee

And thanks to the national Make Music Day Alliance for partnership and Wisconsin Public Radio for statewide and regional promotion.

And are you interested in making Make Music Day happen for your community? Any community of any size in any part of the state is welcome to participate. Get in touch with Anne at akatz@createwisconsin.org | 608 255 8316) to talk about how your community can be involved.