The annual Ellnora Guitar Festival begins today at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.

In 1964, Illinois engineering alumnus Herman Krannert and his wife Ellnora announced plans for the University of Illinois’ Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. Herman, a successful entrepreneur in the corrugated fiber products industry, made generous contributions to education and the arts in the Midwest in part because of Ellnora’s appreciation for the arts. After five years of planning and labor, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts became a reality.

A 1970 promotional film explores the newly built Center and includes an interview with Herman and Ellnora Krannert.

Every fall semester, the Ellnora Guitar Festival celebrates the extraordinary generosity of the Krannert’s. “What better name could there be for a culmination of riffing, sizzling, picking, bedazzling artistry from around the planet? Ellnora would be grinning with glee.” [1]