Wartmann Artist Series 2018-19

Tickets go on sale August 1, 2018

Announcement of the Series coming soon!

William "Bill" Wartmann passed away Sunday, June 17, 2018. Arrangements are with the Albrecht Funeral Home, services are planned to be held in the Edgerton Performing Arts Center on Friday, June 22. Visitation is from 9-11 AM and the funeral is at 11:00 AM.

The following quotes of Mr. Wartmann are taken from an Illinois Wesleyan Magazine article in the summer of 2011 written by Sarah Julian.

With the goal of making Edgerton “an important cultural force,” in Bill’s words, he and Joyce supported the town’s Performing Arts Center, built in 2000. The Wartmann Endowment for the Performing Arts Center Fund has so far provided more than $600,000 to sustain the center and its programming.

“If we don’t do something in our education system to open the arts to people, we’re going to lose all these wonderful experiences,” he says. “The arts are what can really soften us, by their sense of immediacy, by the aliveness of thought that can connect with us.” 

“The reason I give this philanthropy,” Bill says, “is that, in a very simple manner, I was taught by my immigrant parents that you have to give back to the world.”

“With all of the disasters in life, the one comfort is always art and music and literature,” he says. His liberal arts education brought with it the understanding “that people before us have experienced the same pain and anguish, in stories that are thousands of years old, yet reflect what we feel today. That realization creates continuity in the human experience. It reminds us that we are not alone — we have a relationship with the universe, and with each other, despite our differences.”

Bill looks back on his own life with satisfaction. “I lived my life the best that I was able to. Each of us does the best we can, however crazy it may sound. I hope to help others find a path to be able to explore their own qualities, to give back to themselves first of all, and then back to the world.”