Category Archives: News

Get ready to dance because the Levitt National Tour is back! After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the tour will return in 2022 with a six-venue run, highlighting the collective impact of the Levitt network and a common mission to build community through music. Sharing that vision, The New Respects, a rising trio known for bright, feel-good tracks stacked with lush harmonies and propulsive beats that get all ages dancing, will headline the Levitt National Tour this summer. The tour kicks off at Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks, on Saturday, June 4, and continues on to Levitt Pavilion Dayton, Friday, June 10; Levitt Pavilion Denver, Wednesday, July 13; Levitt Shell Sioux Falls, Saturday, July 16; Levitt Pavilion Los Angeles, Saturday, August 27; and concludes Labor Day weekend at Levitt Pavilion Arlington on Sunday, September 4, 2022.

Ukraine flag

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.” Mohammed Ali

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Ukrainian people for their safety and sovereignty, and for the return of peace to their homeland. Russia’s invasion has caused a grave humanitarian crisis for the suffering and displaced. Here are ways you can help the people of Ukraine right now.  Continue reading

May 30, 2019

The Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation and Levitt Shell Memphis jointly announce a new chapter for the historic landmark to honor its roots by returning to its original name of The Overton Park Shell. In 2005, the Levitt Foundation played an instrumental role in saving the dilapidated WPA-era bandshell in Overton Park from demolition, providing seed funding for renovations, then continuing with annual operating grants and support resources to partially fund the Levitt Shell nonprofit. The local nonprofit managed, programmed and fundraised for the Levitt program of presenting 50+ free concerts annually since its reopening as the Levitt Shell. After a 17-year partnership with the Levitt Foundation, the Levitt Shell has reached a significant milestone of becoming fully self-sustaining and will run The Shell independently as The Overton Park Shell.

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shutterstock_1628365282There are so many valuable contributions from musicians and performers that bring joy to our lives and feed our musical souls. While we can’t know every artist in the history of music, there are many who are not household names, but should be! In honor of Black History Month, we’re sharing the stories of three powerful female trailblazers—Florence Price, Mamie Smith and Sister Rosetta Tharpe—who by the nature of discrimination toward their race and gender, haven’t reached the echelons of notoriety their musical genius deserves. Learn and listen below!
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A concert at Levitt Pavilion Dayton in Dave Hall Plaza

A concert at Levitt Pavilion Dayton in Dave Hall Plaza

Happy Park and Recreation Month!

This July organizations across the country are celebrating Park and Recreation Month by using the hashtag #OurParkAndRecStory and sharing how green spaces have made their communities stronger, more vibrant and more resilient.

At the Levitt Foundation, ensuring access to green space is an essential part of our mission to foster equitable, thriving and sustainable communities. Through partnerships with nonprofits across the country, we support the activation of underused parks, vacant downtown lots, former brownfields and more to create green spaces where people of all ages and backgrounds can come together to enjoy both the beauty of nature and the power of free, live music through Levitt concerts.

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Warner Bros.

Promo Image from In the Heights. Image courtesy of Warner Bros.

A Timeless Story of Tradition, Hope and Belonging

Lin Manuel Miranda and Jon M. Chu’s 2021 film adaptation of In the Heights is an emotional rollercoaster filled with love, community, and most importantly, infectious music! The story follows two American Latinos: Usnavi (played by Anthony Ramos), an ambitious bodega owner with a dream to move back to the Dominican Republic for a better life, and Nina (played by Leslie Grace), a Stanford student struggling with her identity and the pressure to succeed. Taking place in New York City’s Washington Heights neighborhood, or the “Little Dominican Republic,” Miranda’s songs encapsulate the grit it takes to survive in a place that is so concentrated with tradition and culture, yet often underrepresented and isolated from the rest of the city.

Even with the film’s focus on representation, the movie has faced criticism for its lack of Afro-Latino lead cast members, who are the predominant residents of Washington Heights. Miranda apologized for this oversight shortly after the film’s release a few weeks ago and reminds us that even for a movie with such a strong focus on representation, there is still more work to be done.

Nevertheless, there is much to love about the movie version of In the Heights, starting with its accurate portrayal of the long history of immigration and cultural change that has been brewing in the Manhattan neighborhood for decades. As chronicled by Smithsonian Magazine’s Nili Blanck, Washington Heights was home to Russian, European and Latin American immigrants (mainly Puerto Ricans and Cubans) in the 1950s and ‘60s. It has since vastly changed into a Dominican community. During the latter part of the 20th century, however, Washington Heights became known as a community plagued by crime. It wasn’t until the early 2000s that this neighborhood began rebuilding that initial spark of optimism and potential, which serves as the iconic setting for this movie musical.

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We at the Levitt Foundation hope this finds you safe and well. Our top priority is ensuring the health and well-being of the entire Levitt community, including Levitt Foundation staff (who are working from home – hello videochat!), our Friends of Levitt partners, Levitt AMP grantees, and the hundreds of thousands of friends, families, neighbors, artists, volunteers, community partners, vendors, sponsors and supporters who bring the Levitt program to life every year.

People are at the heart of Levitt’s mission: bringing people together through the power of free, live music. At a time when we’d normally be marking our calendars for upcoming Levitt concerts and readying our picnic baskets and lawn chairs, instead we’re practicing social distancing and avoiding community gathering spaces. While the coming weeks and months remain uncertain, the Levitt network remains strong and looks towards a future of continued community through music.

The Levitt Foundation has confirmed our commitment to Friends of Levitt nonprofit partners and Levitt AMP grantees, pledging our support regardless of how, or whether, their 2020 Levitt concert series takes place. In the event of any cancellations, the Levitt Foundation will support each of our Levitt venue partners and Levitt AMP grantees in their community-building efforts during this challenging time. For the most up-to-date information regarding the status of the Levitt concert series in your community, please visit the website and social media of your community’s Levitt venue or Levitt AMP concert series.

While we all love spending our summer evenings enjoying free music under the stars, the decision regarding each local concert series may be out of the Levitt venue’s and concert site’s control—should local, state or the federal government mandate the prohibition of public gatherings continue throughout the upcoming months. Following guidance from their local public health authority, Levitt venues and concert sites may need to cancel one or several Levitt concerts. If a Levitt concert, series of concerts, or the entire series is cancelled in your community, your Levitt venue or local Levitt AMP nonprofit will make the announcement.

As so many can attest, the COVID-19 pandemic is stressful for arts & culture organizations, with many facing uncertain futures in the wake of closures and event cancellations. For Levitt venues and Levitt AMP concert sites, their concert series involves months of planning, and concert cancellations and postponements hurt each nonprofit organization financially. Given these unprecedented times, we hope local funders, sponsors and individuals will continue to rally behind their community’s Friends of Levitt and Levitt AMP nonprofits and show their support for these organizations who work tirelessly year-round to create joyful, welcoming and high-quality arts experiences for everyone.

We look forward to the time when we can once again gather as communities, especially on Levitt lawns, to celebrate the power of free, live music—building community through music.

$25K matching grants will bring free outdoor concerts to 20 small to mid-sized towns and cities across America

Today, the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation awarded $500,000 in matching grants to 20 nonprofits serving small to mid-sized towns and cities across America to produce free outdoor concerts as part of the sixth annual Levitt AMP [Your City] Grant Awards. Reflecting the Levitt Foundation’s commitment to creative placemaking projects generating community support, the Levitt Foundation once again opened the Levitt AMP selection process to the public to choose the top 25 finalists. Continue reading

Reflecting our mission that all Levitt projects be community-driven, we’re once again opening the grant selection process to YOU! This year, 33 applicants were invited to advance to the online public voting phase and we’re calling on you to help determine which of them will make it into the Top 25. Now through November 20 at 5pm PST, vote for up to five Levitt AMP proposals to help bring your favorite applicants one step closer to transforming an underused public space into a thriving community-wide destination through the power of free, live music. Happy voting!

Mark your calendars—the countdown is on for the GRAMMY-winning mariachi of Flor De Toloache! The all-female, critically acclaimed mariachi group and veterans of the Levitt stage will headline this summer’s 2019 Levitt National Tour. Levitt audiences across the country will enjoy the band’s energetic, mesmerizing shows that blend traditional mariachi with jazz, salsa and pop music. Check out dates and locations for their 2019 tour stops—as well as their new single—in the video above, or scroll down for more information.

Bethlehem, PA | Thursday, June 6
Sioux Falls, SD | Saturday, June 15
Dayton, OH | Friday, June 21
Memphis, TN | Friday, June 28
Arlington, TX | Saturday, June 29
Denver, CO | Friday, August 2
Los Angeles, CA | Saturday, August 10

Levitt audiences eager to hear more from Flor De Toloache before the Levitt National Tour this summer are in luck: there’s a new album on the way this spring, and the first single “Besos de Mezcal” (featuring Camilo Lara, the artist behind the music of animated film “Coco”) was released last month! And be sure to keep an eye out for an upcoming collaboration with Platinum-selling R&B artist Miguel…see you on the Levitt lawn!