‘Tis the season for friends and feasts! Wishing you a week filled with delicious food, festive music, excellent company and a heaping side of gratitude!
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Monthly Archives: November 2014
Looking for an alternative Black Friday experience? Try your local record store!
Record Store Day (RSD) was April 19 this year, but the next phase of the movement to support independent record stores begins next week. On November 28, participating shops across the country will release a number of limited special editions of books, picture discs, and 7″ and 12″ vinyl “to celebrate both the pieces themselves and the special indie record stores who carry them.” Continue reading
Here we are yet again, with November in full swing and Thanksgiving just around the corner. Once again we are savoring the changing seasons and finding ourselves feeling grateful for all the year has brought. This brings us to the topic of today’s In Their Own Words post:
Gratitude.
Some suggest that the secret to happiness is, in fact, gratitude. Perhaps this is why Liz Levitt Hirsch, Levitt Pavilions’ vibrant and visionary founder and board chair, always seems to have a smile on her face and a kind word to offer those around her. Earlier today I had the pleasure of chatting with Liz, who shared a few words of gratitude about two people near and dear to her heart, two people who have given so much to so many: Mortimer and Mimi Levitt. Continue reading
Every summer, free Levitt concerts reach over 500,000 people in six cities across the country: Memphis, Arlington, Los Angeles, Pasadena, Westport and Bethlehem. Seeking to increase our impact even more, we’re spreading the power of arts and creative placemaking beyond major metro areas to places of all sizes.
The Levitt AMP [Your City] Grant Awards is an exciting new matching grant program that will award up to $25K each to small and mid-sized cities. In 2015, grantees will produce their own Levitt AMP [Your City] Music Series, extending the reach of free, live music by an additional 100 free concerts.
The application phase has now ended, and reflecting our mission that all Levitt projects be community-driven, we’ve opened up the grant selection process for your votes! Now through November 30 11:59 PM PST, public online voting will help choose the Top 20 Finalists, which will then be narrowed down to 10 final grant recipients by Levitt Pavilions. Continue reading
We’re grateful this day and EVERY day for all of the veterans and men and women currently in uniform who have bravely served our country. Thank you for protecting and preserving the basic freedoms that we all too often take for granted—like the simple yet profound freedom to gather in public spaces and exchange ideas and music.
The Shell in Overton Park, Memphis, reborn as Levitt Shell in 2008, has seen a lot over the years, including historic performances by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and most recently Aaron Neville. Now it’s the setting for a new live double album, Live at the Levitt Shell, by emerging folk/pop singer-songwriter Myla Smith.
While exploring options to follow up her 2013 release Hiding Places, Smith was offered a performance at an Easter Eve concert at Levitt Shell and couldn’t resist the idea of recording a live album at the iconic space. Continue reading
What’s a concert season at the Levitt without a few #selfies? We loved all the pics you shared on Instagram this summer, and these are some of our favorites, captured by YOU!
Don’t see your pics? Follow us on Instagram @levittpavilions and tag your photos #mylevitt to share them with us!
This Thursday, activists, culture managers and business leaders will flock to Prague and Pilsen for the Pilsen 2015 OPEN UP! Creative Placemaking Festival (hosted by the Aspen Institute and the Pilsen 2015 European Capital of Culture). Leaders ranging from Mark Davy, Founder of Futurecity, and Ann Markusen, Director of the Arts Economy Initiative at the University of Minnesota will come together for two days of panel discussions, working groups, and all around placemaking fun. Together they will work to envision and create better futures for their local communities through creative placemaking.
This exciting international discussion brings us to the topic of today’s post: what exactly is “creative placemaking?”
The idea is simple: Funders are banding together to support projects that use the arts as catalysts for transforming spaces into places. Let’s take a look at Levitt Pavilion Los Angeles in MacArthur Park, a spot where creative placemaking has made a positive impact. Continue reading