Author Archives: Katie Huang

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 Finalistswhich will then be narrowed down to 10 final grant recipients by Levitt Pavilions. Continue reading

Myla Smith Live at the Levitt ShellThe 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!

No, those blast furnaces aren’t just for showalthough they certainly make an impression! In this Faces of Levitt feature, watch father and son audience members Bill and Joseph Deegan discuss the transformation of one of the nation’s largest brownfields into Levitt SteelStacks, a thriving arts and cultural campus that has won numerous design awards since its rehabilitation.

“I don’t think we could have asked for anything more than the Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks,” says Joseph. “I think it really brought a start to the revitalization of the South Side.”

TheLeagueofCreativeInterventionists

When was the last time you had a conversation with a stranger?

If you’re like most of us, you probably had to think for a bit to come up with an answer. When you live in a big city like Houston or Los Angeles, it can be hard to start conversations with people you don’t already know, even when they’re officemates or people out walking their dogs on the street that you see every day.

That’s where The League of Creative Interventionists comes in.  Continue reading

Nominate Levitt for the American Planning Association's Great Places in America 2014 #mygreatplace

What makes each Levitt pavilion special? Maybe it’s the architecture, the history, the community, the concertgoers…or all of the above! Levitteers know better than anyone how amazing Levitt spaces are, and we’d love for our fans to nominate their favorite venue as the People’s Choice for the American Planning Association’s Great Place in America! Use the hashtag #mygreatplace on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook to submit your nomination before October 15.

Even if you’re not actively looking for it, the influence of mobile technology on our daily lives is obvious. Whether it’s an ad campaign for a next generation product, a scannable QR code on a flyer, or the person in front of you at the coffee shop scrolling through headlines on their smartphone, it’s hard to escape the ubiquity of cell phone usage. According to a 2013 poll by Pew Research Center, over 90% of adults in the U.S. now own cell phones, a vast increase from 65% in 2004. Of those phones, 56% are considered “smart,” which opens a whole new world of possibilities with just one word: apps.

Levitt MusicAs phones become increasingly indispensable, so too has the humble app. There are applications for nearly everything these days, from the mundane (email, navigation) to the niche (metal detectors, cuddle seekers in your local area), to the downright bizarre (Pimple Popper, a game where you, well, pop pimples for fun). When it comes to music, our first love here at Levitt, apps can help improve our listening experiences, allow us to create hooks or beats on the fly and expose us to new artists or genres that we might not have heard otherwise.

Just like when you’ve discovered an awesome song and you just have to tell the world, we’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite cool, lesser-known music apps to share with you! Whether they’re made for creation, discovery or organization, we hope one of these apps can add a little more music to your lives. Try them out, let us know what you think and happy downloading! Continue reading