Across the country, people are getting ready to pack their suitcases and hop on a plane, train or automobile to spend time with friends and family and enjoy a holiday meal with one another. Levitt Foundation Executive Director Sharon Yazowski has beat the Thanksgiving travel rush and is already on the road to Grand Rapids, Mich., where she’ll present takeaways from Levitt’s recently published white paper tomorrow at the 2017 ARNOVA conference—a convening of scholars, teachers, and practitioners from across the country who’re interested in research on nonprofit organizations, philanthropy and civil society. Continue reading →

Welcome to the second installment of our “Research Recap” blog series, featuring posts that highlight a particular finding from our recently published impact study, which examines how creative placemaking builds social capital in communities, using permanent outdoor Levitt venues as case studies.

In honor of National Family Fun Month (which you can read more about in last week’s blog post), today we’re turning our attention to the inter-generational appeal of Levitt concerts. A quick glance around any Levitt concert reveals a wide range of ages on the lawn—from infants to seniors and everyone in between. As the figure below suggests, parents across the country are enthusiastic about the family-friendly atmosphere at Levitt concerts—created in part by the green, expansive and welcoming open lawn settings that are a hallmark of both permanent Levitt venues and Levitt AMP sites.  As one survey participant explained, “My kids have the freedom to move around.” Continue reading →