Levitt PaviLions - Levitt Foundation

Transcription

Levitt
Pavilions
Media
Kit
At-a-Glance............................................................................................................................. 1
The Levitt Network............................................................................................................ 3
Individual Levitt Profiles.................................................................................................. 4
Award-Winning Artists.................................................................................................... 11
Bio of Liz Levitt Hirsch, Board Chair....................................................................... 13
Bio of Sharon Yazowski, Executive Director...................................................... 14
Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation........................................................................ 15
Press Clippings..................................................................................................................... 17
Media Contact
Vanessa Silberman, Director of
Communications and Strategic Initiatives
[email protected]
310.275.5628 | levittpavilions.org
Levitt Pavilions Media Kit | at-a-glance
Levitt Pavilions
at-a-glance
Levitt Pavilions
is the only
national network
of outdoor music
venues offering
free concert
series.
Collage (clockwise, from top left):
Levitt Arlington, Levitt SteelStacks, Levitt
Memphis, Levitt Westport, Levitt Pasadena, Levitt L.A.
Founded
Our Goals
2009
Inspire the best of American
city life
Our Mission
•Create community and social interaction among people of all ages and
backgrounds
Levitt Pavilions is a national nonprofit
organization that exists to strengthen
the social fabric of America. We partner with cities to transform neglected
outdoor spaces into welcoming destinations where the power of free, live music
brings people together and invigorates
community life.
Our Vision
An America filled with thriving public
spaces, creating community and
human connections that extend into
daily life.
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•Empower cities across America to
reclaim green spaces and reinvigorate
public spaces
•Ensure the performing arts are accessible to all through high quality, free
concerts
Levitt Pavilions Media Kit | at-a-glance
Signature
Characteristics of
The Levitt Program:
•50 concerts annually at each .
Levitt venue
•Relaxed, open lawn settings
•Free admission
Key Features
•Acclaimed, emerging talent to
seasoned, award-winning artists
•Rich spectrum of music genres
•State-of-the-art sound and lighting
•Easily accessible locations
•Family-friendly environments
The Levitt program
transforms
Once challenged sites, including neglected and gang-infested
parks (Los Angeles, Pasadena and
Memphis), the nation’s largest brownfield (Bethlehem), a problematic
landfill (Westport), and a dormant
downtown (Arlington) are now vibrant
and family-friendly destinations.
Levitt Pavilions: a
pioneer in the creative
placemaking movement
Creative placemaking integrates arts and
culture into communities to spark economic growth, drive community engagement, and enhance overall quality of life.
Award-winning
program
Levitt venues are continually recognized for their impact on communities, receiving numerous awards
and honors. Team members are
recognized for their leadership, Levitt
venues win design awards and Levitt
concert series are regularly recognized
by city publications in their “Best Of…”
listings. Recent examples include:
•Levitt Pavilion Arlington voted one of
the top five outdoor venues in North
Texas by the Dallas Observer (2013).
•Levitt Pavilion Los Angeles was
featured in an L.A. Times cover story
when legendary songwriter Jimmy
Webb performed his hit “MacArthur
Park” in MacArthur Park for the first
time (June 2013).
•Levitt Shell Memphis named “Best
Place to See Live Music in Memphis”
by the Memphis Flyer (2012, 2013).
•Levitt Pavilion Pasadena voted
“Best Live Music Venue” by readers
of Pasadena Weekly for the fifth
straight year (2009–2013).
•Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks received
multiple awards for its innovative
design of the pavilion, including four
awards from the Tri State, Pennsylvania and Philadelphia chapters of The
American Institute of Architects (2012).
•Levitt Pavilion Westport voted
one of the “Top 10 Destinations in
Connecticut” through the Connecticut Office of Tourism (2012).
venues have become known as places
to discover new artists and genres.
•All Levitt performers enjoy state-ofthe-art sound and lighting on stage
and private dressing rooms, green
rooms and catered meals backstage.
The Levitt program
proves that free, live
music is a powerful
social connector
You can see its effect on people at
a Levitt concert—they’re relaxed,
smiling, dancing, or simply interacting
with one another. The Levitt program
attracts people of all ages and walks
of life whose paths might not cross
otherwise.
The Levitt program
contributes to
healthy living
People are outdoors, enjoying the
fresh air, dancing, laughing, energized
by their surroundings.
The Levitt program promotes social
interaction, which has numerous health
benefits—reducing stress and contributing to our general sense of well-being.
The Levitt program
enhances city livability
•Green spaces are reclaimed
•Public spaces are activated
•Local economies are given a boost
•Communities are safer
Levitt Pavilions: A
generator of third
places
Third places = Those informal gathering spots outside the realms of home
and the workplace where all feel welcome. Places where we meet friends,
say hello to neighbors and interact
easily with strangers.
Levitt is musician
friendly
•While Levitt concerts are free to the
public, musicians are paid a competitive fee to perform, ensuring a high
level of excellence.
•Social and economic barriers are broken
•Access to arts and culture is ensured
•With our support of emerging talent
as well as award-winning artists, Levitt
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Levitt Pavilions Media Kit | The Levitt Network
The Levitt .
Network
currenT Stats
Six cities
strong*
▪▪ Arlington, TX
▪▪ Bethlehem, PA
▪▪ Los Angeles, CA
▪▪ Memphis, TN
▪▪ Pasadena, CA
▪▪ Westport, CT
*The Levitt network is expanding. A new
Levitt Pavilion will open in Denver in 2016,
and more are on the way across the country.
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300+
free concerts
each year
nationwide
Over
half a
million
people served
annually
Levitt Pavilions Media Kit | Individual Levitt Profiles: Westport
Levitt Pavilion.
WestPort
Location
Saugatuck River Banks
Westport, CT
Concert season
June–August
Year Opened
1974
Website
levittwestport.org
The original Levitt Pavilion opened four decades ago, when residents of Westport, Conn., wanted to build an outdoor stage that would serve as
a gathering space for the community. The town donated its problematic landfill
site located in the middle of Westport along the Saugatuck River, and a fund drive
was launched. As summer residents of Westport, Mortimer and Mimi Levitt were
approached to support the project, and they ultimately became the campaign’s
largest private contributors. As a result, Westport named the new stage the Levitt
Pavilion for the Performing Arts. Carrying memories of his impoverished childhood, Mortimer was passionately committed that performances at the pavilion be
presented at no charge.
Since opening in 1974, Levitt Westport has served more than 1.5 million people.
Levitt Westport’s long-term success as a community destination presenting free
concerts under the stars has served as a model for the national Levitt network.
Artists who have graced the stage over the years include Delta Rae, Roomful
of Blues, Frank Vignola Gypsy Jazz, Hank & Cupcakes, Sultans of String and the
Connecticut Ballet, and GRAMMY-winning artists like Kirk Whalum and Terrance
Simien & The Zydeco Experience. Currently undergoing improvements that will
allow for a significant expansion of activities, Levitt Westport will soon feature a
brand-new, $8.5 million LEED Certified pavilion, covered stage with new technological capabilities, and an updated Riverwalk.
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Levitt Pavilions Media Kit | Individual Levitt Profiles: Pasadena
Levitt Pavilion.
Pasadena
Location
Memorial Park
Pasadena, CA
Concert season
June–August
Year Opened
2003
Website
levittpasadena.org
Levitt Pasadena opened more than a decade ago in Memorial Park,
the first project under the Levitt Foundation’s venture philanthropy program to
revitalize urban public spaces through the power of free, live music.
For many years, Memorial Park had been all but abandoned, a far cry from its
former glory as a popular community destination during the first half of the 20th
century when outdoor concerts at its WPA-era gold band shell were a regular
Sunday activity. But by the 1950s, Old Town—the commercial area surrounding
Memorial Park—began to decline, nearby public transit was discontinued, and
many residents’ homes were demolished to make way for a new highway. For
nearly 50 years, visitors to the park remained sparse, crime ran rampant, and the
historic shell went largely unused. It wasn’t until the early 2000s that local revitalization efforts—including seed funding from the Levitt Foundation to refurbish the
shell and program 50 free concerts annually—served as a catalyst for change in
Memorial Park.
Today, Levitt Pasadena draws more than 70,000 people every year from both .
the local community and greater Los Angeles area with a diverse range of celebrated musicians. These include The Belle Brigade, Billy Childs, Sarah Lee .
Guthrie and LeRoy Bell and returning fan favorites Barbara Morrison, Incendio,
and GRAMMY-winning artists like Mariachi Divas and Quetzal.
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Levitt Pavilions Media Kit | Individual Levitt Profiles: Los Angeles
Levitt Pavilion.
Los Angeles
Location
MacArthur Park
Los Angeles, CA
Concert season
June–September
Year Opened
2007
Website
levittla.org
Levitt L.A. is situated just west of downtown Los Angeles in one of
the city’s most historic public spaces: MacArthur Park. Centrally located in one of
the densest and most diverse parts of the city, the famous park—once considered L.A.’s premiere urban oasis—fell on hard times during the 1980s, earning a reputation as one of the most gang-infested and notoriously crime-ridden parks in the
country. Local residents stayed away, and its once heavily used band shell stood
closed, covered in graffiti and surrounded by a chain-link fence.
Today, through Levitt L.A.’s annual program of 50 free concerts, the band shell is
once again flourishing and MacArthur Park has become a vibrant hub of activity.
Since opening in 2007, the Levitt program has served as a catalyst for the park’s
revitalization, making it safe and attractive for the local community and a welcoming destination for Angelenos citywide. The success of the Levitt program
has inspired the City to make subsequent investments in the park, including the
development of new soccer fields, a playground, public restrooms, lighted walkways and other park amenities.
Acclaimed artists who have performed on the Levitt L.A. stage include Bomba
Estereo, Rocky Dawuni, Keali’i Reichel, The Dustbowl Revival and GRAMMY-winning artists like Flaco Jiménez, Poncho Sanchez and Quetzal.
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Levitt Pavilions Media Kit | Individual Levitt Profiles: Memphis
Levitt Shell.
Memphis
Location
Overton Park
Memphis, TN
Concert season
May–June
September–October
Year Opened
2008
Website
PMS 374 Green (lightest)
PMS 376 Green (lighter)
PMS 355 Green (darkest)
levittmemphis.org
PMS 1665 Orange
The history of Levitt Memphis begins with a beloved, WPA-era outdoor
band shell in a beautiful park setting, steeped in decades of rich musical history in
a city boasting some serious blues and rock-n-roll street cred. A shell first made
memorable as the Memphis Open Air Theater, where free orchestra performances,
light opera and musicals marked its early heyday. A shell where Elvis Presley made
his professional debut in 1954, and where countless other legends graced the stage,
including Johnny Cash, Webb Pierce, Booker T. Jones, even The Grateful Dead. A
shell where hundreds of thousands of Memphians spent their summer evenings,
enjoying music under the stars.
Years later, this same band shell stood dormant and dilapidated, attracting criminal
activity and in grave danger of being razed to make room for a parking lot. Beginning in the 1970s, community and civic leaders fought to preserve the shell through
various campaigns like “Save the Shell”, but they struggled to raise sufficient funds
to ensure its viability. By 2004, the City of Memphis had closed the shell, citing
numerous code violations and deeming it a liability. Fortunately, this closure was
short-lived. By 2005, the national Levitt organization began working with the City
and local residents to support the shell’s expansive revitalization and to bring back
consistent, free programming at the shell. In September 2008, the shell re-opened
as the Levitt Shell, continuing a 75-year tradition of bringing Memphians together.
Levitt performers on the iconic stage have included Lisa Marie Presley, The Bo-Keys,
Squirrel Nut Zippers’ Jimbo Mathus, Carolyn Wonderland, Los Texas Wranglers, The
Dunwells and GRAMMY-winning artists Brave Combo and Booker T. Jones.
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Levitt Pavilions Media Kit | Individual Levitt Profiles: ARlington
Levitt Pavilion.
Arlington
Location
Founders Plaza
Arlington, TX
Concert season
May–June
September–October
Year Opened
2008
Website
levittarlington.org
The story of Levitt Arlington begins with a dormant downtown
in desperate need of revitalization. Despite having a population of over 350,000
residents, Arlington had always been a bedroom community serving nearby Dallas
and Forth Worth. Locals often headed to these cities for their dining, arts and
cultural experiences.
Eager to revive its downtown core, city leaders, engaged citizens and the national
Levitt organization came together to bring the Levitt program to Arlington.
There was no band shell in the downtown, so Levitt Arlington was constructed
on the grounds of the new Founders Plaza, directly across the street from City
Hall. Since opening in 2008, Levitt Arlington has experienced record-breaking
crowds—growing to more than 100,000 people each year—and has helped transform the area into a popular community destination. Nearly a dozen restaurants
have opened in the vicinity, with more on the way. It also served as a catalyst for
major investment from the University of Texas at Arlington, which agreed to focus
its $300 million expansion into the downtown area with new residences, shops,
restaurants, parking and an indoor performance venue. Today, Levitt Arlington is
considered the “crown jewel” of revitalization efforts in the city’s downtown.
Past performers on the Levitt Arlington stage include a range of emerging and
renowned artists, including Pentatonix, Ray Wylie Hubbard, The Polyphonic .
Spree, The Quebe Sisters, The Band of Heathens, The Killdares, and multiple
GRAMMY-winning Asleep at the Wheel.
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Levitt Pavilions Media Kit | Individual Levitt Profiles: SteelStacks
Levitt PAvilion.
Steelstacks
Location
SteelStacks Arts Campus
Bethlehem, PA
Concert season
June–August
Year Opened
2011
Website
levittsteelstacks.org
In just two years since its founding, Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks has
become a powerful symbol for Bethlehem’s rebirth as a music and cultural destination. Located at the base of the awe-inspiring Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces,
Levitt SteelStacks celebrates America’s history of innovation both past and
present, and provides the community with a welcoming public space where the
nation’s largest brownfield once stood.
At its height, Bethlehem Steel was the country’s second largest steel producer
employing 30,000 workers. When the company ceased operations and filed for
bankruptcy in the early 2000s, the result did more than decimate the region’s
economy. The vast acreage became a notorious “brownfield”—an unused, toxic
site of a former industrial or commercial facility. In an effort to reduce the negative impact in the surrounding Lehigh Valley, as well as breathe new life into the
depressed south side of Bethlehem, local stakeholders came together to designate the space for reuse as a new arts and cultural complex. The focal point of
redevelopment is Levitt SteelStacks, a glistening, cantilevered steel band shell that
pays homage to its industrial backdrop. The celebrated design has won multiple
design awards. Since opening in 2011, Levitt SteelStacks has become a magnet for
the local community, and the south side of Bethlehem has experienced a renaissance as new businesses and restaurants open their doors.
Performers at Levitt SteelStacks have included renowned artists like Ambrosia,
John Lee Hooker, Jr., Mambo Kaliente, PhillyBloco, Jump City Jazz Orchestra, Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole, and GRAMMY-winning blues singer/pianist Marcia Ball.
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Levitt Pavilions Media Kit | Individual Levitt Profiles: Denver
Levitt Pavilion.
Denver
Location
Ruby Hill Park
Denver, CO
Concert season
June–August
Year Of OpenIng
2016
Website
levittdenver.org
The newest addition to the Levitt network, Levitt Pavilion Denver will
open in 2016 in the city’s expansive, 83-acre Ruby Hill Park, located in Southwest
Denver. While boasting the city’s highest elevation with breathtaking views of the
downtown skyline, Ruby Hill Park nevertheless has a history of being underused
and was a target for vandalism, save for the winter months when its steep hill
becomes a popular spot for sledding and skiers.
In 2006, the City completed a Master Plan to transform Ruby Hill Park into a yearround, citywide destination. Among many new amenities and attractions including
playgrounds, interactive fountains/splash areas, extended walking trails and a new
picnic pavilion, the Master Plan called for an outdoor performance space in the
park’s natural bowl. Having heard about the success of the Levitt program in other
cities, the City of Denver reached out to Levitt Pavilions and a partnership was
formed. Friends of Levitt Pavilion Denver is currently undergoing its capital campaign, and the project has been heralded as the centerpiece of Ruby Hill Park’s
revitalization.
Construction of Levitt Pavilion Denver is slated to begin in 2015, and when it
opens in 2016, Levitt Denver will be a place for all Denverites to come together on
blankets and lawn chairs for free music under the stars.
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Levitt Pavilions Media Kit | Award-Winning Artists
award-winning
Artists
The Levitt program attracts a diverse lineup of artists
from acclaimed, emerging talent to seasoned, awardwinning performers. Celebrated musicians from
throughout America and the world appear on Levitt
stages every year.
Billy Joe Shaver
Here’s just a sampling of the exceptional talent
featured at Levitt venues across the U.S.
Mariachi Divas
2013 Levitt performers
Jimmy Webb
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GRAMMY WINNERS
GRAMMY Nominees
Brave Combo
Akwid
Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band
Leonardo Suarez Paz’s CUARTETANGO Alex Cuba
Foreigner
Vince Giordano & the Nighthawks
Ruthie Foster
Patty Griffin (Stars at the Shell)
Ulises Hadjis
Terri Hendrix
Will Hoge
Norah Jones
Jazz Leaders
Jim Lauderdale
Sheri Jones-Moffett
The Light Crust Doughboys
Sonny Landreth
Lloyd Maines
David Lindley
Mariachi Divas
Los Straitjackets
Joe McCarthy
Ricky Luis (as a member of N’Klabe)
Bill Miller
Zak Morgan
Ronnie Milsap
North Mississippi Allstars
Members of Mountain Heart
Poco
Quetzal
Shannon McNally
Rebirth Brass Band
Freddy Ravel
Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys
Christian Scott
Mavis Staples (Stars at the Shell)
Billy Joe Shaver
Jimmy Webb
Chip Taylor
Kirk Whalum
Trout Fishing in America
David Yaden (David & Devine)
Cedric Watson
Levitt Pavilions Media Kit | Award-Winning Artists
2012 Levitt performers
Booker T. Jones
GRAMMY WINNERS
GRAMMY Nominees
Asleep at the Wheel
The Fabulous Thunderbirds
BeauSoleil
Feufollet
Brave Combo
Steve Forbert
Tom Chapin Band
Ruthie Foster
C.J. Chenier & The Red Hot Lousiana Band
Guitar Shorty
Alvin Youngblood Hart
Gustavo Galindo
Chris Hillman
Locos por Juana
Van Hunt
Michael Martin Murphey & the Rio Grande Band
Booker T. Jones
Gregory Porter
Los TexManiacs
Mariachi Divas
Miss Amy & Her Big Kids Band
Cyril Neville
Herb Pederson
Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys
Dave Samuels & Caribbean Jazz Project
Sara Watkins
Ernie Watts Quartet
Ruthie Foster
Kirk Whalum
Other notable performers include
Delta Rae
Ambrosia
Hudson Moore
Marcia Ball
Barbara Morrison
The Band of Heathens
Dan Navarro
LeRoy Bell
No Age
The Belle Brigade
Old 97’s
The Bo-Keys
Pentatonix
Bomba Estereo
The Polyphonic Spree
Gary Clark, Jr.
Lisa Marie Presley
Cory Chisel
The Quebe Sisters
The Cowboy Junkies
Red Baraat
Rocky Dawuni
Poncho Sanchez
Delta Rae
Shonen Knife
The Dunwells
Todd Snider
The Dustbowl Revival
Spoonfed Tribe
Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion
The Spring Standards
Sara Hickman
Carolyn Wonderland
John Lee Hooker, Jr.
Ray Wylie Hubbard
Old 97’s
Incendio
The Killdares
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Levitt Pavilions Media Kit | Liz Levitt Hirsch Bio
Liz Levitt .
Hirsch
L
iz Levitt
Hirsch
spearheads
the Mortimer
& Mimi Levitt
Foundation’s venture
philanthropy
program
and serves as Board Chair of Levitt
Pavilions, a national nonprofit that
invigorates community life in American cities by transforming neglected
public spaces into welcoming music
destinations where all feel welcome.
Liz travels throughout the country
to bring the message of Levitt Pavilions to national recognition. Her life’s
passion is building community and
empowering lives through the joyful,
shared experience of live music and
she is honored to work with leaders
across America to expand the Levitt
network.
Currently, there are six Levitt pavilions across the country, forming the
only national network of nonprofit
outdoor music venues. Each presents
50+ free, family-friendly concerts
every year featuring acclaimed,
emerging talent to seasoned,
award-winning artists. Levitt’s
relaxed, open lawn settings attract
people of all ages and backgrounds
and are magnets for community. The
success of the Levitt program—in
places as diverse as Westport, Conn.;
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Los Angeles and Pasadena, Calif.;
Memphis, Tenn.; Arlington, Texas;
and Bethlehem, Pa. —is a testament to the tireless work and vision
of Liz. As Board Chair, she plays a
leadership role in the growth of the
Levitt program into additional cities
across America, including Denver,
the site of the seventh Levitt venue
set to open in 2016. As a Founding
Board Member of the Levitt music
venues in Los Angeles and Pasadena, Liz was instrumental in developing each pavilion. She helped
establish the community-driven,
public/private partnerships at the
heart of the Levitt program.
Beyond Levitt Pavilions, Liz has a
long and distinguished history of
hands-on involvement with charitable
organizations, serving on numerous
nonprofit boards and supporting
organizations that foster social justice
and access to the arts. Since moving
to Los Angeles in 1974, the native
New Yorker has served on the boards
of The Joffrey Ballet, Dance Camera
West and the Los Angeles Master
Chorale. Liz currently serves on the
boards of Center Dance Arts (Founding Board Member) and Hollywood
Arts (Founding Board Member). On
behalf of each of these organizations,
Liz has hosted and chaired galas,
raised funds, and provided strategic
direction to ensure the long-term
viability of each.
Board Chair
Levitt Pavilions
President
Mortimer & Mimi Levitt
Foundation
Some of Liz’s recognitions include:
2013 Honorary Citizen Award from
the City of Memphis; 2013 recipient of
the Ruby McKnight Williams Award
from the NAACP (Pasadena chapter); 2012 Finalist for the Vanguard
Award presented by the Western Arts
Alliance; 2011 Guest of Honor at The
Joyce benefit in New York City; 2011
Guest of Honor at the Empowering
HeARTS benefit for Single Mothers
Outreach; 2009 finalist for the Philanthropist of the Year by Association of
Fundraising Professionals, Los Angeles; 2008 Philanthropy Award from
the Gabrielle Axelrad Foundation; and
2003 Certificate of Commendation
from California State Assembly/Carol
Liu.
Liz is best known for her ability to
connect and inspire like-minded
people and for always directing her
life-long passion for the performing
arts into a source for social change
that strengthens communities.
Levitt Pavilions Media Kit | Sharon Yazowski Bio
Sharon
Yazowski
S
haron
Yazowski is
the Executive
Director of
Levitt Pavilions, a national
nonprofit that
invigorates
community
life in American cities by transforming
neglected public spaces into welcoming music destinations. Levitt Pavilions
forms the only national network of
outdoor music venues offering free
concert series. Each is a community-driven, public/private partnership
and presents 50+ free professional
concerts annually, produced by a local
Friends of Levitt Pavilion nonprofit
organization.
Sharon provides visionary leadership
in fulfilling Levitt Pavilions’ mission.
She serves as the primary spokesperson for the organization and travels throughout the country to build
visibility of Levitt Pavilions and share
the impact of the Levitt program.
Sharon provides strategic direction
for the Levitt network’s growth and
guides the development of each local
Levitt venue, from first discussion
through opening day, working closely
with civic and community leadership. Sharon also collaborates with
Friends of Levitt leadership in developing sustainability strategies, ensuring the long-term success of each
Levitt venue. She has been an invited
speaker at numerous conferences,
including the 2013 Art of Placemaking Conference, 2013 Denver Music
Summit and the 2012 National Recreation & Parks Conference.
Prior to her position with the national
Levitt organization, Sharon was the
founding Executive Director of Levitt
Pavilion Los Angeles in MacArthur
Park—a place once notorious for gang
activity and extreme crime. Sharon
witnessed first-hand the transformative impact of the Levitt program
in the park, which is now a thriving
community destination. In addition
to developing the organization’s
infrastructure, fundraising strategies,
outreach and marketing initiatives,
Sharon also curated the 50+ concerts
featuring diverse entertainment.
Before her time with Levitt, Sharon
was Company Manager of Jump
Rhythm Jazz Project (JRJP), a critically
acclaimed jazz dance company based
in Chicago. Sharon collaborated with
the company’s award-winning Artistic Director Billy Siegenfeld to build a
nonprofit dance organization dedicated to jazz-based rhythms. As the
first Company Manager, Sharon created
JRJP’s organizational structure and
negotiated the company’s national and
international appearances. Years later,
JRJP remains a flourishing dance organization and successful touring company.
Executive Director
Levitt Pavilions
Originally from the Midwest, Sharon
grew up in Nebraska where she began
music lessons at the age of four. She
earned a Bachelor of Music from Northwestern University majoring in vocal
performance with a concentration in arts
and business management. Upon graduation, Sharon secured a position with
the Evanston Arts Council, in metropolitan Chicago, where she oversaw
the agency’s grants program, managed
youth arts programs, and produced
over 100 free outdoor concerts.
Sharon serves as a board member
of the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation. In addition to her role with
Levitt, Sharon recently completed her
term as Vice President of California
Presenters (CP), a statewide organization comprised of performing arts
presenters including universities, intimate performance stages, municipal
venues, outdoor festivals and cultural
institutions. As Vice President, Sharon
served as chair of the organization’s
annual conference for three years.
Sharon lives in Los Angeles, believes
the arts are a basic human need, and
is passionate about the power of free
live music to strengthen communities
and impact lives. Sharon’s current
position with Levitt requires the
perfect combination of her passion for
the arts, well-rounded arts management background and high-energy
entrepreneurial spirit.
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Levitt Pavilions Media Kit | Mortimer & Mimi LEvitt Foundation
MOrtimer & Mimi Levitt FoundAtion
The Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation is a private family
foundation, founded in 1963 by Mortimer and Mimi Levitt to
support the arts, culture and education.
Today, the main focus of the Foundation is its venture
philanthropy program, partnering with cities through the
development and support of Levitt pavilions across America.
T
he son of struggling immigrant
parents, Mortimer Levitt grew up in
Brooklyn. His father worked as a street
vendor at the elite Luna Park of Coney
Island. Lured by the dazzling attractions,
Mortimer often joined his father at the
park. Unable to afford admission to rides
or shows, Mortimer would stand outside
the gates of ticketed concerts. Listening
to these performances surrounded by
the beauty of Luna Park was magical
and sparked his lifelong love affair with
outdoor music.
At the age of 16, Mortimer dropped out of
high school in order to support his mother
and younger brothers. Eventually, he took
a job at Erlanger-Blumgart, a fabric and
textile firm, and was quickly promoted
to salesman. In the midst of the Great
Depression, Mortimer embarked on starting his own business, a clothing company
that would sell made-to-order shirts
known as The Custom Shop. By 1942, he
had made his first million dollars and had
nine Custom Shop locations throughout
the Northeast.
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Annemarie Gratzinger, affectionately
known as “Mimi,” was raised in Vienna,
Austria, where her childhood was filled
with opera and other musical experiences. She met Mortimer in New York in
the mid 1940s while working in Museum
Collections at The Museum of Modern
Art (MoMA). They married in 1948, and
together Mortimer and Mimi became
philanthropists supporting youth music
programs, performing arts organizations
and educational institutions.
In the early 1970s, residents of Westport, Connecticut, wanted to build an
outdoor stage to create a gathering
space for their community. The town
donated its problematic landfill site,
located in the middle of Westport
along the Saugatuck River, and a fund
drive ensued. As summer residents
of Westport, Mortimer and Mimi were
approached to support the project.
They ultimately became the campaign’s
largest private contributors, prompting
the town to name its new pavilion after
them. In 1973, the first Levitt Pavilion
Levitt Pavilions Media Kit | Mortimer & Mimi LEvitt Foundation
Since 2003, grants from
the Levitt Foundation
have assisted the
cities of Los Angeles
and Pasadena, Calif.;
Memphis, Tenn.;
Arlington, Texas;
Bethlehem, Pa.; and
Denver to develop and
sustain their local Levitt
programs.
was born. Carrying memories of his
childhood, Mortimer was passionately
committed that performances at the
pavilion be presented at no charge. He
was extremely proud that admission
was always free. Everyone was welcome
to walk under the Coney Island inspired
arch, sit on the lawn and enjoy concerts
at the Levitt Pavilion.
In 1999, the continuing success of the
Levitt Pavilion in Westport inspired
Mortimer to lay the groundwork for a
national network of Levitt venues, so
communities across the country could
revel in the shared experience of free
concerts under the stars. Following
his 90th birthday, Mortimer sold his
company (which included 70 Custom
Shop retail branches nationwide)
and transferred the proceeds to the
Mortimer Levitt Foundation for the
purpose of helping communities across
America establish their own Levitt
venues. He soon passed the reigns of
the Foundation on to his daughter, Liz
Levitt Hirsch, to oversee its venture
philanthropy program.
growth of the national Levitt program.
In 2012, the Foundation was renamed
the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation in honor of Mimi’s contributions to
philanthropy and advancing the Levitt
mission. Liz Levitt Hirsch, as board chair
of Levitt Pavilions and president of the
Foundation, continues to spearhead
the Foundation’s venture philanthropy
program, bringing the Levitt program to
cities across the country.
As the Levitt program evolves, the
fundamentals remain based on Westport’s organic beginnings. Each Levitt
Pavilion is community driven; the site is
a public space in need of revitalization;
and the pavilion becomes a community-gathering place where everyone is
welcome. Since 2003, grants from the
Levitt Foundation have assisted the
cities of Los Angeles and Pasadena,
Calif.; Memphis, Tenn.; Arlington, Texas;
Bethlehem, Pa.; and Denver to develop
and sustain their local Levitt programs.
Mortimer passed in 2005 at the age
of 98. Since 2009, Levitt Pavilions, a
national nonprofit, has overseen and
activated the Foundation’s venture
philanthropy program supporting the
16
Ruby Hill Park Getting Ready to Shine
http://www.confluence-denver.com/features/rubyhill_100213.as...
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Welcome to Ruby Hill. The long underused city park is
going through an extreme, culturally infused makeover
that is expected to turn it into a Denver gem. It's quite a
turnaround for a former landfill with a considerably
lower profile than many other parks in the city.
In the latter half of the 1800s, miners would camp alongside the
South Platte River, on high ground about five miles south of what
is now known as downtown Denver. Instead of gold, they would
often come across red-hued gems during their extraction efforts.
The area was named after the gems' bright coloring, taking on
the name of Ruby Hill -- never mind that the minerals found were
actually garnets.
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Today the area's landmark is Ruby Hill Park, an impressive piece of land that's always had
plenty of possibilities, but is hardly considered by folks outside of Denver -- or even by those
who live here -- to be one of the city's top parks, if they know it exists at all.
But Ruby Hill's time to shine may finally be upon us. Nowadays, one could argue that the park
is getting more attention than it ever has received before, even more than it did during the
mining period generations ago.
The City of Denver is in the process of reinventing Ruby Hill Park as a potential companion to
the nearby and uber-popular Washington Park. It started with the modest addition of a new
pavilion, playground equipment and picnic tables, but the project will soon culminate in the
creation of an urban mountain bike course and an amphitheater with capacity for 7,500
concert-goers.
While the Jack A. Vickers Boys &
Girls Club will take the majority of
space at the center, additional
partners will also serve the
community from the building.
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So the city has big plans for Ruby Hill Park, a long-underused 80-acre gem that the Parks
and Recreation Department sees as a diamond in the rough.
1 of 5
17
10/18/13 2:31 PM
"Once we get this all built, I think it's going to be a big hit and a big success," says Kent
Sondgerath, Senior Landscape Architect and Project Manager for the Denver Parks and
Recreation Department.
The park nobody knows
The Ruby Hill neighborhood is bounded by South Federal Boulevard, South Platte River
Drive, West Mississippi Avenue and West Jewell Avenue.
Its centerpiece, Ruby Hill Park, has been around since the mid-1950s. It has 80 acres of
green grass to play on and its elevated position above the city offers one of the most serene
and panoramic views of the Denver skyline and the Rocky Mountains in all of town.
But if you've never known any of that, you shouldn't feel too bad, because you're not alone.
"We were walking around Washington Park one day, talking to people about the city's plans
for Ruby Hill Park," Sondgerath says. "Probably about 85 percent of the people we talked to
had never heard of Ruby Hill, and it's only a couple of miles away from Wash Park."
The folks at Washington Park whom Sondgerath spoke with weren't the only ones who had
never heard of Ruby Hill Park. Even those who are now playing a pivotal role in the park's
make-over had to do a little bit of research.
"When I first heard someone mention Ruby Hill Park, I said, 'Where's that?'" says Chris
Zacher, CEO and executive director for Levitt Pavilion Denver, the name of the amphitheater
that will open in Ruby Hill Park in 2016. "I don't think that people realize that it's not much
smaller than Wash Park. It's a big, big park that nobody knows about."
The area has an interesting history. Aside from once being a mining hub, the park's bluff had
once been used by Native Americans as a lookout point. Then there's the part of the area's
history that has posed challenges to the city, such as the fact that Ruby Hill served as a
landfill in the decades that preceded it becoming a park. The landfill debris led to asbestos
being found in the park's irrigation system, which has proven to be a costly hang-up for
improvement projects.
But the asbestos-plagued landfill that the park once was is a distant memory. And, pretty
soon, park-goers won't even be able to recognize it.
The phases of Ruby
The initial driver of Ruby Hill Park's
revitalization efforts turned out to be the
success of the Ruby Hill Rail Yard, the
country's first winter urban terrain park. The
rail yard opened in 2007 and has become a
huge hit with the community.
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The rail yard's success made it a model for
other cities that teamed up with ski resorts
for similar collaborations around the country,
according to Winter Park Resorts, which
partnered with the Parks and Recreation Department and other entities to launch the rail
yard.
The picnic pavillion was part of the first phase of
the park's improvement projects.
"Our goal was to extend what we do up here for city communities, especially those underserved city communities," said Bob Holme, a youth marketing manager and terrain park and
bike park operations manager for Winter Park Resorts.
Less than three years after the launch of the Ruby Hill Rail Yard, the City of Denver
embarked on the first of three phases aimed at remaking the entire park.
Phase one began in the summer of 2010 and culminated with the improvement of several
park projects the following year. They included the laying of 20 miles of irrigation pipes; the
erection of a 150-person capacity picnic pavilion; the addition of new playground equipment;
and the redoing of park roads, a dual-purpose effort that will allow access to the Levitt
Pavilion and one that the city expects will cut down on cruising and other activities that local
2 of 5
10/18/13 2:31 PM
18
police are looking to curb.
Sondgerath says the price tag for the total cost of phase one -- which took into account
asbestos removal, design and construction – was close to $5 million. About 75 percent of the
funding came from bond money, with the rest coming out of city capital improvement funds.
The two primary projects that will be included in the city's phase two work at Ruby Hill will be
the building of a grand promenade, as well as the creation of a mountain bike park.
A two-mile loop will circle the park and allow for gateway trails into a mountain bike skills
course area. Right now, the state's only urban bike park is located in Boulder.
The addition of the mountain bike course excites Sondgerath.
"With the rail yard and now the mountain bike hill course, we have a lot of kids who may not
otherwise have a chance to do these kind of things, who now will have that opportunity,"
Sondgerath says. "And, who knows? They may end up going up to the mountains and trying
it there."
Phase two work will also include the addition of a 32-feet wide promenade, which will serve
as the park's spine, allowing access through the park from Florida to Jewell Avenues.
Phase two will cost about $1.5 million and will be funded primarily by city capital improvement
dollars and grants. It's expected to be completed by the end of next year.
The 'jewel of the city'
The piece de resistance of the Ruby Hill
makeover will come during phase three – an
amphitheater backed by Levitt Pavilions, a
national nonprofit that teams up with cities to
provide venues for free music in urban
areas.
The pavilion will be located in the park's
bowl, below the existing picnic area, and it
will provide more than 50 free concerts every
year.
Levitt Pavilion Denver will break ground on a
state-of-the-art amphitheater in Ruby Hill Park in
2015.
Zacher says that Levitt's entry into the Ruby Hill neighborhood will be similar to that of other
efforts that the nonprofit has been a part of over the years.
"We provide a cultural infusion into a community that feels a little neglected by the city,"
Zacher says. Zacher also says that before Levitt amphitheaters erected in parks in Los
Angeles and Memphis, the areas were underused and "were in bad condition."
"They had a problem with a park or a problem getting people to a park," he says.
Sondgerath says work on the amphitheater is scheduled to begin by either late next year or
the early part of 2015, with the first concerts expected to be held in 2016.
Phase three will cost $4 million, with there being "a fifty-fifty split" in funding between the city
and the Levitt Foundation.
"Our hope is that people see that as a great venue," Sondgerath says. "There's not a single
outdoor permanent venue within ten miles of downtown Denver, other than the Greek
Amphitheater at Civic Center Park.
With all of these new additions coming to Ruby Hill Park, it's no wonder that the people
involved in its revitalization efforts are starting to get excited.
"During public meetings over last couple months, a lot of people have said that ever since the
improvements started, they see a lot less issues of vandalism; before that, it was a constant
problem," Sondgerath says. "We want people to see that were trying to make it a better place
so they want to take care of it too, take pride in in and get some of that bad behavior out of
there."
3 of 5
19
10/18/13 2:31 PM
Ruby Hill Park will always hold a special place for Holme, who grew up in Littleton and who
remembers sledding there when he was a boy. He's appreciative of the positive changes that
are coming to Ruby Hill.
"For a city to be as progressive as Denver has been, and to open their arms to new ideas, it
really speaks volumes," Holme says. "That park is going to go from something that's already
special into a jewel of the city."
SHARE
Read more articles by Vic Vela.
Vic Vela is the legislative reporter for Colorado Community Media.
He has also covered crime for the Albuquerque Journal and is a
reformed television news and sports reporter.
ARTS AND CULTURE,
BUILT ENVIRONMENT,
CITY BUILDING,
ENVIRONMENT, GIVING
AND PHILANTHROPY,
HEALTH AND
WELLNESS, PARKS AND
PUBLIC SPACES,
PLACEMAKING, SPORTS
AND RECREATION
WASHINGTON PARK,
WASHINGTON PARK
WEST
Add a comment...
Post to Facebook
Posting as MC Levitt (Change)
Comment
Victoria Cornell
I have lived in Ruby Hill Park for 26 years and I am a Parks and Rec volunteer in
Sanderson Gulch, Godsman and Ruby Hil area. This will be a huge change and
probably the biggest change the neighborhood has seen since I've lived here. I cant
wait for this time next year when the multi use trail gets built and is ready for use. But
it will be bittersweet because it is so tranquil now. I urge everyone to watch the park
change, to use it and to attend and comment at any public forums inviting comment
because we are the parks.
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1 · Like · Follow Post · October 6 at 9:01pm
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As 'MacArthur Park' turns 45, Jimmy Webb will
play it in that park
Jimmy Webb wrote the odd 1960s hit 'MacArthur Park,' recorded by Richard Harris. He has a
sense of humor about it. And yes, he saw a cake left out in the rain.
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Singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb will perform "MacArthur Park" and more at the park on Saturday -- a first in what he calls
the song's "wild and wacky" 45-year history. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
Related photos »
By Randy Lewis, Los Angeles Times
June 14, 2013 , 6:26 p.m.
Every show. Every game. Every ticket.
Be the first on your street to see the show.
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Photos: Concert photos by The Times
Before becoming a widely lauded songwriter, Jimmy Webb
was just another aspiring musician living in a dingy Los
Angeles apartment.
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http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-macarthur-park-jimmy-web-20130615,0,5193178,full.story
21
Page 1 of 5
6/18/13 5:53 PM
The Oklahoma transplant would wander from his low-rent
flat in Silver Lake to a place that would inspire one of his
most indelible hits, MacArthur Park. There, between Wilshire
and 7th, he'd wait for his girlfriend to get off work from her
job nearby.
'MacArthur Park' lyrics
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"I used to eat lunch in the park," said Webb, 66. "It was a
place you could be away from the dreariness of a really
bottom-scale apartment."
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The scenes he saw there day after day inspired him to write
"MacArthur Park," the unlikely 1968 hit single sung by actor
Richard Harris.
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Now, 45 years after the location he immortalized became an
unlikely pop-culture touchstone, Webb will sing "MacArthur
Park" in MacArthur Park on Saturday to kick off a summer
concert series. It's a first for Webb, who's never performed
the song at its namesake location.
Levitt Pavilion's L.A., Pasadena free
concerts resume Saturday
"MacArthur Park was — perhaps I'm painting it with the
brush of nostalgia — a kind and gentle place," Webb said.
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The roster of artists who have recorded "MacArthur Park" is
staggering, and Webb himself says he has no idea how many
times it's been covered. Beyond Harris' signature version, it's
also been recorded by Donna Summer, Frank Sinatra, Glen
Campbell and Liberace.
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Thanks to the song's curiously impressionistic lyrics —
"MacArthur Park is melting in the dark / All the sweet green
icing flowing down" — and that cake forever left in the rain,
it's stood out among the usual Top 10 fare. The number has
been satirized on "The Simpsons," played in the movie
"Airplane II" and parodied by "Weird Al" Yankovic.
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"I'd be disingenuous if I said I'm unaware it has detractors,"
said Webb, who now lives on New York's Long Island. "It was
something I had a sense of humor about. To me, that's part of
it: the grandiosity of it, the absolute presumption of the whole
thing is part of it. It's part of what we associate with the '60s:
Let's push it, let's see how far we can inflate this condom
before it blows up."
PHOTOS: Concerts by The Times
Jason Hanley, education director for the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, says the unorthodox "MacArthur Park" is partly a product of its
time.
"In the late '60s, particularly in California, you've got all this experimentation going on," said Hanley.
"He was taking elements of the Great American Songbook — the Cole Porter and George Gershwins
of the 1930s and '40s — with pop songs of the '50s and '60s and mixing that with these beautiful
arrangements. Putting all that into one seven-minute song is kind of crazy."
"MacArthur Park" sprung from a request from producer Bones Howe to write a piece combining
classical and rock elements for the group Howe was working with at the time, the Association, which
scored '60s hits with "Cherish" and "Windy." Webb came back with "MacArthur Park," which at more
than seven minutes was too much for the Association to add to an album that was nearly finished, so
the group passed.
He stuck it back into his portfolio until he met with Harris, who wanted to follow his success in the
musical "Camelot" by releasing a pop album.
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The song may not have reinvented Harris as a pop star, but it did end up breaking barriers on Top 40
radio.
Veteran L.A. DJ Charlie Tuna was part of the staff at the powerhouse 93 KHJ Boss Radio AM station,
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a national tastemaker in pop music for much of the '60s. He remembers "MacArthur Park" being
broadcast in its entirety on then-emerging underground FM radio stations.
"We were paying attention to what they were playing," he said. "We didn't want to lose that hip
crowd."
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When KHJ program director Ron Jacobs called Webb and asked for an edited version that his station
could play, he declined.
"I said, 'You can play the beginning, or just the middle or the end, or none of it, but I'm not going to
edit it," Webb recalled. KHJ began playing the full version.
"Once KHJ went on it," Tuna said, "everyone else went on it."
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Webb says Beatles producer George Martin told him that "MacArthur Park" influenced the Beatles'
decision to let "Hey Jude" run beyond the 7-minute mark when they recorded it a couple of months
after Harris' record became a hit.
Now, half a century down the line, the composer believes the world is ready to hear it at least one
more time.
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"I have it on my new record coming out in September," Webb said, noting that his recording for his
new "Still Within the Sound of My Voice" album due Sept. 10 features a vocal arrangement by one of
his musical heroes, Beach Boys creative leader Brian Wilson.
Music was a big part of Webb's life growing up. His father was a Baptist minister and his mother
played piano and accordion. The family moved to Southern California in 1962, settling in Colton in
San Bernardino County.
"I can remember all the sprinklers going on all the lawns and the air conditioners humming and the
sound of the Beach Boys floating from house to house," he said. "That was my first impression of
California: sprinklers, air conditioning and the Beach Boys."
PHOTOS: Concerts by The Times
Three years later, his father decided to move the family back to Oklahoma. Just 17, Webb decided he
was ready to be on his own, so he stayed.
"I had 30 or 40 songs I'd written, and I was ready," Webb said. "So I moved into a little — the
nomenclature would be 'dump' — in Silver Lake."
That's when he discovered MacArthur Park, the recreational expanse built in the 1880s as Westlake
Park, renamed in 1942 in honor of World War II Gen. Douglas MacArthur. He'd stroll from Silver
Lake down Sunset Boulevard, across Alvarado and enter the park from a side street.
"That was my refuge from poverty," he said. "It was a place where I met my girlfriend; where life
evened out for a little while. When I was there, it wasn't so difficult to live. That may sound strange
now, because I was really successful so very young. But I was also struggling. At 17 years old I was on
the street in Los Angeles with nothing to trade for my daily bread. Nothing but songs."
Though Webb has penned plenty more songs since, the cryptic lyrics of "MacArthur Park" still make
the song one of his best-known — and most puzzling. What exactly was he singing about?
"I was very much an observer of things, and that song incorporated almost everything I saw around
me," Webb said. "The novelistic technique of including just enough detail to convince someone of the
veracity of the tale that's being told is a common one in songwriting. Certainly that's at work in
'MacArthur Park': the old men playing checkers by the tree, there's the yellow cotton dress....
"I'd seen birthday cakes left out in the park. I didn't have to make anything up," he said, although
Webb also was well-read enough to have been aware of poet W.H. Auden's famous comment that,
"My face looked like a wedding cake left out in the rain."
"'MacArthur Park?'" he said. "I have no apologies. It's just had a kind of wild and wacky and,
ultimately, I guess, a wonderful existence as a song," he said. "And it's still around all these years
later."
For many music aficionados, as unlikely as its commercial success was, that's no accident.
"What it feels like to me is that, even though he was barely in his 20s, an entire lifetime of musical
ideas came pouring out in this one piece," said David Leaf, who teaches pop songwriting at UCLA. "It
was as if he had been holding himself back, waiting for his chance, and then the Richard Harris
record gave him the opportunity to put it all together. I never tire of hearing it — the timeless melodic
themes, the structure of the composition with the different sections, the shifting tempos, the lyrical
23
Page 3 of 5
6/18/13 5:53 PM
imagery — it really is everything one could dream of in a song and a record."
[email protected] | Twitter: @RandyLewis2
Jimmy Webb
Where: Levitt Pavilion L.A.-MacArthur Park, 2230 W. 6th St., Los Angeles
When: 8 p.m. Saturday; free concerts continue Thursdays through Sundays through Aug. 25 in
MacArthur Park; also Wednesdays through Saturdays from June 21 through Aug. 24 at Levitt
Pavilion, Pasadena.
Cost: Free
Information: (626) 683-3230 or http://www.levittla.org and
http://www.levittpavilionpasadena.org
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COACHELLA 2013: Full coverage THE ENVELOPE: Awards Insider PHOTOS: Grammy top winners
Copyright © 2013, Los Angeles Times
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an “amenity” —is arts and culture.
Creative businesses play a huge part in the California economy. These businesses comprise the
arts, design, digital media and other fields that utilize a creative workforce. More than 134,000
creative businesses employ 500,000 Californians, with another 100,000 freelance or part-time
creative workers in the mix. In addition, the Golden State’s 4,553 arts organizations contribute $3.56
billion annually to its economy.
But the value of the arts extends beyond the direct economic impact. When Gallup and the Knight
Foundation set out to answer the question “What attaches people to their communities?” in a threeyear study, researchers found that the key reasons cited by residents for loving their cities were
25
entertainment and social offerings, how welcoming the city is and its aesthetics — in other words, the
arts and culture.
Creative Placemaking: “Every Mayor’s Dream”
Today’s buzzword to describe
communities’ investment in
arts and culture is “creative
placemaking” — which means
using the arts to develop an
area where people want to
live, work and congregate.
Urban-planning researcher
Ann Markusen defined this
concept for the Mayors’
Institute on City Design in the
white paper Creative
Placemaking:
In creative placemaking, partners from public, private, nonprofit and community sectors
strategically shape the physical and social character of a neighborhood, town, city or region
around arts and cultural activities.
The economic impact of clustering creative businesses was explained by Jamie Bennett, director of
public affairs for the National Endowment for the Arts. Bennett said, “A theater has 1,000 people
show up at eight o’clock and leave at eleven o’clock. A museum might have 1,000 visitors spread out
over the course of an eight-hour day. A rehearsal studio might have 30 people coming and going
every hour over 12 hours. You put the three different organizations in proximity to one another and,
all of a sudden, you have a full day of positive foot traffic on a street — feet that belong to people
who need to eat meals, buy newspapers, go shopping and take public transportation. You have
every mayor’s dream.”
The key is to treat the arts as an essential part of the city’s identity. Successful creative placemaking
builds the economy at the local level, enhances surrounding non-arts businesses and provides job
opportunities and ways for individuals to participate in activities associated with the arts and cultural
events. The results bring people together, spark community pride and create a more vibrant “place.”
Other states are actively investing in arts and culture as a challenge to California’s historic leadership
in the global creative economy. The National Governors Association (www.nga.org) examined this
issue in the report New Engines of Growth: Five Roles for Arts, Culture and Design. The report notes
that as technology sectors have shifted from basic engineering to the added values of innovative
design and creative products, establishing a network of creative workers is vital to staying
competitive.
Tap Your Local Talent
Successful creative
placemaking acknowledges
and supports local arts and
culture. “Art and artists are the
asset all communities are
gifted with,” noted Carol
Coletta, director of ArtPlace, a
collaboration of 13 leading
national and regional
foundations and six of the
nation’s largest banks that invests in creative placemaking. “In a time when we especially need to
jump-start economic and development momentum in our communities, I have to ask, ‘Why wouldn’t
26
jump-start economic and development momentum in our communities, I have to ask, ‘Why wouldn’t
you put every single asset you have available to work to make that happen?’ And that includes art
and artists.”
Creative clusters that combine artists and entrepreneurs have mushroomed in California cities. In
Santa Monica, an old rail yard has blossomed into the visual-art gallery complex of Bergamot
Station. Originally a railway station in the 19th century, Bergamot Station functioned as a warehouse
storage facility until the 1980s when the City of Santa Monica purchased it for a future use as a lightrail station. When the light-rail project stalled, the city approached a local developer and architect to
create an artists’ and gallery space. It opened in 1994 and has since become a key attraction both
locally and for tourists, with more than 600,000 visitors each year visiting the galleries and other
businesses in the complex.
In San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood, a handful of nonprofits teamed up with
entrepreneurs to establish the 5MPlaceWorks partnership where tech entrepreneurs mix with artists
and designers. These creative clusters may seem spontaneous, but are the result of direct and
meaningful planning and investment.
Yet clusters of arts, culture and entrepreneurship aren’t exclusive to major urban areas. Smaller
cities can take advantage of local talent to showcase the community’s unique personality and, at the
same time, provide important job training and creative interaction for local citizens.
Modesto Fosters Creative Innovation
Modesto’s new Building
Imagination Center is a
contemporary art and video-art
venue. It’s also an education
and artist residency center. Its
activities, including investment
in local video artists,
encourage production and job
training for anyone interested
— mid-level professionals,
recent graduates of California
State University, Stanislaus,
and members of the public.
The Building Imagination Center is part of a greater network of the Modesto arts and culture scene,
and its monthly short documentary projects on local subjects enhance these characteristics and
bring the community together, according to Jessica Gomula-Kruzic, the center’s director. The center
plans to highlight other local cultural assets, such as the American Graffiti Car Show and Festival
and the area’s largely unknown architectural treasures, which include buildings designed by Julia
Morgan, Frank Lloyd Wright and other notable architects.
The center is not solely for professional artists and filmmakers, however. It also offers free
workshops that teach individuals how to create short videos using common devices like smart
phones. As technology advances, the nature of work is changing, and employers increasingly expect
employees to have multimedia skills. One-minute videos for YouTube and websites are being
produced by businesses from real estate to restaurants and retail. “We’re hoping to give people the
skills to do those things,” said Gomula-Kruzic.
The Role of Cultural Districts
Cultural districts are zones that aggregate cultural or artistic ventures (both nonprofit and
commercial) and, in the process, stimulate economic development. A dozen states nationwide have
enacted official cultural-district designations, some with remarkable measurable results. An analysis
of Maryland’s arts and entertainment districts notes a 17 percent growth in new jobs, goods and
services, and wages from new business in the state’s arts and entertainment districts between 2008
27
services, and wages from new business in the state’s arts and entertainment districts between 2008
and 2010 — a significant achievement during the recession.
Some California communities are already moving in this direction. A part of San Diego’s downtown
East Village area, called the I.D.E.A. District for its focus on innovation, design, education and arts,
was conceived by a pair of local developers who have partnered with higher education institutions,
the San Diego Foundation, community groups and others.
“[Local governments] need to answer the question, ‘What do people want?’ Artistic, cultural and
social experiences are what keep people in a community,” said David Malmuth, one of the founders
of the I.D.E.A. District.
Pete Garcia, Malmuth’s partner in the I.D.E.A. District project, emphasizes the need for communities
to identify their own strengths and not be swayed by what’s popular elsewhere. Cultural district
supporters need to ask the question, “What is our city about? And what is it missing?”
Malmuth encourages planners and coordinators to work quickly, perhaps in small ways rather than
spending too much time on long-term planning. He said, “Take too long and the community loses
focus, loses enthusiasm.”
Creating an Arts Oasis
A rebirth of the creative
community is under way in Palm
Springs and the Coachella
Valley. Palm Springs has long
been a popular vacation spot for
film stars. In the 1980s and ‘90s
the area was better known as a
retirement community than as a
place of creative economic
activity.
Today the creative economy is
thriving in the region, notes Robert Stearns, the executive director of ArtsOasis, an initiative of the
Coachella Valley Economic Partnership. Policy-makers and leaders in the area sensed that the arts
and creative businesses were a strong economic driver. A study of the area, Creative California
Desert, revealed that the creative economy is “a robust engine that employs nearly one out of every
five persons working in the Coachella Valley and produces a raw impact of close to $1 billion per
year.”
This vigorous creative activity started in small ways. The Palm Springs International Film Festival
began as a modest proposal in 1989. Now, almost 25 years later, it’s a major international event that
draws 140,000 visitors in a 10-day period. The festival’s success encouraged film-related businesses
to set up in the area. A weekend trade show grew into the Modernism Week, a celebration of
architecture and related businesses, like clean energy and design, that attracts experts worldwide.
Interest in visual art, architecture, design and modern art produced art festivals and fostered a
unique brand of cultural tourism, where people visit different art studios and participate in hands-on
projects. The area has also been successful in attracting younger people, due in part to the success
of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, a six-day event spanning two weekends.
One result of local leaders’ discussions and planning around arts and economic activity was the
ArtsOasis website (http://artsoasis.org), which lists the regional arts-related activities in a single
comprehensive resource to help facilitate event planning and cultural tourism. Another result is the
development of a creative marketplace and trade center for talent, services and products — initially
for film and media workers, but with the goal of expanding to other creative industries.
Stearns sees this collaboration as a key way to build the creative economy during tough economic
times. “It doesn’t take a lot of infrastructure money for this community,” he said. “Building the creative
28
times. “It doesn’t take a lot of infrastructure money for this community,” he said. “Building the creative
economy requires building the creative community.”
The first step, according to Stearns, is to determine exactly who is in the local creative community. “If
you look at the broad field, you may see there is a much bigger world than the ‘starving artists’ and
the nonprofits,” he said. While the traditional arts play a very big role, they are only part of the overall
creative economy. If your community is home to creative businesses or related industries, invite
them to participate and include them in your city’s creative placemaking efforts.
Pasadena and Levitt Pavilions Partner to Revitalize Area, Create Festivals
While local governments are strapped for funding, publicprivate partnerships can be instrumental in building the
creative economy, and Levitt Pavilion in Pasadena offers a
great example.
Levitt Pavilions is a national nonprofit whose goal is
bringing communities together through music. To qualify
for its support, a city must make available a publicly owned
space and commit to at least 50 free music concerts
annually. Levitt Pavilions provides capital seed funding to
renovate or build a music venue, and a local “Friends of
the Levitt Pavilion” nonprofit must be formed. In addition,
the local government maintains the location.
The first Levitt Pavilion project, other than one in the founders’ hometown in Connecticut, was the
band shell in Pasadena’s Memorial Park. The park was run-down and suffering from the effects of
crime, vagrant drug use, homelessness, graffiti and under use. Levitt Pavilions provided
approximately $250,000 in capital seed funding plus annual operating support to improve the band
shell for public concerts, the local “friends of” nonprofit raised the additional funds (about $1.5
million), and an annual music program for the community was born.
The free concerts are a vital part of the Levitt Pavilion model. By hosting the community events, the
venue becomes a destination in the city for people from all socioeconomic backgrounds, especially
families. “It brings out the entire community,” said Vanessa Silberman, director of communications
for Levitt Pavilions. “There’s a sense of neighborliness — a nice small-town feel in a city.”
The turnaround for the area in Pasadena is significant, said Silberman. Nearby Colorado Boulevard
in the center of Pasadena’s original downtown had undergone a revitalization, evolving into the
extremely popular Old Pasadena area. Prior to the Levitt Pavilion investment, local residents avoided
Memorial Park because of the crime problem. Now the area around the park has become as vibrant
as Colorado Boulevard, with new condominiums, restaurants and other amenities nearby.
The success of the Levitt Pavilion partnership is due to the long-term commitment of the city, the
local nonprofit and the national Levitt organization.
In conjunction with the Levitt Pavilion project, Pasadena launched an annual music festival called
Make Music Pasadena. Now in its sixth successful year, Make Music Pasadena presents Grammy
Award-winning musicians and top recording artists performing blues, jazz, folk, alternative rock and
more. The festival’s eclectic mix of music appeals to audiences of all ages and has earned it high
praise. It’s been dubbed by L.A. Weekly as “Los Angeles’ best free festival.” More than 30,000 fans
flock to Pasadena to hear 500 musicians performing 140 free concerts on 35 stages spread
throughout the city — all in one music-filled day.
Your Town, Your Arts
Enhancing the creative sector is essential to the future of the Golden State. But investing in the arts
doesn’t necessarily need to strain the pocketbooks of local governments or require extra staff.
Assess what is already in your own community. Assist and support the local businesses, nonprofits
29
and residents who propose innovative projects. Invite creative leaders to share ideas, and encourage
high-quality proposals that can make a real difference. A little investment in the arts can go a long
way toward keeping your community on the forefront of the creative economy.
Creative Placemaking ResourcesSite Search
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Resources and funding opportunities for cities interested in investing in creative placemaking
are listed below.
Our Town grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (www.arts.gov).
Organizations may apply for creative placemaking projects that contribute to the livability
of communities and place the arts at their core.
ArtPlace funding (www.artplace.org). ArtPlace works to accelerate creative placemaking
through grants and loans, partnerships, solid and imaginative research, communication
and advocacy.
Creating Places of Vitality grants from the California Arts Council (www.arts.ca.gov)
. This program targets rural and underserved communities in California by supporting
partnerships and cultural activities that create a distinct sense of place.
Various websites consolidate hundreds of grant opportunity listings. These include
www.California.grantwatch.com, www.foundationcenter.org, and www.arts.ca.gov (see
opportunities/grants).
California communities have plenty of creative assets, both large and small, that can be utilized
even in this tough economy. The California Arts Council website (www.arts.ca.gov) lists
hundreds of festivals throughout the state that demonstrate our will and desire to have arts in
our communities. Local governments may be strapped, but a small investment in the arts and
creative communities can have a huge impact in the long run.
Additional Resources Available
This article appears in the May 2013 issue of Western City
Did you like what you read here? Subscribe to Western City »
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30
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33
number 3 2012
Arts and Culture
at the Core
A Look at Creative Placemaking
34
Smokestack
The Rebirth of
Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania
The SteelStacks campus with the Levitt Pavilion in the
foreground in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Photo by Mark Demko
8
35
ARTS
By Rebecca Gross
Lightning
W
hen Bethlehem Steel shut operations in
1995, the plant that had once been Bethlehem, Pennsylvania’s main architect of economy and identity suddenly became its greatest scourge. The city was left with
a 1,800-acre brownfield, the remnants of an industrial
dream gone sour. “It was a constant reminder of what
we used to be,” said Julie Benjamin, vice president community partnerships of ArtsQuest, a not-for-profit that
uses the arts as an economic engine. The most inescapable reminders were the five 20-story blast furnaces
that loomed over Bethlehem like a desolate version of
the skylines they had once helped build.
“You literally had this old Bethlehem steel mill
right there lurking above you,” said NEA Chairman
Rocco Landesman, who visited the site in 2010. “So
what do you do with it? Do you take it down? Do you
ignore it and make the best of it? Or do you actually try
and engage it as part of the history of that place, part
of its culture, and try to make it into a positive?”
Today, the furnaces form the awe-inspiring backdrop of SteelStacks, a 9.5-acre arts and cultural campus located on the Bethlehem Steel site. Developed
by ArtsQuest in partnership with the Bethlehem Redevelopment Authority, SteelStacks has welcomed
one million visitors since opening in May 2011. The
campus is home to year-round programming, a firstrun independent movie theater, the stunning Levitt
Pavilion, a visual arts gallery, and numerous outdoor
spaces for festivals, concerts, and craft and farmer’s
markets. Although the Lehigh Valley has long been
home to prestigious art institutions such as the Allentown Symphony, SteelStacks was designed to
showcase contemporary art forms that weren’t readily
available in the area.
Mayor John Callahan, who is a Bethlehem native,
credited the Mayors’ Institute on City Design (MICD)
with providing guidance during the early stages of the
site’s redevelopment. MICD is an initiative of the NEA
in partnership with the American Architectural Foundation and the United States Conference of Mayors.
Since 1986, the Mayors’ Institute has helped transform communities through design by preparing mayors to be the chief urban designers of their cities. In
February 2004, a month after taking office, Callahan
presented Bethlehem’s design challenge at an MICD
conference in Charleston, South Carolina. Among
the most memorable—and prescient—feedback he
received was to leave the blast furnaces as they were.
Once a symbol of the city’s industrial strength, the
furnaces now signify Bethlehem’s transformation into
a regional arts capital.
“It’s one thing to feel that sentimental connection
if you live in the community,” said Callahan. “But to
have national and international experts see how important they are, it really makes you say, ‘Hey, we’re
going to stick to our guns and make sure that these
things don’t go anywhere.’” Of the $2.2 billion worth
of development projects that have taken place during
Callahan’s tenure, he says “every one” has benefitted
from what he learned at the Mayors’ Institute.
In 2010, Bethlehem intersected with MICD once
again when ArtsQuest received a $200,000 MICD25
grant from the NEA. These grants, designed in honor
of MICD’s 25th anniversary, were the precursor to the
agency’s current Our Town program. They signaled
a renewed focus by the Arts Endowment to bring art
into everyday community spaces, and into the daily
lives of every citizen, even those “who never would
think of buying a ticket to a ballet, opera, a play, a museum,” said Chairman Landesman, who announced
NEA ARTS
9
36
The Bridge, designed by Elena Colombo, was funded by an NEA MICD25 grant. Photo by Paul Warcho
the MICD25 grant recipients at SteelStacks. ArtsQuest used its MICD25 funding to commission and
build The Bridge, the signature sculpture of the SteelStacks campus. Featuring a natural gas flame snaking
along a curved piece of steel, The Bridge—much like the
rest of SteelStacks—is at once an historical reference
and a stunning piece of contemporary art. Benjamin
said the sculpture has become a part of the campus’s
daily ritual as people wait for it to ignite come evening.
In the case of Bethlehem, the aesthetic benefits of
adaptive reuse are hard to ignore, but the city’s current
economic profile has become just as eye-catching.
In May 2012, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia published a report called In Philadelphia’s Shadow:
Small Cities in the Third Federal Reserve. Among the 13
cities studied in the report, Bethlehem was reported
to earn the highest median household income, and
boasted the lowest poverty rate, the lowest violent
crime rate, and the second lowest unemployment rate.
10
37
NEA ARTS
“There weren’t many people a decade ago imagining
that with the demise of Bethlehem Steel that we’d be
on those kinds of lists,” said Callahan.
Benjamin believes that at least part of the reason
that Bethlehem is where it is today has to do with the
city’s emphasis on arts and culture—a belief echoed in
In Philadelphia’s Shadow. In 1984, ArtsQuest launched
the annual ten-day MusikFest, which was designed
to “provide that economic shot in the arm.” In 1996, it
converted a former banana distribution center into the
Banana Factory, which offers art classes and affordable studio space. And of course, there is SteelStacks,
which Benjamin estimates has generated $29 million
since opening.
Both the Banana Factory and SteelStacks are located in the city’s South Side, which has become fertile ground for galleries, theaters, and boutiques. Tony
Hanna, executive director of the Bethlehem Redevelopment Authority, cited the Banana Factory in particu-
Artwork peers out from the ArtsQuest Center with
the Bethlehem Steel furnaces in the background.
Photo by Ryan ulvat, courtesy of rtsQuest
lar as “a seminal project for the city.” “It took us to the
next level, one where we weren’t just engaged in showing art,” he said. “It was a place where artists could
come and do their thing, do their work, and create art.”
“Things began to grow from there,” he continued.
“A whole community grew up around it in terms of our
second downtown,” which Hanna described as an artsier, funkier version of Bethlehem’s historic district.
With the addition of SteelStacks, Benjamin said
that the South Side has grown not only as a community destination, but as a means of recruiting and
retaining skilled employees for Bethlehem-based
companies such as Air Products and Synchronoss.
“[SteelStacks] is something that neighboring communities don’t have that we do have to offer: programming that’s year-round, programming for children
and families, ten different music festivals,” said Benjamin. “It allows [companies] to say, ‘Here’s what we
have for you when you relocate to the Lehigh Valley.’”
And there is still more to come. Forty-six units of
affordable artist housing are planned for the former
St. Stanislaus Church and a second site at East Fifth
and Atlantic Streets. In August, a study was launched
to determine the feasibility of turning the HooverMason Trestle, which connects SteelStacks with the
nearby Sands Resort & Casino, into an elevated walkway similar to the High Line in Manhattan.
As Callahan reflected on all the changes that have
transpired since he was elected, and all those in the
works, he noted how incredible it has been to oversee
the transformation of his own hometown. “I always
had this dream, when I first made the decision to run
for mayor, that there was going to be a time in my life
when I could load up the grandkids into the car and
drive around Bethlehem 30, 40 years later and point
to a few things that happened while I was mayor,” he
said. His grandchildren should plan for a long car ride;
there might be a lot to point out. 
NEA ARTS
11
38
Levitt Pavilion brings world music to a multicultural audience - Los Angeles Times
12/31/12 12:44 PM
! Back to Original Article
All the world's onstage at Levitt Pavilion
The MacArthur Park venue, along with a sister site in Pasadena, taps global talent to complement its home-grown acts, all for an
audience that's just as multicultural.
September 01, 2012 | By Reed Johnson, Los Angeles Times
As dusk fell over the Levitt Pavilion at MacArthur Park one recent Friday, Eddie Cota drank in the scene with quiet satisfaction.
On the lawn, kids and adults executed Brazilian capoeira moves while an impromptu drumming coterie tapped out muscular rhythms.
Nearby, vendors selling tamales and pupusas did a brisk trade with Central American and Mexican families who were popping open picnic
coolers, while clumps of twentysomethings spread blankets and snogged under the trees.
Half an hour remained before the evening's free entertainment, the Brazilian American soul-funk-samba artist Quetzal Guerrero, was due
to step onto the Levitt bandshell and fire up his electric-blue violin. But the atmosphere already suggested a friendly fusion of
neighborhood block party and indie nightclub.
"MacArthur Park, it's possibly the most interesting neighborhood in the country right now," said Cota, 29, artistic director of the Levitt
Pavilion summer concert series at MacArthur Park as well as the Levitt Pavilion's sister series in Memorial Park Pasadena. "Within a fivemile radius, the number of ethnic cultures and city cultures and subcultures and pop cultures that I have access to is mind-blowing. And it
takes one artist to bring all those people together."
Superlatives aside, Cota indeed could make a strong case for the Westlake neighborhood's ethnic wow factor. But what's equally striking
about what's happening this summer at MacArthur Park is the range and vitality of the Levitt Pavilion's performers, especially its slate of
Latin-alternative and progressive world-music acts such as the Colombian electro-tropical ensemble Bomba Estéreo and the Malian hiphip folk group SMOD.
The Levitt's lineup in those categories easily ranks among the country's most cutting-edge, drawing hundreds and sometimes thousands of
weekend visitors to the city-owned urban oasis just west of downtown.
"The core is Latin and also it's an experimental community," said Cota, who spent several years working in radio station promotions before
joining the Levitt organization in 2008. "We just had Nosaj Thing. That to me is very sophisticated music that just happens to be
electronic, but there's classical elements, there's jazz elements. It's a very complicated neighborhood, and for that reason complicated
music works."
Thanks in part to the Levitt Pavilion series, MacArthur Park's growing reputation as a warm-weather cultural hub has cast a new light on
the surrounding area: a blue-collar but gentrifying enclave that's trying to shake off its old image as an after-hours paradise for
gangbangers, crack dealers and fake-ID hustlers.
"I think the work Eddie's doing is amazing," said Guerrero, who moved to L.A. from his native Arizona six years ago, "because he's giving a
stage for a lot of obscure or outside-of-the-box, outside-of-the-status-quo musicians and artists to really express themselves."
The 6-year-old Levitt series at MacArthur Park and its 10-year-old Pasadena sibling are relative upstarts in Southern California's outdoor
concert universe. Unlike the Greek Theatre or Hollywood Bowl, which lean toward familiar names with the proven power to draw, the
Levitt series favor artists just surfacing from below the radar. And unlike those venerable venues, the Levitt series are free and open to all
comers. So if you're accustomed to VIP parking and luxury-box seating, you're pretty much out of luck.
Or in luck, as the case may be. Three weeks ago, at the Quetzal Guerrero show, the attendees sprawled on the grass included not only
working-class immigrant families who arrived on foot but also Elizabeth Levitt Hirsch, vice president of the Mortimer Levitt Foundation
and daughter of the late custom-shirt magnate Mortimer Levitt and his wife, Mimi, the New York philanthropists whose largesse helps
support Levitt pavilions in several cities in addition to those in L.A. and Pasadena.
Each pavilion has its own independent board of directors and must secure additional individual sponsors and grants to meet its financial
goals, said Cota, who estimates MacArthur Park's annual budget at $650,000 and Pasadena's at $480,000. It's up to Cota, who oversees
booking at both sites, to recruit artists who will give each space a separate and distinct identity.
Cota said he pays artists competitively so he can keep up with bidding against clubs such as the Echo, the Troubadour and the Satellite.
http://articles.latimes.com/print/2012/sep/01/entertainment/la-et-cm-levitt-pavilion-20120902
39
Page 1 of 2
Levitt Pavilion brings world music to a multicultural audience - Los Angeles Times
12/31/12 12:44 PM
Artists who've performed at MacArthur Park say they enjoy playing to audiences that are more demographically diverse than a typical club
crowd.
"It's very exciting to see how it's developing," said Levitt Hirsch, who was accompanied by Renee Bodie, executive director for the Levitt
Pavilion MacArthur Park. "Eddie has an intuitive sense about how to mix music and community and blend that experience. Eddie will go to
every club imaginable and Eddie will go into that underground-DJ, 5-o'clock-in-the-morning experience to hear what's going on so he can
be that much ahead of what everybody else is doing."
This summer's MacArthur Park series will continue Sept. 2 with a 7 p.m. show by Dehli 2 Dublin, a Canadian band that mashes up Celtic
music, Bhangra, dub, reggae and electronica. Sept. 6 will bring the garage jazz of Killsonic, followed on Sept. 7 by the AfroBeatles, which is
just what it sounds like: a hothouse hybrid of beats by Afro-pop pioneer Fela Kuti and tunes by the Fab Four.
On Sept. 8, the Levitt will host a Colombian double bill of electronic-dance artists Palenke Soultribe and Monsieur Periné, a photogenic
young gypsy-jazz swing band that Cota recruited after spotting them at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.
Cota, raised in San Diego by Tijuana-immigrant parents, said that programming Latin and world music doesn't just fit the Levitt's core
mission "to reflect the community." More to the point, he believes, Latin culture is becoming the mainstream culture of a city whose
population is about half-Latino, plus a recombinant ethnic cocktail of everything else.
"When you go to a La Santa Cecilia show you see everybody dancing — black, white, yellow, brown," Cota said, referring to the neofolkloric pop ensemble that performed last summer at MacArthur Park. "La Santa Cecilia isn't a Latin band; it's an L.A. band."
Amy Davidman, a booking agent at the Windish Agency who has arranged for several client artists to perform at Levitt MacAthur Park,
said Cota and his colleagues have brought much-needed attention to emerging Latin and Latino artists.
"I don't think it takes away from a focus on any other group," Davidman said. "The thing is that the community gets marginalized and not
focused on all the time, so I think it's great to put some extra emphasis on that community."
Other local Latin-music advocates echo that assessment. Tomas Cookman, founder-owner of Nacional Records, a North Hollywood-based
label that specializes in alternative Latin music, said he thinks "it's really brave of them doing the programming that they have done." Last
year the Chilean rapper Ana Tijoux, who records with Nacional, drew more than 2,000 people to MacArthur Park.
"The challenge that they have is that it's still MacArthur Park, and as warm and fuzzy as people may want to try to make it to be, it still can
get a little shady at times," Cookman said. "But if you can get beyond that, and I think enough people can, then I think it's great."
Cota said he wants the Levitt Pavilion not only to draw attention to up-and-coming L.A. bands but to let L.A. artists hear the great music
the rest of the world is doing and be inspired to raise their own games accordingly.
"I want you to look at my season and see a story of what Los Angeles is," he said. "And I feel like every show is a page in the book."
[email protected]
Copyright 2012 Los Angeles Times
http://articles.latimes.com/print/2012/sep/01/entertainment/la-et-cm-levitt-pavilion-20120902
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C.Q.
Liz Levitt Brings Music Across America
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Cultural Weekly managed to catch up with peripatetic Elizabeth
Levitt Hirsch (Liz), who
spearheads the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundationʼs venture philanthropy program and serves
as Board President of Levitt Pavilions, a national nonprofit that invigorates community life in
American cities by transforming neglected public spaces into music destinations where all feel
welcome. Beyond Levitt Pavilions, Liz has a long and distinguished history of hands-on
involvement with nonprofit organizations, serving on numerous boards and supporting
organizations that foster social justice and access to the arts. We salute and admire her work!
- Adam Leipzig
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RECENT POSTS
The Levitt season is in full swing in Pasadena and L.A. Any concert recommendations
for our readers?
Itʼs an extraordinary season, and there are so many stellar artists to choose from each week
— 100 free concerts all summer long. The beauty of the Levitt program is that each concert is
free to the public, so you can sample a wide range of acclaimed artists and genres without
worrying about cost. Itʼs a fantastic way to discover new artists. People return night after night,
bringing their picnic blankets and lawn chairs. The atmosphere is friendly and relaxing, a great
place to unwind after a busy day. And thereʼs incredible talent on stage.
At Levitt Pavilion Pasadena, I was so excited about the Grammy-award winning Mariachi
Divas who performed last Saturday night. And I canʼt wait to see The Dunwells on August 16,
41
POPULAR
RECENT COMMENTS
1. Londonʼs Olympian Architecture
2. Help ʻLeap Into the Blueʼ Leap to Its Goal
3. The Man in Charge of Watering
4. Peter OʼToole and Sam Peckinpah at the Formosa Café
5. Summer Reading for the Rich and Sporty
an Americana/bluegrass group hailing from England whose star is quickly rising. I canʼt stop
listening to their album. Levitt Pasadena is celebrating its 10th anniversary this summer, and
to mark this milestone theyʼre throwing a closing night party on August 26. Itʼs going to be a
terrific evening, and of course itʼs free!
At Levitt LA, Iʼm looking forward to the African rap trio SMOD on August 3, and I canʼt wait to
see Bomba Estereo on August 10. Bombaʼs take on traditional Columbia cumbia combined
with electro is amazing! Theyʼve performed at the 2011 Coachella Music Festival and South by
Southwest, so the fact that Levitt is presenting them for free is wonderful. Levitt L.A.ʼs season
closes on Sept. 9 with the Interdependence Day festival, which includes a day of free concerts
and symposia promoting global connectedness and tolerance, attracting people from around
the world. I canʼt think of a better setting for this event, as MacArthur Park is one of Americaʼs
most diverse locales.
Of course, there are also the childrenʼs concerts — all of the Levitt venues present childrenʼs
concerts that are enormously popular. Locally, be sure to catch the Bob Baker Marionettes on
August 5 at 4pm at Levitt L.A., and The Funky Punks on August 15 at 7pm at Levitt Pasadena.
Both Levitt venues offer fun pre-concert activities like face-painting and water games, so arrive
early!
ADAM LEIPZIG SAYS
Simply put, Levitt concerts are an outstanding experience. Like the best restaurant, you know
that everything on the menu is good. Itʼs just a question of what youʼre in the mood for.
Itʼs been 40 years since the first Levitt Pavilion opened in Westport, CT. Has the Levitt
program evolved since then?
Definitely. In the 1970s, when my parents, Mortimer and Mimi Levitt, were approached by the
Westport-Weston Arts Council to support the transformation of a problematic landfill into an
outdoor music destination, they enthusiastically embraced the project. My father was a huge
music lover and never forgot his humble beginnings, when he experienced the pains of
exclusion. Without music, family celebrations and outings, Mortimerʼs childhood was joyless.
Mom, on the other hand, grew up in Vienna and her life was filled with opera and other music
experiences. Together, my parents became passionate supporters of the arts. My parents
were the largest contributors to the new pavilion, named the Levitt Pavilion for the Performing
Arts. To this day, Levitt is the largest supporter and mom serves on the board.
In 1999, the continuing success of the Levitt in Westport inspired my father to invest the
proceeds of his company into the creation of a national network of Levitt venues, so
communities across the country could revel in the shared experience of free concerts under
the stars, just like in Westport.
About the same time, dad passed the baton on to me, as he was in his early 90s. As I was
thinking about how to approach the expansion of the Levitt network, I realized that what works
so well in a protected suburban environment like Westport could work equally well in cities. We
could bring that same joyful experience—this jewel of a program — to urban centers where
access to public green space is often limited and at a premium. And we could also reach more
diverse populations, introducing the Levitt experience to people who otherwise couldnʼt afford
the price of a ticket.
So this focus on transforming and revitalizing our nationʼs public spaces — ensuring access to
the performing arts along the way — has guided Levittʼs efforts to the present day and propels
us into the future.
How many Levitt venues are there?
Currently, there are six Levitt venues across the country — each programming 50 free
concerts annually — making Levitt the largest national network of outdoor music venues
presenting free concert series. More than half a million people each year experience Levittʼs
300+ concerts.
Each Levitt venue is located on a formerly challenged site in a metropolitan area, continuing
the theme of revitalization first realized by Westport. Levitt SteelStacks, our most recent
addition to the Levitt network, sits on the site of the nationʼs former largest brownfield in
Bethlehem, Pennsylviania. Levitt Pavilion Pasadena, Levitt LA and Levitt Shell in Memphis are
located in parks that were once crime-ridden and abandoned. Levitt Arlington is located in a
42
downtown that just a few years ago sat dormant with little economic activity.
Itʼs amazing to see how each of these sites has been transformed into a vibrant and familyfriendly destination treasured by the local community. What I love is how each Levitt reflects
the local tastes and character of the city. Each Levitt venue is managed and programmed by a
local Friends of Levitt Pavilion nonprofit that has the support of the city and its people, so itʼs a
real community-driven effort. Itʼs a great model of public/private partnerships.
For people who have never been, can you describe the Levitt experience?
You can arrive feeling flat, and leave feeling buoyant. Thatʼs what happens at the Levitt. Itʼs
joyful! What I love most is the communal spirit and sense of humanity thatʼs present at Levitt
concerts. Music is a powerful social connector, and you can see its effect on people at a Levitt
concert — theyʼre relaxed, smiling, dancing, or simply interacting with one another. People of
all ages and walks of life, who otherwise might not cross paths. Itʼs wonderful to see. And they
bring their picnic blankets and lawn chairs, and itʼs just a friendly vibe for young and old alike.
Many arrive hours before the concert and hang out after the show. Itʼs a festival atmosphere
and very welcoming.
People are continually blown away that the Levitt network offers these high-quality
performances for free.
Whatʼs ʻBuild Up, Get Down,ʼ and howʼs it going?
Build Up, Get Down is Levittʼs invitation to civic leaders, engaged citizens and sponsors across
America to bring the Levitt program to their community. Weʼre aiming to expand the Levitt
network into 20 cities by 2020 — and eventually in 65 cities — so that millions of people each
year will be able to experience the joy of free, live music in welcoming outdoor settings.
Our mission is really about social impact through music. We envision an America filled with
thriving public spaces, creating community and human connections that extend into daily life.
Right now Levitt is in conversation with a handful of cities that look very promising, and I hope
to make some formal announcements soon!
How does the Levitt program fit into the creative placemaking conversation?
Levitt Pavilions is proof that free, live music in a welcoming outdoor setting is a very powerful
magnet for community. And when the community comes together, it creates a sense of place
that has ripple effects. Weʼve seen that happen in cities where the Levitt program exists —
local businesses are flourishing from the increased activity surrounding Levitt venues, helping
the local economies. Thereʼs increased opportunity for businesses, for families, for community
engagement. Neighborhoods transform as Levitt delivers the promise of a better tomorrow
today.
43
What are you listening to in your car right now?
As I mentioned, Iʼm addicted to The Dunwells right now! Iʼm also listening to Blame Sally,
LeRoy Bell and Orleans. Coincidentally, these artists have all performed (or will perform later
this summer) at Levitt venues across the country!
Photos: Top, Liz Levitt; below, Levitt SteelStacks, the newest Levitt venue that opened last
year in Bethlehem, PA, on the site of the former largest brownfield in the nation.
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Filed Under: ART + ARCHITECTURE, MUSIC, Spotlight
Tags: C.Q., Liz Levitt, music, public spaces, urban design, venturem philanthropy
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44

Levitt PaviLions - Levitt Foundation

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