Sunscreen on, stereo volume up! June 21 is the summer solstice and Make Music Day, an international celebration uniting thousands of cities across the globe to host live, free, and open-to-the-public music-making events for community members of all ages and backgrounds.

Make Music Day is a longstanding tradition: since its launch in France in 1982 (where it’s known as Fête de la Musique), the event has empowered communities to celebrate the power of free live music and music-making. Throughout the world, Make Music Day is independently organized by local nonprofit groups, arts presenters, and civic changemakers, unfolding year after year as a unique call to action for communities to come together in public spaces to celebrate, create, and experience the joy of making and relishing music.

In 2023 alone, 117 U.S. towns, cities, and neighborhoods presented nearly 5,000 free Make Music events, including over 100 public concerts, and this year’s celebration is expected to be even more extensive and exciting. With proud support from the Levitt Foundation, Make Music Day 2024—coordinated by national creative placemaking nonprofit Make Music Alliance—is set to bring tunes and good vibes to an additional 50 communities across the country, several of which are home to Levitt concert sites.

On June 21, Make Music Day will electrify communities across the globe, such as Woonsocket, RI—home of the Levitt AMP Woonsocket Music Series.

“We are thrilled to partner with Make Music Alliance and support its mission to bring people together through free, live music experiences—showcasing a community’s cultural and civic vitality by taking music to the streets, parks, plazas and even parking lots,” said Levitt Foundation Executive Vice President Vanessa Silberman. “Their work is very much aligned with our commitment to broadening access to the arts and building more equitable, healthy, and thriving communities.”

Echoing this sentiment is Make Music Alliance Executive Director and Board President Aaron Friedman. In a world where it is easy to, as he explained, “stay inside our own social bubbles”—indeed, our country is facing a loneliness epidemic spurred by isolation and a lack of social infrastructure—free, family-friendly music experiences, like Make Music Day and Levitt concerts, are changing the game. “Both Make Music Day and the Levitt Foundation are part of the solution,” Friedman said. “Collectively, our organizations’ programs take underused outdoor spaces and turn them into musical destinations that bring people together—to meet their neighbors and feel invested in their own community.”

Friedman noted that the Levitt Foundation’s partnership with Make Music Alliance has been proven invaluable. “The Levitt Foundation’s support of Make Music Day is crucial in our work and vision to grow Make Music Day into an organic nationwide holiday, helping every city and town coordinate their own free, participatory events on June 21,” Friedman explained. “It’s an audacious goal, but with support from funders like the Levitt Foundation, we are staffing up to make it happen. Having this vote of confidence from Levitt, a respected foundation with decades of experience in the field, is really meaningful to us.”

Each year, Make Music Day celebrates music across diverse genres; shown here is Latin-fusion band Incendio, joyfully jamming on the Levitt AMP Clinton Music Series stage in 2023.

Keep reading to learn about the Levitt communities participating in Make Music Day, June 21, 2024. Mark your calendars!

Arlington, Texas

What better way to kick off a Texas summer than jiving with a pair of multi-GRAMMY-nominated country-soul superstars? On June 21 at 7:30 pm, 2024 Levitt National Tour headlining act The War and Treaty—consisting of dynamic wife and husband duo Tanya and Michael Trotter, Jr.—are performing their signature fusion of blues, gospel, soul, bluegrass, and country at Levitt Pavilion Arlington, located in the city’s Founders Park Plaza.

Revered for their lionhearted narrative style and commanding stage presence—characterized by Tanya’s bright twang and Michael’s equally energized piano—The War and Treaty are set to summon Dallas/Fort Worth residents of all ages and backgrounds to their feet for a joyous evening of electrifying, genre-bending roots music. Warming up the audience will be Texas-grown gospel singer-songwriter Jordan Nix, whose unique guitar-playing and emotive lyricism will mark a heartwarming start to an evening of free, live music under the Texas sky.

Clinton, Oklahoma

Folks who call the charming Western Oklahoma town of Clinton home are in for a treat as the Levitt AMP Clinton Music Series (presented by Oklahoma arts nonprofit Scissortail Productions, Inc.) celebrates Make Music Day 2024 with a concert at 7:30 pm.

Since 2024, the Levitt AMP Clinton Music Series has become a beloved destination amongst Clinton, OK residents of all walks of life—and the concert series’ Make Music Day 2024 performance is yet another opportunity to build community through music.

Set to come alive at the town’s historic McClain-Rogers Park bandshell, the concert series’ June 21 lineup features two talented musical groups: The Redmen Blues Band and Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble. Comprising critically acclaimed Indigenous musicians who have individually earned recognition in the Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame, The Redmen Blues Band creates passionate Native blues music. Complementing the Native American act’s soulful performance will be Curley Taylor and his associates, who mix bluesy voicings with the Creole spirit of Zydeco.

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Great live music continues across the Great Plains at Levitt Shell Sioux Falls in South Dakota. Starting at 7:00 pm on June 21, the greater Sioux Falls community’s favorite gathering place for high-caliber music experiences will burst to life once again at the city’s verdant, historic namesake green space, Falls Park. Since 2019, the nonprofit venue has brought together the locale’s vast multicultural community, fostering belonging and inspiring pride of place one free concert at a time.

For Make Music Day 2024, the Levitt at the Falls lawn will blossom into the community’s “outdoor living room” yet again for headlining talent Nur-D, whose infectious discography—a powerful and upbeat mix of pop, R&B, hip-hop, and humor—has earned him praise as a shining talent of the Midwestern independent music scene. Nur-D’s stage swagger will have folks cutting a rug (or should we say, grass?)—and, as always, bring your lawn chairs and blankets.

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Indie-heads of Bethlehem, rejoice! Presented by Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks and Nashville artists collaborative Underground Music Collective, “Sounds of the Underground: Songwriters of Eastern Pennsylvania” is the perfect Make Music Day festivity for music lovers with their ears to the ground. Free and open to all ages, the special showcase unfolds on June 21 at 7:30 pm at the Levitt SteelStacks stage—right in front of the iconic Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces, where the storied Pennsylvania city’s diverse community members have gathered over their shared appreciation for free, live music every summer since 2011.

The Bethlehem, PA community is no stranger to fostering connection through the hip indie tunes of bands like Hotel Fiction (pictured)—so it only makes sense that Make Music Day 2024 at Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks will feature a diverse lineup of rising indie talent for a special “Sounds of the Underground” showcase.

“Sounds of the Underground” features a chock-full lineup of brilliant music makers on the rise, including folk singer-songwriter Alex Radus, indie darling Bren, alt-Americana artist Chelsea Mitchell (of Dirty Dollhouse), rock singer Greg Adams (of TIOGA), alt-hop-hop act Kuf Knotz & Christine Elise, and blues rockers Tye Vallone and Brie Emsee (of The Groove Merchants). And that’s not all for Bethlehem’s Make Music Day experience—also on the SteelStacks Arts and Cultural Campus (where the Levitt is located) is the Highmark Blue Shield Community Stage, where “Sounds of the Underground” continues with performances from rock bands The Beautiful Distortion and Hot4Robot.

Woonsocket, Rhode Island

In Rhode Island and looking for a summer solstice celebration? Woonsocket, Rhode Island, has just the festivity for you, your family, and friends. On Make Music Day 2024, the Levitt AMP Woonsocket Music Series (presented by local nonprofit NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley) will come to life for yet another weekend at the city’s revitalized River Island Art Park, located in the heart of this multicultural Northern Rhode Island locale.

In communities like Woonsocket, RI, Make Music Day 2024 will bring folks of all ages and backgrounds to their feet to celebrate, create, and experience the joy of live music.

Get ready to dance and unwind aside loved ones and neighbors at 6:00 pm on June 21 for a free summer concert headlined by GRAMMY-nominated talent and Louisiana music icon Shamarr Allen. Influenced by an amalgamation of soulful sounds (from jazz and blues to funk, hip-hop, rock, and country), Allen is a globetrotting vocalist, trumpeter, and music composer who has collaborated with legends like Willie Nelson and Patti LaBelle.

Solo and alongside his band The Underdawgz, the Lower 9th Ward native has dazzled Levitt audiences across the country—and his upcoming performance with The Underdawgz at Levitt AMP Woonsocket will be an opportunity for community members of all ages and backgrounds to get a taste of what Allen calls the “True Orleans” experience, making for a truly unforgettable Make Music Day experience!

To learn more about Make Music Day events happening across the country, visit makemusicday.org.