PAST LEVITT AMP GRANTEES
Learn more about past communities who brought new life to public spaces through the Levitt AMP Music Series of 10 free concerts.
Anchorage Downtown Partnership
Anchorage|Alaska
Town Park Square
2015
The Levitt AMP summer concert series was part of the city’s ongoing effort to reenergize the dormant Town Square Park located downtown and turn it into a safe, welcoming destination for community gatherings by residents and tourists alike.
Presented by Anchorage Downtown Partnership, a nonprofit that provides vital services throughout the Downtown Improvement District and produces events for the community.
Asbury Park Music Foundation
Asbury Park|New Jersey
Springwood Park
2015, 2016
The Levitt AMP Asbury Park Music Series injected new life into Springwood Park—the only public park on the city’s underserved West side—giving all Asbury Park residents in this seaside community a welcoming place to gather and celebrate their city’s rich musical history.
Presented by the Asbury Park Music Foundation, a nonprofit that celebrates Asbury Park’s rich musical heritage and fuels revitalization by promoting Asbury Park as a musical destination.
PAST FRIENDS OF LEVITT PARTNERS
Learn more about past public/private partnerships that revitalized once neglected public spaces through 50+ free concerts each year.
Levitt Pavilion Pasadena
Pasadena|California
Memorial Park
2003 – 2017
As the first venture philanthropy project of the Levitt Foundation, Levitt Pavilion Pasadena launched in 2003. Since its opening, the venue has been celebrated for bringing vitality and high-caliber programming back to Memorial Park, which for years prior was largely abandoned and a magnet for crime. Through 2017, free Levitt concerts at the restored WPA-era gold bandshell brought people of all ages and backgrounds together from both Pasadena and the greater Los Angeles metro region, attracting over 75,000 people each summer. Read more.
Levitt Shell Memphis
Memphis|Tennessee
Overton Park
2008 – 2021
The WPA-era bandshell in Overton Park was built in 1936 to be a glorious “pledge to the future of music in Memphis.” For five decades, the Shell showcased the city’s rich musical sounds, including where Elvis Presley performed what some historians call the first “rock n roll” concert in 1954, and where countless other legends graced the stage, including Johnny Cash, Wanda Jackson, Webb Pierce, Carla Thomas, Booker T. Jones, Bonnie Raitt and even the Grateful Dead. Yet by the late 20th century, the iconic landmark became dilapidated and was nearly demolished due to disinvestment and neglect. Local preservation campaigns like “Save the Shell” struggled to raise sufficient funds to ensure its viability. Recognizing the potential community impact of revitalizing the venue, in 2005 the Levitt Foundation, led by Liz Levitt Hirsch, partnered with community and city leaders to bring the Shell back to life, saving the bandshell from demolition and launching the most notable moment of renaissance in the Shell’s history: The Levitt Era. Read more.