Pop-Up Clinics Bring Covid Vaccines to Levitt Concerts

Amid the ongoing pandemic, free Levitt concerts this past season offered hundreds of thousands of people nationwide a safe outdoor space to experience the unifying power of free, live music; connect with old and new friends; and at some venues, even acquire protection against Covid. More than a thousand concertgoers chose to receive a Covid vaccine at pop-up clinics held at permanent Levitt venues and Levitt AMP concert sites in cities including Denver; Los Angeles; Carson City, Nevada; Soldotna, Alaska; and Woonsocket, Rhode Island, reflecting Levitt’s role as a trusted gathering place that not only enhances cultural life but also promotes the health and well-being of its communities. Learn how several Levitt venues, large and small, made getting a Covid vaccine more accessible.

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October is Filipino-American History Month and today we are highlighting talented and inspiring FilAm artists you should know!

Established in 2009 by the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS), this month celebrates and brings awareness to the significant role Filipinos have played in American history, both past and present. The month of October commemorates the first recorded presence of Filipinos in what is now the state of California on October 18, 1587.

Read on to learn about both well-known and up-and-coming Filipino-American musical artists who are bringing their talents into the spotlight.

Ruby Ibarra

Ruby Ibarra is a rapper, music producer, and spoken word artist who has performed on the Levitt Pavilion Los Angeles stage herself. And on top of her musical talents, she’s also a vaccine scientist, having earned a biochemistry degree from UC Davis.

Ibarra, 33, was born in the Philippines and immigrated to California with her family when she was four. Her music heavily centers around her cultural heritage and experience as an immigrant living in the U.S. She raps in English and Tagalog and Waray, which are two major dialects spoken in the Philippines.

“I would have done an album a disservice if I had this project talking about the Filipino American experience and not include elements of Filipino language…. Language is an important part of the culture.” Ibarra said in an in interview with The Center for Asian American Media.

When she’s not making music, Ibarra is a scientist in the biotechnology industry where she works on COVID-19 test kits and conducts research on vaccines.

The rapper has always been outspoken about her Filipino pride and identity. In an interview with Asian Journal Media Group, she said, “…when I think about the identity of what it means to be Filipina, it’s to be completely resilient, strong, and selfless.”

H.E.R

H.E.R, whose real name is Gabriella Sarmiento Wilson, may only be 24 years old, but her CV is quite impressive. She’s won four GRAMMY Awards for Best R&B performance, Best R&B Album, Best R&B song, and GRAMMY Song of the Year, and she also has one Academy Award under her belt for Best Original Song from the movie Judas and the Black Messiah.

Born to a Filipino mother and African American father, Wilson stated in an interview with CNN Philippines that her Filipino upbringing played a large role in her love for making music.

“Filipinos are so family-oriented! My family has always supported me….They always pushed me to hone my talents and gifts.” she said.

The R&B songstress is known for her mysterious identity and prefers to keep a low profile, because she’d rather let her music speak for itself. Her debut album, Volume 1, in which her real name and image were kept a secret, was praised by artists such as Alicia Keys and Wyclef Jean.

Upon accepting her Academy Award for Best Original Song this year, Wilson said, “Me being up there is a message to all the young Black and Filipino girls. You can be up here too.”

Dominic Fike

Not many young artists can say they were handpicked by legendary Beatles member Paul McCartney to be featured on his album, but Dominic Fike can. The 25 year-old multi-genre artist was named as one of McCartney’s favorite new artists, and was enlisted onto his 18th solo album, McCartney III Imagined, which was released earlier this year.

Growing up in Florida, Fike, who is of Filipino and African American descent, had a rough upbringing. He experienced homelessness, drug addiction, and had a mother who was in and out of jail.

Despite the adversity, Fike has become one of the biggest new artists to emerge in the music industry. Since his debut, he’s signed a $4 million contract with Columbia Records, starred in a Calvin Klein ad campaign, was featured in Rolling Stone magazine, and collaborated with artists such as Justin Bieber and Halsey.

P-Lo

If you’re well-versed in the Bay Area rap scene, you’ve definitely heard of P-Lo. Born Paulo Rodriguez, the 30 year-old rapper and producer from Pinole, Calif. is credited for revitalizing Bay Area rap with his hip-hop collective, HBK Gang. This year, he was featured on the Space Jam: A New Age movie soundtrack on a song with NBA superstar Damian Lillard.

Growing up in a large, music-oriented Filipino family influenced Rodriguez to launch a career in hip-hop and beat-making. He recalls listening to his father’s vinyl collection which consisted of Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, and The Beatles records. His older brother was a music producer named “Kuya Beats” (“kuya” means “elder brother” in Tagalog).

In an interview with KQED, P-Lo reflected on the importance of representation in a genre where Filipinos are largely underrepresented.

“For people to accept this Filipino dude and rock with it, that’s what the world should be. And I didn’t have anybody to identify with that looked like me when I was growing up. So it’s important to become that.”

Jasmine Villegas

Jasmine Villegas, also known as Jasmine V, is a pop and R&B singer and actress from San Jose, Calif. Since her rise to fame as Justin Bieber’s love interest in the music video for his hit single, “Baby”, Villegas has taken off on a music career of her own and collaborated with rapper Kendrick Lamar on her debut single, “That’s Me Right There”.

The 27 year-old started her acting career at a young age, and has appeared on shows such as My Wife and Kids, and Disney Channel’s That’s So Raven. At the age of 16, she signed to RCA Records, and was the opening act for Justin Bieber’s 2010 world tour.

Villegas, who is Filipino and Mexican, has always taken pride in her roots and culture.

“Being Filipina and Mexican (Mexipina!), I have been blessed to learn so much about different cultures,” said Villegas during an interview with The Huffington Post. “People just want to find something in common with an artist, some way they relate to them. Once they find that connection whether it’s because they’re Latina or have curly hair or eat certain foods, they stick by you and show endless support,”

These artists are a wonderful example of the cultural and musical contributions of Filipino-Americans in the U.S, and examples of how Filipino culture is preserved in the Filipino diaspora community. May we continue to celebrate, uplift, and support them both during Filipino-American History Month and beyond.

This week wraps up Hispanic Heritage Month, a monthlong celebration from September 15 to October 15, celebrating of the rich and complex histories, cultures and contributions of the 62.1 million Hispanics, Latinos and Latinx individuals who call this country ‘home.’ Today we’re highlighting three ways that past Levitt performers are harnessing the power of music to protect, uplift and empower some of the most vulnerable members of the group Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates.

Flor De Toloache | the power of music to protect

This GRAMMY-winning, all-female group brought their fresh, edgy interpretations of Mexican mariachi music from New York City to Levitt venues across the country as part of the 2019 Levitt National Tour. That same year, ‘Las Flores’ partnered with the Southern Poverty Law Center to release “El Corrido de David y Goliat,” the first single released as part of the center’s ‘Immigrant Songs’ campaign to provide legal information and “protect and advance immigrant rights” through song. Created to reach people who have little access to legal information, the song’s narrative gives listeners important information about immigrant rights to help them avoid human rights abuses.

Making Movies | the power of music to raise awareness

With roots in Panama and Mexico, this Kansas City, Mo.-based Afro-Latino meets psychedelic rock four-piece uses socially charged musical storytelling to bring awareness to immigrants’ struggles. Levitt audiences in seven different cities have experienced this GRAMMY-nominated group’s powerful narratives and irresistible grooves. “Telling people’s stories and sharing each of their unique suffering through music, unites and connects people,” explained the group’s guitarist and lead singer Enrique Chi. Offstage, the group’s deep-rooted activism inspired them to invite DACA recipients—undocumented immigrants under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program—to attend their paid shows free of charge and to host a benefit concert to help reunite the Latin American children and parents seeking asylum who were separated at the US-Mexico Border.

Quetzal | the power of music to imagine and advocate for new realities

This GRAMMY-winning ‘East LA Chican@’ rock band was formed in Los Angeles in 1992 in the wake of civil unrest to “create good music that tells the social, cultural, political, and musical stories of people in struggle.” Levitt Los Angeles audiences have enjoyed the group’s dynamic approach to musicmaking, which is equally inspired by the eclectic musical soundscape of East Los Angeles—ranging from Mexican ranchera and salsa, to rock and R&B—and their deep commitment to social activism. Quetzal’s dedication to fighting oppression with community art practices, like collective songwriting, helped popularize the term “artivism.” The group’s founder Quetzal Flores has taken this commitment to the next level, partnering with Aloe Blacc and other like-minded artists to form Artivist Entertainment—an organization that supports and creates music and art that inspires positive social transformation.

These three examples are only a few of the many ways artists are bringing awareness to social injustices and using their music to build a more just future. Here’s to Flor De Toloache, Making Movies, Quetzal, and all those working at t

October is Filipino-American History Month and today we are highlighting talented and inspiring FilAm artists you should know!

Established in 2009 by the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS), this month celebrates and brings awareness to the significant role Filipinos have played in American history, both past and present. The month of October commemorates the first recorded presence of Filipinos in what is now the state of California on October 18, 1587.

Read on to learn about both well-known and up-and-coming Filipino-American musical artists who are bringing their talents into the spotlight.

Read the rest of this page »

Amid the ongoing pandemic, free Levitt concerts this past season offered hundreds of thousands of people nationwide a safe outdoor space to experience the unifying power of free, live music; connect with old and new friends; and at some venues, even acquire protection against Covid. More than a thousand concertgoers chose to receive a Covid vaccine at pop-up clinics held at permanent Levitt venues and Levitt AMP concert sites in cities including Denver; Los Angeles; Carson City, Nevada; Soldotna, Alaska; and Woonsocket, Rhode Island, reflecting Levitt’s role as a trusted gathering place that not only enhances cultural life but also promotes the health and well-being of its communities. Learn how several Levitt venues, large and small, made getting a Covid vaccine more accessible.

Woonsocket, Rhode Island
Since 2018, the Levitt AMP Music Series in Woonsocket, R.I., has injected vitality into River Island Art Park and the surrounding area in this town of 40,000 people, located near Providence. Levitt AMP grantee NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley builds affordable housing in the downtown neighborhood, and had witnessed “a lot of inequitable distribution of the vaccine,” says Meg Rego, NeighborWorks’ Director of Resource Development and Communications. “Most of the residents in our affordable housing are Black or Latino and if you looked across the state and also across the country, they were far less likely to get vaccinated.”

Encouraged by previous successful health-related events at Levitt AMP Woonsocket concerts, such as exercise classes and blood pressure screenings, NeighborWorks developed a partnership with the Rhode Island Department of Health and the Rhode Island National Guard to bring pop-up Covid vaccine clinics to nine of this summer’s 10 Levitt AMP concerts. While musical styles including zydeco, salsa, and West African drumming got audiences on their feet at River Island Art Park from July through September, the Levitt vaccine clinics got 67 shots into arms. By the end of the music series, audiences were able to choose between the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

“We were getting people who wouldn’t go out of their way to get the vaccine but would just drop in,” says Rego. “People could show up with their kids and while doing a family-friendly activity, could also get a shot. It was making it accessible in terms of time, location and parking.”

At the final Levitt AMP concert of the season, the clinic also offered free Covid testing. Sixty people took advantage of the service, and all the tests fortunately came back negative.

Carson City, Nevada
“A shot for a shot”—that’s what concertgoers at this summer’s Levitt AMP Music Series in Carson City, Nevada, were offered as part of a vaccination campaign that leveraged a popular concert tradition. Since 2017, Levitt AMP grantee Brewery Arts Center has transformed the city’s underused Historic District into a dynamic musical showcase drawing attendees from all over Nevada’s capital. Brewery Arts Center has a tradition of selling custom-made jello shots at Levitt AMP shows for $5 each. A devoted regular at the Levitt AMP Music Series pitched the idea of a vaccination clinic to Brewery Arts Center’s Operations Director Mikey Wiencek. “He said, ‘If you can set up a vaccination clinic, then I’ll pay for the jello shots,’” recalls Wiencek.

Wiencek reached out to nonprofit Immunize Nevada, which helped coordinate three pop-up Covid vaccine clinics at Levitt concerts in August and September. Smoke from nearby wildfires reduced concert attendance, but the concerts still drew an average of 2,700 people. The Nevada National Guard administered 28 shots total, offering a choice between the three available vaccines.

“We have a new LED video wall next to the stage so we put up messages saying, ‘Another person just got vaccinated, let’s get a round of applause!’” says Wiencek. Those over 21 years old also were eligible for the jello shot perk; at the show for Celtic band The Fire, for instance, they received a free Jameson and ginger ale jello shot.

“One of our volunteers had been trying to get vaccinated but had no car and was so thankful this was on site,” says Wiencek. “Doing these clinics lets people know we’re more than just concerts. We care about the community and want to make things easier for them.”

Soldotna, Alaska
Located in Southcentral Alaska, Soldotna has about 5,000 residents but its Levitt AMP Music Series at Soldotna Creek Park this past season drew attendees from as far as Anchorage, which is several hours away and Alaska’s most populous city. In collaboration with the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, nonprofit Levitt AMP grantee Vision Soldotna and the Soldotna Chamber of Commerce offered Covid vaccine clinics at all 13 of this summer’s concerts.

“We wanted to see our community gather and make meaningful connections again,” says Shanon Davis, Executive Director of both Vision Soldotna and the Soldotna Chamber of Commerce. “We also wanted our community to be back to work and we really feel the best avenue for getting back to normal is having our population be safe.”

Around 600 people received either Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson vaccines during the Levitt AMP concerts, which ran from June through August. With funding from the state of Alaska, the clinics were even able to offer $25 gift cards from local restaurants and coffee shops to those who received a vaccine.

Davis points out that the Kenai Peninsula Borough, where Soldotna is located, has the second-lowest vaccine rates in the state of Alaska. “People had some hesitations and concerns, so it was great to be able to bring local public health officials right there to the park where people were comfortable. We also had a pharmacist there to answer questions,” says Davis. “Having vaccine clinics at such a welcoming, all-inclusive event was a perfect pairing.”

Los Angeles
For nearly 15 years, Levitt Pavilion Los Angeles has been bringing free live music to MacArthur Park, a historic park in one of the city’s densest neighborhoods that’s also a hub for immigrant and underserved populations, according to Allegra Padilla, Director of Community Relations and Partnerships for Levitt LA. “There are a lot of challenges in the surrounding neighborhood in terms of systemic inequities in health, housing, security and food. This is also one of the local communities with the highest death rates due to Covid,” says Padilla.

Having offered STD screenings and access to breast/cervical cancer screenings in the past through nonprofit partners, Levitt LA had already earned trust in the community when it came to health services. In partnership with Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis, St. John’s Well Child & Family Center, and CIELO, a nonprofit organization advocating for Indigenous communities, Levitt LA brought pop-up Covid clinics to its pared-down roster of 12 in-person concerts this past August. All three vaccines were available at various times. Padilla says about 90 percent of those vaccinated were Latino—primarily immigrants—and ranged in age from teenage to elderly.

Altogether, the clinics helped more than 200 people get vaccinated. “We saw more people coming through the clinic each week—it took time to build momentum and presence,” says Padilla. “Consistency is really key when providing services to areas with high immigrant populations, a digital divide, and mistrust of institutions.”

Padilla recalls one event centered around the Mayan community where a holistic healer was asking questions about the vaccine. Later, he told her he had went ahead and gotten it. She says, “There were people who thought, ‘the vaccine’s here, I’m here, why not?’”

Denver, Colorado
Earlier this year, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reached out to Levitt Pavilion Denver about setting up Covid clinics, seeking to reach the tens of thousands of people expected to attend Levitt Denver’s full season of 50+ free concerts in Ruby Hill Park.

More than 82,000 people experienced Levitt Denver’s free music series in 2021. “Surprisingly, it was the best season we’ve ever had,” says Andy Thomas, Deputy Director of Levitt Denver, which opened in 2017. “People were really itching to get out and see free music after not seeing it for a while.”

The walk-up Covid clinics during Levitt Denver’s shows vaccinated seven to ten people per night for most of the summer concert season. Thomas himself got a booster shot from one of the Covid clinics and said the whole process was smooth and efficient. The clinics eventually ceased only because a large percentage of the state population was already vaccinated.

“People didn’t know exactly where to go when vaccines were first rolling out, so it was nice to be able to have that for our patrons,” says Thomas. “We were honored to be able to offer people an easy solution to help them be safe.”

Covid vaccine clinics were also offered at Levitt AMP Music Series shows in Springfield, Illinois; Fort Smith, Arkansas; and Stevens Point, Wisconsin. And during the early phase of the Covid pandemic, CREATE Portage County, the nonprofit behind the Levitt AMP Stevens Point Music Series, manufactured face shields for first responders and senior care facilities using 3-D printers. We’re grateful to all the Levitt partners and grantees across the country who have played a role in helping to protect and strengthen their communities in the face of a worldwide pandemic, reflecting their role as trusted community spaces.