Breakfast

Second Floor Foyer | Omni Los Angeles Hotel

During breakfast each day, Peter Ashwin, Levitt’s Safety & Security Consultant, will host a table for informal conversations. Stop by with your questions! 

Sound Bath (Optional)

Widney Meeting Room | Omni Los Angeles Hotel

Join Luna for a relaxing sonic meditation experience incorporating sound bowls for an easeful and restorative sound bath. Sound healing is a form of alchemy or transformation that calms brain waves in safe and gentle ways, supporting peace, relaxation, and connection to pause and take in the beauty of sound. Taking place during breakfast each day. 

Luna

Welcome

Bunker Hill Ballroom | Omni Los Angeles Hotel

Levitt Family Legacy Film Screening

Bunker Hill Ballroom | Omni Los Angeles Hotel

Narrated by the late Liz Levitt Hirsch, this short documentary film honors and shares the story of the Levitt family as well as the origins and evolution of the Levitt Foundation—from Mortimer’s rags-to-riches rise as founder of The Custom Shop to meeting and marrying the incomparable Mimi, together becoming noted patrons of the arts, and then entrusting the family’s philanthropy to Liz whose passion and dedication to the power of free music in public spaces inspired the Foundation’s growth and impact. 

State of Levitt + Fireside Chat

Bunker Hill Ballroom | Omni Los Angeles Hotel

Kicking off the Convening on Friday morning is the State of Levitt + Fireside Chat, with Levitt Foundation President & CEO Sharon Yazowski speaking to why the Levitt mission resonates so deeply in today’s times and the exponential impact of free concerts in public spaces. As our spend down journey continues, Sharon will also speak to the Foundation’s ongoing support of our grantee partners, new collaborations, and additional towns and cities joining the Levitt network.

Sharon will then be joined by Levitt Foundation Board Co-Chair Kathy Eberly Ovitt for an engaging fireside chat that will include Kathy’s reflections of working with Mortimer and the Levitt Family over several decades, the evolution of the family’s giving to support free concerts across America, and the continued commitment of the Foundation board in building community through music.

Sharon Yazowski

Kathy Eberly Ovitt

Plenary | The Happy, Healthy Nonprofit: Where Wellbeing Meets Impact

Bunker Hill Ballroom | Omni Los Angeles Hotel

The Levitt Foundation supports grassroots organizations in bringing joy to millions through free concerts in public spaces, creating more thriving and healthier communities—but who takes care of these changemakers? In this interactive keynote, nonprofit thought leader and author Beth Kanter will lead you through an engaging mix of content and peer connections. Drawing from her bestselling book The Happy, Healthy Nonprofit, Beth will share proven strategies and examples while creating space for you to reflect, connect, and learn. You’ll discover practical approaches to creating healthy work-life balance and build work cultures that help everyone thrive. You’ll leave with practical tools to support both personal wellbeing and organizational vitality, helping you create even greater impact in your community. 

Beth Kanter

 

Break + Book Signing

Following her plenary on the main stage, Beth Kanter will be signing copies of her book, The Happy, Healthy Nonprofit: Strategies for Impact Without Burnout. Available copies of her book are complimentary. 

Concurrent Breakout Sessions

Omni Los Angeles Hotel

Hear from your Levitt network peers during these concurrent breakout sessions, on topics such as volunteer management, youth engagement, creative placemaking, and more! We’re thrilled to spotlight grantees from across Levitt locations who will share inspiring ways to broaden reach and deepen impact in your community.

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LUNCH

Second Floor Foyer | Omni Los Angeles Hotel

During lunch on Friday, Peter Ashwin, Levitt’s Safety & Security Consultant, will host a table for informal conversations. Stop by with your questions! 

Inspire: Ideas for Impact

Bunker Hill Ballroom | Omni Los Angeles Hotel

Back by popular demand! Inspire: Ideas for Impact features Levitt network speakers sharing five-minute presentations highlighting strategies that have had a positive impact on their music series and communities. Learn from your peers and leave with tangible takeaways on topics such as personal storytelling, youth performances, fostering community dialogue, and more.

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Concurrent Facilitated Workshops 

Omni Los Angeles Hotel

This year’s Levitt National Convening will feature an afternoon of concurrent facilitated workshops on topics such as digital marketing, de-escalation techniques, accessibility planning, social connection frameworks, and more! We’re thrilled to bring in renowned experts and presenters to share best practices, lead interactive demonstrations, inspire new thinking, and help you prepare for an impactful music series.

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BREAK

Performance + Conversation | Sara Churruchich

Bunker Hill Ballroom | Omni Los Angeles Hotel

Sara Curruchich is the first Indigenous Guatemalan singer-songwriter to sing in both Kaqchikel as well as Spanish for an international audience. Blending rock, folk, and traditional Mayan Kaqchikel music, Sara received the 2024 Rising Tide Award at Folk Alliance International. Her songs inspire hope and break through barriers of language and culture, with Indigenous rights, environmental issues, and social equality guiding her lyrics.

Sara Curruchich

Adjourn

Group Dine-Arounds

Various Locations

Have a memorable culinary experience while connecting with your Levitt peers. Hosted by the Levitt Foundation, groups of 10-20 will dine at each restaurant with cuisines reflecting the global diversity of LA.

Breakfast

Second Floor Foyer | Omni Los Angeles Hotel

During breakfast each day, Peter Ashwin, Levitt’s Safety & Security Consultant will host a table for informal conversations. Stop by with your questions! 

Sound Bath (Optional)

Widney Meeting Room | Omni Los Angeles Hotel

Join Luna for a relaxing sonic meditation experience incorporating sound bowls for an easeful and restorative sound bath. Sound healing is a form of alchemy or transformation that calms brain waves in safe and gentle ways, supporting peace, relaxation, and connection to pause and take in the beauty of sound. Taking place during breakfast each day. 

Luna

Performance + Conversation | Küf Knotz & Christine Elise

Bunker Hill Ballroom | Omni Los Angeles Hotel

Küf Knotz & Christine Elise is a duo bringing together songwriter, producer, and MC Küf Knotz, named Philadelphia Magazine’s Best Rapper of 2022, and classically trained instrumentalist Christine Elise Gallagher. Their captivating sound combines Küf’s hip-hop poetry, infused with soul, Lo-Fi, and ‘90s era vibes, with Christine’s classical skills in harp, piano, and vocals. In addition to their recordings and performances, together they co-founded Higher Grounds Music, a community music therapy outreach performance project, which uses the power of music, clinical training, and performance experience to instill confidence and foster personal growth.

Küf Knotz & Christine Elise

BREAK

Affinity Peer Group Breakouts

Omni Los Angeles Hotel

Join your Levitt affinity group to further explore key topics and share insights and experiences. Click your affinity group for session descriptions and room locations.

Friends of Levitt Affinity Group

Levitt AMP / BLOC / VIBE Affinity Group

Affinity Peer Group Lunch

AMP / BLOC / VIBE: Second Floor Foyer | Omni Los Angeles Hotel
Friends of Levitt: Brunson Foyer | Omni Los Angeles Hotel

During lunch on Saturday, Peter Ashwin, Levitt’s Safety & Security Consultant will be joining the AMP / BLOC / VIBE affinity peer group lunch, where he will host a table for informal conversations. 

Affinity Peer Group Breakouts 

Omni Los Angeles Hotel

Join your Levitt affinity group to further explore key topics and share insights and experiences. Click your affinity group for session descriptions and room locations.

Friends of Levitt Affinity Group

Levitt AMP / BLOC / VIBE Affinity Group

Break

Plenary | Systemic Inspiration and the Politics of Joy

Bunker Hill Ballroom | Omni Los Angeles Hotel

Marc Bamuthi Joseph is one of the co-architects of The Creative Ecosystem, an organizing model and creative arts incubator that fosters unconventional collaborations in the civic context. His design is a bi-product of his dual roles as one of the Vice Presidents of The Kennedy Center and an award-winning librettist with active commissions at the LA Philharmonic, the Albany Symphony, and Lincoln Center. As Vice President of Social Impact, Joseph is currently and successfully moving The Kennedy Center from an engagement model to an empowerment model as the institution seeks to be in better compliance with an anti-racist agenda. During his plenary, Joseph will lay out a blueprint for how Levitt grantees and their partners might consider a paradigm of “structural allyship” to expand audiences, combat apathy, and build community. Joseph will offer candor, tools, difficult questions, a poet’s delivery, and an executive’s sense of the organizational stakes during this dynamic keynote. 

Marc Bamuthi Joseph

Closing

Celebration Dinner

The Music Center | Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

Close out the 2025 Levitt National Convening with a joyous celebration on the 5th floor of The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion—which has hosted more than 20 Academy Awards ceremonies and is home to the Los Angeles Opera and Center Dance Arts. With its iconic city views and classic elegance, you’ll dine and dance the night away with your Levitt community while enjoying the energetic beats of Levitt’s own DJ Ari-4Rari!