New Albany Main Street wants LEVITT Round Two

[October 2019]— New Albany Main Street is now in the running to bring Levitt round two, a second 10-12 weeks free, live music series to New Albany’s Park Along the River’s Riverview Stage.

Sponsored by the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation, a national foundation dedicated to strengthening the social fabric of America through free live music,New Albany hopes to qualify as one of the Top 25 finalists competing for a 2020 Levitt AMP Grant Award.

The Levitt AMP Grant Awards is an exciting matching grant opportunity created by the Levitt Foundation to serve small to mid-sized towns and cities with populations up to 400,000. Grant recipients will each be awarded $25,000 in matching funds to produce their own Levitt AMP Music Series—a free, outdoor concert series featuring a diverse lineup of professional musicians.

To be successful, New Albany needs community participation to get as many online votes as possible to bring the concert series to town. The number of online votes received will be one of the key factors considered when the Levitt Foundation determines the 2020 Levitt AMP Grant Award winners.

Supporters are asked to SIGN UP TO VOTE at levittamp.org/vote. Online public voting opens this Friday, November 1 and ends November20 at 5pm PST. Once the Top 25 finalists are selected through online public voting, the Levitt Foundation will review the Top 25 finalists’ proposals and select the 2020 Levitt AMP winners—which will be announced on December 20, 2019.

Billye Jean Stroud, New Albany Main Street director, and her assistant, Tracy Vainisi, are very excited to be in the running for another free music series. “Our goal for this second round of the Levitt AMP Grant Award series is to foster positive community gatherings”, said Stroud.

“When writing the grant, we investigated the benefits of live music experiences in a community,” Vainisi pointed out. “Music is a powerful medium that can facilitate social change. Music-based events promote inclusion and can lessen anxiety in social settings. From singing Happy Birthday at a child’s party or dancing with others at a wedding reception, music enables positive shared experiences.”

New Albany Main Street asks supporters of Levitt round two to spread the word to family, friends, colleagues and neighbors and rally the community to sign up and vote for New Albany Main Street’s proposal.

Learn more atlevittamp.org.