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Marion, Iowa © Tasha Sams
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Main Street organizations across the country, such as western Virginia’s Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance, have boldly harnessed the power of free music experiences to elevate their communities’ downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts in partnership with the Levitt Foundation. © Levitt Foundation
Music has a unifying power to bring people of all generations, backgrounds, and cultures together for creative expression — and at the Levitt Foundation, building community through music is what we, too, are all about. Every year, Levitt nonprofit grantees across America present free, high-caliber concerts that act as ongoing community destinations, connecting people to one another, fostering individual and collective joy, and inspiring pride of place.
Numerous Levitt grantees are Main Street organizations, boldly harnessing the power of free music to elevate their communities’ downtowns and neighborhood commercial districts as part of the Main Street Movement. Let’s explore how accessible, family-friendly music experiences can strengthen Main Streets across America to build stronger communities, one concert at a time!
Main Street America member organization Middlesboro Main Street has partnered with the Levitt Foundation to present free outdoor music events at a once-vacant gravel lot in downtown Middlesboro, Kentucky — transforming the public space into a vibrant, arts-filled destination that nurtures inclusivity and connectedness. © Levitt Foundation
Free outdoor music events that promote inclusivity and connectedness create stronger communities through a dynamic, multi-step process, which centers the fostering of social capital.
It all begins by creating gathering places that include people from all backgrounds. Hallmarks of these gathering spaces include consistent site activation, culturally diverse programming, and multiple pathways for engagement. Beyond acting as inclusive gathering places, hosting free live music in underused public spaces can offer people multiple opportunities to connect. Throughout the Levitt network, in particular, free concert series presented by our grantee partners are characterized by an open lawn setting that makes connectivity feel second nature: these concert sites have no front or back row, enabling audiences to throw down picnic blankets, set up lawn chairs, and relax as they like.
This lack of fixed seating encourages audience members to mix and mingle with their neighbors and folks whose paths they wouldn’t otherwise cross, leading to social bonding (the bolstering of ties among individuals within social circles or with similar identities) and social bridging (points of connection, understanding, and exchange between those from different backgrounds) amongst residents.
With support from the Levitt Foundation, New Mexico’s Gallup MainStreet Arts & Cultural District is fostering social capital by bringing together residents of all backgrounds and generations for free concerts that infuse a sense of joy and belonging into McKinley County Courthouse Square. Gallup, New Mexico © Levitt Foundation
Social bonding and bridging are two building blocks of social capital, or a community’s degree of social cohesion and resilience. And when free music events in public spaces boost social capital, they ultimately increase residents’ trust in that community, leading to better health, public safety, and economic outcomes.
Now is an essential time for placemaking organizations to leverage free outdoor music programming to build social capital. Last year, United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy officially declared that our country is facing a loneliness epidemic spurred in part by a lack of equitable access to social infrastructure. By fostering various types of social connections that create a sense of belonging for folks from all walks of life, free music experiences can help remedy the loneliness and isolation that contemporary life poses.
Free music events with open environments (e.g. lacking fixed seating) can nurture points of connection and exchange amongst community members from different backgrounds, building a locale’s social capital one accessible arts experience at a time. Harrisonburg, Virginia © Levitt Foundation
In addition to building social capital, free public concerts are creative placemaking projects, which the National Endowment for the Arts notes can bring new attention to key community assets within downtowns and cultural districts. Have an underused bandshell? An overgrown plaza? A sleepy pedestrian zone in need of more foot traffic? An outdoor concert series can inject new energy into existing spaces — promoting engagement and visibility and reinvigorating a sense of community pride as locals witness their downtown reawaken with the sights and sounds of free, live music.
Free live music experiences are an opportunity for businesses, vendors, and local organizations to convert audience members into new customers, injecting fresh economic activity into a community’s historic downtown or commercial district. Harrisonburg, Virginia © Levitt Foundation
Speaking of foot traffic: Free concerts go hand in hand with bustling neighborhoods teeming with economic activity.
Year after year, Levitt communities — rural to urban — reap the benefits of audiences patronizing businesses surrounding their music series site. Notably, this impact is seen in communities that have been presenting Levitt concerts for many years and in communities newer to the Levitt network. Translation: it’s never too late (or too early) to jumpstart economic opportunity through music!
Evidencing this chain of change have been multiple Main Street America member organizations, such as Gallup MainStreet Arts and Cultural District, which serves the high-desert New Mexico town of Gallup (population 22,000), and Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance, which supports the historic Virginia city of Harrisonburg (population 50,000).
Gallup MainStreet has found that 25% of residents attending the Levitt AMP Gallup Music Series — which launched in 2020 and happens each summer in downtown Gallup’s McKinley County Courthouse Square — patronize homegrown restaurants before, during, and after concerts.
As for Harrisonburg, the community’s Levitt AMP Harrisonburg Music Series, which kicked off in 2023, has already boosted economic vitality. At each concert, a rotating lineup of food and beer vendors gives Harrisonburg’s locally-owned restaurant ecosystem — comprising over 35 restaurants, plus five breweries and a cidery — an expansive new customer base. Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance notes that their Levitt concert site is a place for independent businesses to sell food and beverages to an average audience of 1,000 attendees per concert, and those hungry audience members often turn into new brick-and-mortar patrons as well.
Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance’s free live music site manifests as a lively place for local small businesses to sell food and beverages to an average audience of 1,000 attendees per concert. Harrisonburg, Virginia © Levitt Foundation
Free music experiences can also fuel economic growth at a more macro level. Main Street organizations may present free concerts as evidence of their commitment to arts and culture — which ultimately provides downtown and commercial development groups more leverage when applying for special district designation programs (as in creative, arts, entertainment, or cultural) led by local government agencies. Numerous Levitt music series sites, in fact, have acted as key drivers of downtown corridors earning recognition as official special districts from city and state entities.
One example is Levitt Pavilion Arlington, a venue supported by the Levitt Foundation and operated by the nonprofit Friends of Levitt Pavilion Arlington. Located in north Texas’s thriving Downtown Arlington, the venue opened in 2008 and swiftly became the diverse suburban community’s favorite destination for enjoying 50+ free, high-caliber concerts and cultural celebrations each year.
As audience engagement with Levitt Pavilion Arlington swelled (attracting over 100,000 people each year), civic leaders were taking note — so much that, in 2016, the Texas Commission on the Arts designated Downtown Arlington as a cultural district. Today, the Levitt venue remains the crown jewel of the city’s revitalized downtown, which also features a variety of other vibrant arts, music, and entertainment institutions. It is also a founding member organization of the Downtown Arlington Cultural District.
While the perks of a downtown or commercial district gaining cultural district certification vary from state to state and city to city, common advantages include property and income tax incentives for area businesses and entrepreneurial artists; special zoning ordinances advantageous to community development; and expanded public and private funding opportunities for designated special districts or the nonprofits serving them.
It is important to note that social capital itself is a proven “hack” to economic vitality. When a Main Street’s free concert series boosts an area’s social capital through social bonding and bridging, the economic payoff inevitably follows. The American Public Human Services Association notes that because increased social capital correlates with better employment opportunities, positive early childhood development, food security, and higher educational outcomes, social capital ultimately fosters family economic mobility.
From youth activities to participatory art, inclusive free music experiences can unfold as outdoor celebrations that nurture joy and connectivity for community members of all ages and backgrounds. Fort Smith, Arkansas © Levitt Foundation
At the Levitt Foundation, we believe the joy and excitement of live performance should be financially accessible and culturally identifiable to people from all walks of life, including those from groups that have been historically underrepresented. This is why all Levitt music series across the country feature musical traditions that authentically mirror the locale’s cultural tapestry.
For instance, New Mexico’s Gallup MainStreet Arts and Cultural District in the city of Gallup, which borders the Navajo Nation reservation and has a large Indigenous population, celebrates the community’s multifaceted heritage by featuring on its stage a melting pot of critically acclaimed Native American artists who are pushing boundaries in an assortment of genres, from indie rock to conscious rap.
Similarly, the Levitt AMP Fort Smith Music Series, presented by Main Street Fort Smith since 2020, features a wide array of Latin music, from mariachi and conjunto to Venezuelan folk — a rhythmic slate of bilingual sounds that resonates with the Arkansas town’s large Hispanic/Latino, multilingual, and immigrant populations.
Free music experiences can also manifest as even grander celebrations, turning these spaces into full-fledged community-wide events and cultural festivals that can position Main Street corridors as inclusive, safe places for people of all ethnicities, ages, and cultures to learn about one another and experience true belonging.
By celebrating a community’s diverse populations, free music experiences can reflect a Main Street America member organization’s commitment to creating culturally inclusive gathering places within its locale. Gallup, New Mexico © Levitt Foundation
Cross-cultural connections that are nurtured during inclusive free music programming can also uniquely combat the isolation that often happens in diverse communities, notes Project for Public Spaces. Called “hunkering down” by influential Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam (author of the groundbreaking social science book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community), this phenomenon happens when culturally similar people gravitate towards one another. “Hunkering down,” however, meets its match when multicultural communities have lively, welcoming public destinations that encourage social bridging, writes Putnam: “To strengthen shared identities, we need more opportunities for meaningful interaction across ethnic lines where Americans (new and old) work, learn, recreate, and live.” The perfect place for that meaningful interaction? A free outdoor concert series that creates a sense of belonging by nurturing mutual understanding, connectivity, and exchange across cultural groups.
Additionally, a town or city’s pre-existing built environment, frequently embodied in underused assets such as historical landmarks or once-revered public art installations, can be celebrated through free music experiences. These storied elements, often located by downtown plazas, Main Streets, and public green spaces, are also part of a community’s culture — and as the World Bank notes, free music events activated at or near these sites can help to preserve or repurpose these heritage assets, which ultimately makes communities more alive, attracts new investors, and fosters job creation.
From cultivating social connections to boosting economic growth and celebrating diversity, free music experiences have the power to make your Main Street a more engaging, welcoming place.
Interested in joining the movement for free music in public spaces? Visit levitt.org to learn more about the Levitt Foundation’s grant programs, including Levitt AMP, Levitt VIBE, and Levitt BLOC. Applications will open in 2025, so stay tuned!
The Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation is a national funder working at the intersection of music, public space, and community building. The Levitt Foundation partners with nonprofits and changemakers nationwide to bring outdoor concerts to towns and cities across the country each year. In 2024, over 650 free Levitt concerts will take place in over 50 communities coast to coast. These concerts go beyond bringing great tunes and incredible artistry to people in communities of all sizes. The Levitt model of free outdoor concerts sparks joy, fosters connections, nourishes well-being, and boosts economic opportunity — strengthening the social fabric of America.
Over the years, the Levitt Foundation has supported Main Street organizations to realize the power of free music in public spaces. The cross-sector nature of the Foundation’s grantmaking — which includes supporting downtown partnerships, arts councils, social service organizations, and more — makes Main Street organizations a natural fit for these grants as they strive to advance shared prosperity, create resilient economies, and improve quality of life through place-based economic development and community preservation.
Interested in leveraging the power of free, live music to strengthen the social and economic fabric of your Main Street? Visit levitt.org to learn more about the Levitt Foundation’s grant programs, including Levitt AMP, Levitt VIBE, and Levitt BLOC. Applications will open in 2025, so stay tuned!
Main Street America is pleased to announce the launch of a $1.8 million sub-grant program as part of our partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation's (USDOT) Thriving Communities Program.
Beloit, Kansas © Shane Hampton
Construction projects can put a lot of stress on your downtown. From preparation to completion, Brooke Prouty at Iowa Economic Development Authority shares best practices to help your Main Street thrive during construction.
Creating real change in business ownership starts with local communities leading the way, backed by strong partnerships and collaborations.
At the heart of thriving Main Streets are vibrant public spaces that unite people of all ages and backgrounds and enrich community life. And what better way to activate public spaces than through the power of free, live music?
Middlesboro, Kentucky © Levitt Foundation
Learn how Main Streets can tap into federal resources to improve transportation infrastructure, take down barriers, and improve access to key services.
Main Street America is proud to announce the release of a new resource to help Main Streets and commercial district organizations better prepare for and respond to more frequent and severe disasters.
Marion, IA © Uptown Marion
This Boston Main Street installed an innovative street mural to highlight crosswalks and improve pedestrian safety.
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MSA President and CEO Erin Barnes explores how a holiday market in a public park brought a new focus on growing humanitarian needs in downtown city centers.
The RAISE program funds surface transportation projects with local and regional impact by enhancing safety, mobility, sustainability, and economic growth.
Streetscape improvements can make a big difference for Main Streets. © Grant Harper
Learn how Main Street America's work with the DOT's Thriving Communities Program is supporting transformative efforts with community partners like the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe.
Apply for federal funding to remove, retrofit, or mitigate transportation infrastructure that creates barriers to community connectivity.
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Streets play an important role in our downtown districts. Learn more about Main Street America's recent work with the Department of Transportation to promote vibrant and sustainable downtown roadways.
Learn how the Safe Streets and Roads for All program is providing grants to prevent roadway deaths and serious injuries.
Streetscape in Denison, Texas. © Mel Climer — Climer Design
REV Birmingham and Woodlawn United share how they work to reenergize spaces and places in Birmingham, Alabama, through civic infrastructure projects in the city’s historic commercial corridors.
Learn how this Louisiana town has used an accessibility-first approach to build a welcoming and inclusive community.
Downtown Ruston, Louisiana. Photo by Henry McCoy.
Learn how the Little Five Points neighborhood of Atlanta uses this unique mural program to celebrate Valentine's Day and raise important funding for their work.
Learn how micromobility can increase access, equity, and inclusion in your Main Street with examples from local programs across the network.
This Washington Main Street is encouraging people to brave the rainy weather with their free umbrella share program.
Parking is a challenging problem for many Main Streets. We explored the arguments for and against free parking, and a method for conducting an inventory of parking in your downtown.
Miami, FL © Matt Alaniz
Learn how Bainbridge Island Downtown Association leverages their connection to the ferry to create a walkable and vibrant downtown.
Bainbridge Island, WA © Anna Carson
An innovative artistic project brings new life to the alleyways in Billings, Montana.
Billings, MT © Downtown Billings Alliance
In big cities and small towns, people face increasing danger when navigating communities on foot. As advocates for connected and walkable downtowns, Main Streets have a crucial role to play in increasing pedestrian safety.
Lansing, Michigan © Lansing 5:01
Learn how you can participate in the Thriving Communities program as a capacity builder or how you can receive support from the program.
To celebrate National Parks and Recreation Month, we explored three innovative and interesting parks-based projects and collaborations in Main Street communities.
Waterloo, Iowa, shares advice and lessons learned from their e-scooter program.
Learn how you can harness design principles and strategies to create a cooler, more welcoming downtown.
Main Street America was awarded $5.9 million to support 20 communities in the Main Streets Community of Practice through the Department of Transportation's Thriving Communities Program over the next two years.
The City of Leeds, AL welcomed a new downtown mural over the holidays that has brought a sense of excitement and anticipation for the continuing efforts to focus on the Leeds downtown district.
Leeds, AL © Jeremy Dove
What is more Iowan than turning grain bins into public art? Learn how Main Street Coon Rapids created these beautiful murals to celebrate their downtown.
Coon Rapids, IA © Main Street Coon Rapids
Pollinator gardens are fantastic ways to increase green space, promote sustainability, and educate your community on the local environment.
Crofton, MD © Kerry Kelly
The AARP Community Challenge program gives out quick-action grants to activate public spaces. Meet some of the Main Streets awarded grants through the program this year.
Learn how these outdoor microspaces can contribute to more vibrancy in our public spaces.
Chairman Emeritus Ed McMahon explores the power of place in creating spaces people love.
Boise, ID © christiannafzger
To support Georgia Main Streets throughout the recovery process and position them for long-term sustainability, Main Street America launched the Georgia Main Street Innovation Grant Program, made possible through generous support from The Williams Family Foundation of Georgia.
Thomasville, GA © Thomasville Main Street
Intentional placemaking has had many unexpected benefits for this Alabama town.
Wetumpka, AL © Jenny Sue Stubbs
We heard from organizations across the nation about the incredible impact their markets have had on community engagement, entrepreneur and small business support, and keeping their district vibrant.
Mount Airy Downtown, Inc., celebrated the return of their Market Street Arts and Entertainment District (MSA & ED) last weekend, as part of their pandemic recovery efforts.
Mount Airy, NC © Robbie Curlee
A vacant storefront is the perfect stage to creatively promote the available space or to showcase other businesses and events in the area.
Ripon, WI © RetailWorks, Inc
Interested in creating a StoryWalk in your downtown commercial district? Read on to learn more about installing a successful story walking trail.
In remembrance and in honor of Dr. Marin Luther King Jr., over 900 streets in the United States were named after him. Many are located predominantly in African American communities.
Milwaukee, WI © Historic King Drive BID
Dubbed the Blues Alley, the Ripley Main Street program plans to install murals of local pioneering Black blues artists, cutout guitars painted by local art students, and blues lyrics painted on the walls.
Ripley, MS © Ripley Main Street
Wayfinding guides people to places they seek but it also brings awareness to places they may have otherwise missed.
Since 2013, Try This West Virginia has sought to improve health environments in local communities as a collaboration of organizations working together to combat the health challenges facing West Virginians.
Main Street America partnered with OneMain Financial to create Made on Main Street.
Creating a historic or art walking tour is much more than simply a collection of pictures and descriptions.
Over 300 attendees enjoyed a family-friendly block party that celebrated the community and showcased Prosser's upcoming streetscape improvement project.
Cambridge was the first Main Street community in Maryland to install public chargers.
The Downtown Newton Development Association (North Carolina) partnered with the City of Newton on a temporary tactical urbanism project to demonstrate how their permanent streetscape improvements will benefit downtown.
Over 500 people braved the misty rain this past weekend to come and celebrate Painesville and its Made on Main Street community transformation project.
Wilson Artsy Alleys is an initiative of the Wilson Downtown Development Corporation which takes the arts to new locations in forgotten places.
In October 2017, Main Street Ottumwa collaborated with local partners, Main Street Iowa, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Better Block Foundation to stop planning, talking, and wishing, and start doing.
Kelly Tompkins of Main Street Enid shares more about the Maker Trail project and how it inspired creativity and helped people discover downtown.
The Metuchen Downtown Alliance created a cool, family-friendly public gathering space in “the worst looking spot in town” with the help of just $2,500 in Edward Jones Placemaking on Main Challenge matching grant funds,
A collaborative effort launched between Laramie Main Street Alliance (LMSA) and vertical farming company, Plenty, looked to blank downtown walls as a canvas for growing food, creating conversation, and activating overlooked spaces.
From walkability and transportation connectivity, to access to nature and availability of fresh food, place is inextricably linked to achieving positive health outcomes in rural America.
Beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower fountain through Main Street Paris's new Love Lock Fence.
Kasey Drummond, Glenrock Main Street Director, explains how they brought the acclaimed graffiti artist ARCY to their Main Street and explores the work he produced in three additional Wyoming communities on his summer tour.
Karen Dye, Newkirk Main Street's program manager, was inspired to “make downtown more fun and festive” with painted water meter covers after learning about the practice at a recent Main Street Now conference.
Appealing to mobility-challenged shoppers yields benefits beyond the store.
In contrast, the Main Street Program in Laramie, Wyoming, is thriving, having successfully cultivated millions of dollars to help fill these vacant, blighted spaces with permanent structures.
In this article we’ll explore the process of planning, funding, installing, operating, and enjoying music on your Main Street.
In 2016, the North Carolina Main Street & Rural Planning Center partnered with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s Department of Interior Architecture (UNCG) to provide design assistance to Main Street communities.
Placemaking is a strategy that Six Corners Association has enthusiastically applied to our community development efforts because of its seamless integration with the Main Street Approach.
How one Wyoming Main Street implemented a free bike share program.
In 2015, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) partnered with the University of Wisconsin–Madison to engage Wisconsin Main Street organizations and farmers markets in the Metrics and Indicators for Impact – Farmers Markets (MIFI-FM) toolkit.
The local Main Street organization, Downtown Milford Inc., is trying to address these shifting demographics by creating a more inclusive sense of community.
This is the story of how a National Endowment for the Arts gathering in DC inspired the leaders of a small town in Appalachia to connect with those in Milwaukee to transform a neglected park.
Main Street communities across the country are no stranger to seeking creative strategies to solve their most nagging issues – vacant buildings, marketing downtown, bolstering retail to name a few.
This article is the second in a series on corridors and the important role they play in Main Street revitalization. The previous article focused on the historic origins of corridors, corridor types, and functions that they serve in our communities.
Façade appearance is a critical aspect of the overall aesthetic appeal and unique character of downtown.
While the Main Street program may not take the lead in corridor enhancements, it can be a vital partner and advocate for improvements in overall community appearance.
Street pole banners preserve the historic character of main streets while fostering community awareness and engagement.
With strong community support, the Library Foundation was able to raise over $1.2 million dollars in private donations.
A lot of signs are necessary to make a downtown work well, but not every community knows what a good sign system looks like, or how instrumental it can be to the creation of a successful downtown.
A key goal of the Atlanta Streetcar is to attract investment to and revitalize the neighborhoods along the streetcar alignment.
