The exciting concert series in Colusa is about half way through the season, but the summer heat has nothing on the hot sounds that are still to come for music lovers.
Tom Rigney and Flambeau premieres tonight on the concert stage in Veterans Memorial Park, specializing in blazing Cajun two-step sounds, low-down blues, boogie woogie, and funky New Orleans grooves.
After only a one-time hiatus during the week of Independence Day, the 2023 Levitt Amp concert series is back weekly each Thursday, through Aug. 24.
The free concerts are made possible by a grant from the Mortimer and Mimi Levitt Foundation.
Victoria Bridenstine, director of programs at the Levitt Foundation, attended one of the concerts in late June.
“Somebody from the team will visit all of our concert sites across the country,” Bridenstine said, “That includes all of our Levitt Amp communities and our Levitt venues, which are in our larger metropolitan areas.”
Since 2015, the Levitt Foundation has provided funding to more than 50 communities across America through the Levitt AMP program, activating underused public spaces, ensuring access to the arts, and strengthening the social fabric of communities by bringing people together of all ages and backgrounds through the free, outdoor concert series.
The Colusa County Arts Council last year received a multi-year grant from the Levitt Foundation to bring free, live music to Memorial Park over 10 consecutive weeks, save the holiday. The community has so far enjoyed contemporary pop, Mexican folk, indigenous folk, and Latin bluegrass.
Each Levitt AMP Music Series features a musically diverse lineup of high-caliber entertainment.
After tonight’s zydeco, the concert series will feature rock and blues, by artist Dennis Johnson, on July 27, and folk/americana by The Brothers Reed, on Aug. 3, followed by country sounds by Caleb Caudle, on Aug. 10, and Clementine was Right, on Aug. 17. Hip-hop artist Shamarr Allen wraps up the series on Aug. 24.
Bridestone said the Levitt Amp program is geared toward bringing music of all genres to small and mid-sized towns, with grants awarded to cities with populations as low as 2,000 to as high as 250,000.
Bridestine said to be eligible for funding, nonprofits had to complete a grant proposal and application, which the Foundation reviewed before advancing it to online public voting.
Colusa was one of the 20 finalists voted to be awarded $90,000 to present the music series for three consecutive years ($30,000 per year), which was matched by the City of Colusa.
“All of our applicants, what makes their proposals compelling is, of course, the idea of bringing the arts to their community,” Bridestone said. “But what really matters to us is that the public space is accessible to everyone in the community, and that the public spaces are typically underused.”
Bridestone said what stood out about Colusa’s application was the impact drought had on the local agriculture economy, as well as the desire by the Arts Council to bring something unique to the community to help build community pride.
Mortimer Levitt, who died in 2005, at the age of 98, had humble beginnings but made his fortune in men’s fashion. He and his wife, Annemarie “Mimi” Gratzinger Levitt, who died in 2019, at the age of 97, were outspoken patrons of the arts.
The couple helped fund the construction of a stage for performing arts at the site of a former dump in the small town of Westport, Conn., in 1974, and agreed to the name, “Levitt Pavilion,” so long as it was used as a community space for free concerts, a nod to Mortimer Levitt, who, as a boy, accompanied his father at work, a food vendor outside the ticketed Luna Park on Coney Island, where Mortimer could only take in the music from afar.
Mortimer and Mimi’s legacy, through the Levitt Foundation, is strengthening the social fabric of America by creating welcoming, inclusive destinations where the power of free, live music helps to invigorate community life.
“Small towns have been hit hard,” Bridestone said. “When you have community leaders who are saying ‘we have an amazing community here that just needs something to bring the community together, and something to give them hope and joy,’ we believe that is what creates a ripple effect. The ripple effect is beyond the concert series; it’s beyond the concert itself; it goes into daily life. With that vibrancy, it impacts the local businesses. With that vibrancy, it also means that folks on the lawn – who may not have ever engaged with one another – are now engaging with one another.”
There are now six Levitt Pavilions in the U.S., including one in Los Angeles. And, for nearly two decades, the Levitt Foundation has helped local nonprofits bring thousands of free outdoor concerts to millions of people nationwide.
Fernanda Vanetta, of the Colusa County Arts Council, and Sadie Ash, of the City of Colusa, spearheaded the music series where Colusa County residents can enjoy a broad array of music and activities.
Each concert offers a bounce house for children to play, as well as a variety of vendors. Food is available each week and provided by other local nonprofits as fundraisers for their organizations.
Tonight, the Knights of Columbus will provide the dinner. Next week will be Colusa Rotary/Friends of the Library. Concerts and activities start at 6:30 PM. People are encouraged to bring chairs or blankets to sit in the shade or under water misters that help bring down summer temperatures.
For more information about the concert series, visit online at levittampcolusa.info. ■
