For Immediate Release: 11/5/2019 12:53 pm
The Worcester Cultural Coalition, in partnership with the City of Worcester and Green Island Resident Group, Inc., have advanced to the voting round of the Levitt AMP [Your City] grant application process. Should Worcester be awarded one of 15 available grants, the funds will be used to create a 10-week free, live music concert series during the summer of 2020 at Crompton Park.
Supporters are asked to register and vote at levittamp.org/vote before November 20 at 8 p.m. Once voting closes, the Levitt Foundation will review the Top 25 finalists’ proposals and announce the 15 Levitt AMP 2020 winners on December 20.
The Levitt AMP Worcester Music Series would take place at Crompton Park with weekly concert programming tentatively scheduled for 10 Wednesday evenings beginning June 24, 2020. In addition to live music, the event would feature food vendors, community performances, interactive amenities and more.
“One of the criteria for the Levitt AMP grant is to host a program in an underserved section of your city,” said Yaffa Fain, program assistant of Worcester’s Cultural Development Division. Fain recently completed curation and management of the popular Out To Lunch Festival & Farmers Market series on the Worcester Common during the summer of 2019.
“There’s a lot that goes into coordinating performers, vendors, and the public, and it’s great to give people a reason to stop and enjoy what’s going on around them. We’re looking forward to hosting Out To Lunch in 2020, and we’re also excited to hopefully bring a new major summer concert series to Worcester and activate another space in the city,” she said.
A successful campaign for Worcester requires community participation to secure Worcester’s place as one of 25 national finalists. Community support, as measured by 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. “We’ll only be able to do this with enough votes,” Fain cautioned.
Worcester’s Crompton Park was selected for several reasons, including proximity to public transit and highways, and renovations currently underway. According to a recent press release from the City of Worcester, Crompton Park is undergoing a $1.4 million renovation, including new accessible pathways, benches and bleachers, safety upgrades, and construction of two NBA-sized basketball courts. “The City of Worcester is investing in making Crompton Park a safe, beautiful, and accessible space. We’re doing our part to make it a fun, creative, and well-used space for everyone,” said Erin Williams, Cultural Development Officer for the City of Worcester.
Sponsored by the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation, a national foundation dedicated to strengthening the social fabric of America through free live music, the Worcester Cultural Coalition hopes to qualify as one of the Top 25 finalists competing for a $25,000 2020 Levitt AMP [Your City] Grant Award.
The Worcester Cultural Coalition asks supporters to spread the word to family, friends, colleagues and neighbors and to rally the community to sign up and vote for the Levitt AMP Worcester Music series proposal. With the Worcester community’s vote, the Worcester Cultural Coalition is thrilled to offer new, diverse cultural programming to the community.
