How Levitt Dayton is navigating the coronavirus pandemic

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By Madeline Hart, Levitt Pavilion Dayton

 

What a ride this year has been for everyone.

 

“As we watched the pandemic crisis begin to unfold in March, the Levitt staff and board quickly pivoted to alternate scenarios as our objective remains, ‘How do we meet our audiences where they are?’” said Lisa Wagner, Executive Director of Levitt Pavilion.

 

“With that in mind, we worked through multiple reopening plans which all included detailed safety guidelines,” she said. “Like many, we hoped that we could still find a way to provide much needed free, live music in a safe and responsible way.”

 

Levitt Dayton’s leadership worked closely with the public health commissioner to try to find a way to open as we all believe that the free music our concerts offer are extremely important to the mental health and connectivity of our community.

 

With that being said, we strongly believe that we can further our mission and encourage all Daytonians to build community through music right where they are, which for now, is at home. So, we have developed virtual experiences that we are excited about!

 

We are keeping the 2020 Eichelberger Concert Season going with our new “Levitt on YOUR Lawn” series. Each week we are broadcasting a new concert on our Facebook page and YouTube channel. These concerts are recorded live on the Levitt Dayton stage with local artists. We think that this is a great way to give our community an opportunity to enjoy high caliber performing arts and support local artists who have been hit especially hard by the current situation. Audiences can find dates and who will be playing on our Facebook page or on our website.

 

Another exciting initiative is through our Levitt Connect: Inspire! program. In the past, this program connected artists playing on the Levitt Dayton stage with at-risk or under-resourced populations in our community through music education. In 2019, we connected artists with 471 students in the Dayton area. In April, we began talking to our past partners – both musicians and local organizations – to see how best we could continue this virtually. We quickly realized that this virtual world offered us something we had not had before: Easily bringing in multiple artists from around the country and connecting students from all over the Dayton-area with each other. We also learned from artists that songwriting was a great way to meet students where they were when it came to musical experience. Additionally, songwriting allows students to express emotions and stories as they struggle to navigate the difficult times we find ourselves in.

 

With the generous support of PNC Bank and Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District, we were able to create two immersive educational opportunities for our area youth. First, we connected Kyshona Armstrong — a singer-songwriter from Nashville — with the YWCA Girls LEAD! program. Armstrong met virtually with Dayton-area girls twice a week for four weeks. Together they wrote four songs including a new theme song for the Girls LEAD! Program.

 

Second, on August 3 we kicked off our own songwriting camp in collaboration with the nonprofit Art as Mentorship. The organization was founded by Enrique Chi of Making Movies and they performed on the Levitt Dayton stage in 2019. Through this camp, a group of Dayton-area students will have the opportunity to connect with Grammy award-winning and Latin Grammy-nominated artists and learn how to express themselves through music. At the end of the week, they will participate in a live virtual showcase on our Facebook page.

We have seen over the past few years, especially with the challenges that our community has had to overcome, music has the power to heal us and connect us. At the Levitt Pavilion Dayton, we will continue to stay mission-focused during this time and to provide music virtually. We are stronger together and we will be dancing together again before we know it.