Grant and Funding Programs Offered by Levitt Family Foundation

The Levitt Family Foundation is a national creative placemaking funder dedicated to strengthening the social fabric of communities across the United States through free, live music in public spaces. Founded in 1966 by Mortimer and Mimi Levitt, the Foundation has evolved into a major supporter of outdoor music series that transform underused parks, vacant lots, and other challenged sites into vibrant, inclusive gathering places. Its grantmaking supports local nonprofits and changemakers to produce high-caliber, free concert series that build social connection, civic pride and place attachment.

The Foundation’s portfolio centers on multi-year grants for free outdoor music series. Core programs include Levitt Venues, a long-term partnership model with local nonprofits to create permanent free concert venues; Levitt AMP, a matching grant program for towns and cities under 250,000 residents; Levitt VIBE and Levitt BLOC, matching grant opportunities that activate multiple neighborhoods or sites within a community; and support for free outdoor festivals. Beyond concerts, the Foundation funds partnerships and field-building initiatives at the intersection of arts and social impact, and commissions independent research on how music and public space investments build social capital and economic vitality.

As a funder, the Levitt Family Foundation emphasizes collaborative, cross-sector grantmaking. All Levitt projects are locally driven and reflect the character and needs of each community. Grantees are required to engage a broad network of stakeholders, including residents, city leadership, nonprofits, and businesses. In addition to financial support, the Foundation provides extensive non-monetary resources such as best-practice toolkits, program frameworks, trainings, convenings, and peer-to-peer learning opportunities through a national Levitt network.

The Foundation invests in third-party, multi-year research to understand and demonstrate the impact of creative placemaking and free outdoor concerts on community attachment, social cohesion, and economic outcomes. Studies such as “Setting the Stage for Community Change” and “Listening to the Music of Community Change” examine Levitt venues as case studies and inform both the Foundation’s own practices and the broader arts and community development fields.

In 2023, the Levitt Family Foundation announced a $150 million spend-down, planning to sunset in 2041. This strategy significantly increases annual grantmaking, expanding the number of communities receiving Levitt grants and deepening support for existing partners, including capacity building and resources to sustain free concert series beyond the Foundation’s closure. A detailed timeline outlines phases of exploration, program development, intensive grantmaking and research, and eventual wind-down, with the overarching goal that free concerts in public spaces continue to flourish nationwide.