Free summer music series to return to Fort Smith
A free Riverfront Amphitheater weekly series of concerts in Fort Smith featuring regional and local musicians will return for three more years thanks to the work of a nonprofit group promoting music and dancing.
Fort Smith's 64.6 Downtown has landed a grant to carry on the shows through 2025, said executive director Talicia Richardson.
The Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation that supports nonprofits nationwide with music in public spaces announced this week that 64.6 Downtown has been awarded a multi-year Levitt AMP Grant Award of $90,000 in matching funds to present a free outdoor music series at the Riverfront Amphitheater in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
"I'm very exciting to make this even bigger and better with even more community engagement," Richardson said.
The Levitt AMP summer 2022 series ran from May 12 to July 14, and brought live music weekly to the downtown entertainment district.
The indie rock band Dawson Hollow drew a crowd of about 300 people June 9 to the Riverfront Amphitheater, Richardson said.
In 2021 the shows included were May 13 to July 15. The series features live music every Thursday for ten weeks. People were returning for live shows after pandemic shutdowns.
"We actually noticed that people were coming out when we were still in pandemic protocol," Richardson said.
In 2020, during the pandemic, music was taken to the people on a flatbed trailer for various live shows at five different locations.
Richardson said the series provides a venue for regional music acts and genres that the people want to hear weekly during the summer between the big shows sponsored by the city.
"Our goal is to begin in May and end just before the Peacemakers Festival," Richardson said.
The Mayor's Fourth of July concert featuring RaeLynn and the Peacemaker Festival featuring Charlie Crockett also attracted large crowds of music-lovers to the Riverfront Park venue.
"We work closely with the city because they are so instrumental with what we do," Richardson said.
On July 7, Gangsta Grass played during the weekly series.
The schedule for the 2023 season has not been set. The mission will remain the same.
"We want to make sure we make it work and expose the community the movement of getting up and dancing with your fellow man and have a good time," Richardson said.
The Levitt AMP Grant Awards is an exciting, multi-year matching grants are awarded to for live music in towns and cities with a population of up to 250,000 people.
For the 2023–2025 grant cycle, the Levitt Foundation expanded the Levitt AMP program from an annualmatching grant of $25K into a three-year matching grant of $30K per year, for a total grant awardof $90K.
Sharon Yazowski, Executive Director of the Levitt Foundation said community well-being has been more important in the recovery from the pandemic.
"Emerging from the pandemic, we have all witnessed the importance of community and connection on our well-being, and free, live music in public spaces is a powerful way to bring people together of all ages and backgrounds. "
She said expanding the Levitt AMP Grant Awards into a multi-year, $90K grant and inviting additional towns and cities into the program was inspired by 64.6 Downtown.
Yazowski said, “We look forward to the continued impact of the Levitt AMP Fort Smith Music Series, which has significantly contributed to the landscape of live music in its downtown while nurturing local pride of place and dedication to building a healthy and sustainable community.”
Richardson said people who are interested in volunteering to help for the 2023 summer music series can send an email to info@646downtown.com.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Riverfront Park music concerts to continue in Fort Smith
