Music lovers backing city in concert vote
Woonsocket nominated in online voting contest for summer concert series
WOONSOCKET – Like a racehorse, NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley is in the lead pack on the last turn before the finish line, but Meghan Rego is still looking over her shoulder.
“I’m just really worried some people near the end are going to stage a sneak attack, so we’re trying the maintain our location,” says the communications director for NeighborWorks.
In the balance for NeighborWorks is a $25,000 payday from the Levitt Foundation, a philanthropic organization dedicated to promoting live music. NeighborWorks currently stands in seventh place among 36 communtiy organizations around the country vying for a grant to stage a series of concerts next summer,
but there’s only one way to make sure the local nonprofit finishes as a likely contender: Get online and vote.
There’s still time – the deadline is Monday at 8 p.m. – and today the collective student body of Woonsocket High School was scheduled to do its part to push NeighborWorks as close as possible to the top of the heap. Principal Carnell Henderson was to go on the loudspeaker and ask all 1,500 or so members of the student body to pull out their cell phones and visit www.levittamp.org to cast a ballot for NeighborWorks’ application.
It’s seems like everybody’s getting into the promotional act – even Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt. Rego said the mayor created a video promoting the event for NeighborWorks to post on its Facebook page. It’s subsequently been widely shared on a number of sites focused on events in the city and NeighborWorks believes the video resulted in a substantial boost in votes.
“We’ve been everywhere promoting it,” says Rego. “We’ve been on the radio. We’ve done some public service announcements and we’ve had great support from the high school.”
A few days ago WHS faculty members staged their own version of NBC-TV’s “The Voice,” vying against each other in a singing contest performed for the studnents. During an intermission, Rego said, Jen Maiello, the theater arts teacher choreographed a mass voting event for the entire audience.
At that moment, said Rego, “We jumped from eighth to fifth place, which was great.”
The group voting events seem to work, so Henderson agreed to stage another one today.
“We are hoping that within just a few moments, this concentrated voting effort will be enough to pull us up a few spots in the polls,” said Rego.
The Levitt Foundation is expected to name the winners on Jan. 2, said Rego. As long as NeighborWorks finishes in the top 25, it will be considered, but to be assured of taking home a grant, a spot in the top 10 is considered the safest place to be, although the Levitt Foundation will give out 15 grants in all.
The vote count is just one criterion the Levitt Foundation uses to evaluate grant applications. It’s also looking for performance plans that showcase community diversity and take advantage of underutilitized outdoor spaces.
If approved, NeighborWorks plans on using the money to help pay for a series of 10 concerts featuring a mix of national, regional and local talent. The events will be held next summer at River Island Arts Park. The City Council already approved NeighborWorks’ application to reserve the park for the events, but NeighborWorks will waive the dates if it fails to win one of the Levitt Foundation grants.
NeighborWorks and the Downtown Woonsocket Collaborative filed the application for the Levitt Foundation grant jointly.
“The city is united with one vision for our downtown which includes the arts and entertainment as a driving force to bring Main Street back as the place to shop, dine, and play” says DWC Executive Director Garrett Mancieri. “This concert series will not happen without the support of our residents, business owners, and supporters so please call, email, and share on social media to all your family and friends to help us win this grant.
Because the grant requires a 100 percent match, the applicants are still seeking donors to help bridge the gap. They’ve already received “generous contributions” from Ciro’s Tavern on Cherry, Soucy Insurance Agency and The Art Den, an arts and crafts mini-mall on Main Street.
Mancieri said a committee has been meeting since the beginning of October to come up with the most cre- ative and engaging strategies to get out the vote. There are signs around the city encouraging people to “#getwoonyamped,” the official hashtag of this initiative. A facebook # getwoonyamped “challenge video campaign” was launched on Nov. 1.
“We have no idea how many votes it is going to take to make it to the top 25, so we’re going for gold,” said Rego. “Everyone in Woonsocket’s got to know about this, vote, and then encourage their friends, family, coworkers, basically anyone with an e-mail address to cast their vote as well.”
Based in Los Angeles, the Levitt Foundation – also known as the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation – is dedicated to promoting live music. Co-founder Mortimer Levitt grew up in Brooklyn, where he often accompanied his father to work as a street vendor at a Coney Island performance venue. Mortimer was mesmerized by the artistry of the performers, but his family was too poor to pay for admission, so he listened from afar and gained a lifelong appreciation for live music.
Mortimer Levitt went on to to become a wealthy clothing manufacturer and later established a philanthropic foundation dedicated to bringing music to the masses.