Gift of up to $4 million makes Willow Waterhole Greenway sparkle even more
The “hidden gem” of a nature, recreation and flood control greenspace in the Brays Oaks Management District is sparkling even more with a gift from the Kinder Foundation to fund trails, land acquisition and other improvements.
Mayor Sylvester Turner announced that local philanthropists Rich and Nancy Kinder are donating $2 million to the Willow Waterhole Greenway’s Conservancy and pledging an additional $2 million to match gifts from others. The Conservancy aims to raise a total of $10 million for upgrades, which would also include trail connections to neighborhoods, additional parking, a pier, an outdoor classroom and improvements to a native prairie preserve area.
The Brays Oaks Management District’s helps maintain the Greenway along with the city Parks and Recreation Department and the Conservancy, and it partners with the conservancy on the property’s development plans.
Planning continues for Levitt Pavilion performance space
Despite COVID-19 and an economic downturn, efforts to advance with constructing a community performance space near the Westbury neighborhood have seen progress.
Brays Oaks Management District—one of 53 management districts in the Greater Houston area that encourages economic development—has started to lead the master-planning process for a portion of the former Shell Gasmer Technology Center site. Another portion of the 29-acre site, meanwhile, will house Levitt Pavilion Houston, and will be managed by the nonprofit Friends of Levitt Pavilion Houston, which will help produce an annual series of free professional concerts.
“The Brays Oaks Management District is very interested in the opportunity that Levitt Pavilion offers for economic revitalization, which is a key part of their mission,” said Howard Sacks, the chair of Friends of Levitt Pavilion Houston.
Update from the Friends of Levitt Pavilion Houston
Levitt Pavilion Houston Update
We’ve made major progress to build Levitt Pavilion Houston at Willow Waterhole Greenway. Despite hurricanes, floods, a possible toll road running over the original site, economic downturns, and, of course, Covid, we have an exciting plan!
Brays Oaks Management District will lead the master planning of the Gasmer property (former Shell Gasmer Technology Center) and will announce in September 2021 the Design Team (i.e. concepts for buildings, landscape & engineering) that has been awarded the work. Its focus will be the location of Levitt Pavilion Houston, the repurposing of buildings & structures, and its integration with Willow Waterhole Greenway.
YOU, the Community are a vital stakeholder and will be invited to participate at future meetings. Masterplanning is scheduled to take six months & Levitt Pavilion Houston hopes to launch capital fundraising in mid-2022.
Friends of Levitt Pavilion Houston needs your support.
In order to fund Levitt Pavilion Design work, legal fees, and marketing materials, preceding “The Capital Campaign", please consider joining the “Founder’ Circle.”
For updated details and to support “building community thru music”, please stop by the Levitt Pavilion Houston booth at Willow Waterhole “ MusicFest 2021” on October 30, Saturday, 11a-7p.
Howard Sacks
Chairman, Friends of Levitt Pavilion Houston
Live music is an integral part of life in Texas
"Live music is an integral part of life in Texas...[The Levitt Foundation] has a total of eight venues across the country, and Houston may be getting a Levitt Pavilion of its own..."
Read More:
https://amp.star-telegram.com/entertainment/performing-arts/article22519854.html
MusicFEST 2019 Wins Prestigious Houston Arts Alliance Grant
The Willow Waterhole Greenspace Conservancy has been selected by the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs (MOCA) to receive a significant grant as part of its Arts & Cultural Plan for 2019. Administered by the Houston Arts Alliance (HAA), the three new grant programs: Support for Artist and Creative Individuals, Let Creativity Happen and Festival, are designed to Increase opportunities and investment in individual artists and creatives, encourage creative risk in the arts to spur innovation, and to celebrate the City of Houston’s strength in diversity through arts and cultural festivals. The program has selected 109 artists and 32 arts and cultural nonprofits for public exhibitions, performances and festivals in 2019 for the current year. Willow Waterhole Musicfest 2019 Presented by Willow Waterhole Greenspace Conservancy Inc has been selected within the Festivals section of the program, and the funds received will help support the Conservancy's efforts in producing one of the city's premier community music festivals which is now in its seventh annual edition.
Update! September 2017
Levitt Pavilion Houston at Willow Waterhole Greenway, will be part of the Levitt Foundation network of outdoor music venues. This site was chosen by Levitt Foundation and the City of Houston after a site-search in 2012. In addition to the beautiful setting provided at Willow Waterhole, the search concluded that the area provided strong socio- economic diversity, great accessibility, enthusiasm from an engaged community, and a clear need for economic revitalization along South Post Oak. Additionally, the adjacent Westbury Neighborhood is zoned to elementary, middle, and high schools, each featuring a highly-regarded “music magnet” program.
How Willow Waterhole became a model for flood control in Houston
Eric Leshinsky, via OffCite
Houston Chronicle
The prevailing story in Houston is that not enough is being done to mitigate flooding. It's hard to argue with that, given the rising impacts from flooding, the city's long-standing culture of privileging growth at all costs and our historical unwillingness to steer that growth in any way that would reduce the risk of flooding.
But there's another story that tends to get lost in the conversation that follows every devastating storm. What if the problem isn't that we have done too little to manage floods, but that we have not been smart about it?
The fifth annual Willow Waterhole MusicFest is April 22-23, 2017
The fifth annual MusicFest at Willow Waterhole is scheduled for April 22-23
New concert venue approved for southwest Houston
Jack Witthaus, Web producer
Houston Business Journal
Houston City Council approved plans Dec. 14 to build the Levitt Pavilion at the Willow Waterhole Conservation Reserve, according to the Houston Chronicle. The venue is expected to open in 2019.
Council OKs plans to build SW Houston concert space
Rebecca Elliott, Houston Chronicle
City Council on Wednesday approved plans to construct a concert venue, the Levitt Pavilion, at Willow Waterhole in southwest Houston.
The pavilion is set to open in 2019 near the intersection of South Post Oak and South Main, according to its website, paid for by the Los Angeles-based Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation. Local government corporation Houston First, meanwhile, is on tap to fund capital repairs for the venue's first 15 years of operation, up to a maximum of $1 million.
Levitt Pavilion officially a 'go' in downtown Dayton
Tristan Navera,Senior Reporter
Dayton Business Journal
With $4.3 million committed, the namesake organization behind the proposed Levitt Pavilion in downtown Dayton says the project is a go.
Levitt had raised $4.2 million of its $5 million goal by mid-November, before the Giving Tuesday push, it said. Now with the project in the home-stretch of fundraising, the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation said Thursday the project is getting the go-ahead, committing to the mid-2017 ground-breaking at the Dave Hall Plaza at Fourth and Main. They expect to hit the $5 million mark by then.
New Study Examines How Creative Placemaking Builds Social Capital in Communities
As interest in measuring and understanding the impact of arts investments in community development continues to grow, a new study released in November, Setting the Stage for Community Change: Reflecting on Creative Placemaking Outcomes, offers insights for the field of “creative placemaking” and is a working illustration of what can and can’t be learned from different impact measurement approaches.
The Man on a Mission to Bring the Green
Katharine Shilcutt, Houstonia
“It’s been beyond successful,” says Turner of the busy park, which his department showcased as a project when the National Recreation and Park Association held its annual conference here three years ago. It was a rare bit of bragging for a man who’s often too busy to take credit for his own ideas, including such ambitious projects as Bayou Greenways 2020, which aims to connect 10 of the city’s major bayous via a system of interconnected parks and trails.
In fact, Turner appears downright fixated on his mission of “meeting the needs of the city with our green space.” His days are packed with meetings and data-delving sessions, with his team using everything from 311 calls to demographic stats from the Health Department to figure out where they should be concentrating their efforts.
Nonprofit Puts On Free Concerts To Build ‘Community Through Music’
Matthew J. Buettner, CBSDenver.com
A nonprofit organization in Denver dedicated to building community through music is putting on a series of free concerts this year.
Levitt Pavilion Denver began its string of free concerts this summer. The nonprofit is working to get its new venue in Denver’s Ruby Hill Park operational by July 2017, but the organization has been putting on the free shows in Civic Center Park this year in advance of that.
Free Concerts Underway
THE MORTIMER & MIMI LEVITT FOUNDATION is dedicated to reinvigorating America’s public spaces through creative placemaking and creating opportunities for everyone to experience the performing arts. The need for more third places—those informal gathering spots outside the realms of home and the workplace—has become increasingly clear in today’s world and guides us in our community-driven efforts. Our goal is to reflect the best of American city life by creating community and social interaction among people of all ages and backgrounds; empowering cities across America to reclaim green spaces and reinvigorate public spaces; and ensuring the performing arts are accessible to all through high quality, free concerts.
Five Ways Houston Can Finally Be a Great Music City
Houston is an amazing city in many ways, and can legitimately boast of its diverse population, a great museum district, and other things that make it a great place to live, but its live music scene rarely gets the credit that it should. The Bayou City has had great local bands and venues stretching back many decades, with legendary venues like the Axiom and Rudyards having hosted countless hard working Houston bands. But the fact remains that Houston doesn't often get included in lists of great American music cities, and it sometimes feels like playing and watching bands play here is more difficult than it has to be. Here are a few things that I think need to change if we want Houston to become a better place for bands to play and audiences to see them.
Sylvester Turner sworn in as Houston's 62nd mayor
HOUSTON (KTRK) --
Sylvester Turner was sworn in as the city of Houston's 62nd mayor in a private ceremony at City Hall Saturday morning.
Designs unveiled for south Denver concert venue
Backers of a proposed venue for free outdoor concerts in south Denver have unveiled design renderings and a site plan for the project.
Plans call for Levitt Pavilion Denver, a 7,500-capacity amphitheater, to open in July 2017 at Ruby Hill Park, located along the South Platte River between West Florida and West Jewell avenues across the river from Overland Golf Course.
Rendering of Levitt Pavilion Houston
See the rendering of the Levitt Pavilion Houston 2018