ARLINGTON, Texas – Walking downtown sidewalks, residents might get the chance to hear the sounds of music flowing through the cityscape, drawing them to what Mayor Jim Ross calls the “Backyard of Arlington.”

The Levitt Pavilion of Performing Arts seeks to bring the community together with free, high-quality concerts.

When Mortimer Levitt was 15 years old, his father worked in New York pushing a pushcart near Coney Island, where he was just close enough to hear music coming from it. He told his son that one day, he would make enough money to buy tickets for them to watch a concert, instead of only hearing the echoes of it, Levitt Pavilion executive director Letatia Teykl said.

Levitt quit high school and began working in a clothing factory at 16 years old to begin working toward his dreams. When he got older, he decided to open his own clothing company, and eventually sold it to gain funding to provide free music venues across the country to provide concerts to those who don’t have enough funds for tickets.

Levitt’s wife, Annemarie “Mimi” Gratzinger Levitt, believed in the arts as a positive source for social change, leading her to establish the Mortimer Levitt Foundation with her husband in 1966 to support arts, culture and education, according to the group’s website. Levitt wanted to create a nonprofit organization that helped with the community’s need for music, and ensured that rich or poor, all residents could enjoy a well-produced concert.

“The story is so inspiring because when you look at our lawn base, it’s everybody,” Teykl said. “It doesn’t matter–it might be people that might buy the big ticket, it might be the people that can’t buy the ticket. At the end of the day, they’re all just out there enjoying the music.”

Teykl said that the foundation of the pavilion is built on the idea that a community is built through music. Through music, she and her team can bring people of all ages and ethnicities to “get fulfilled” on the Levitt lawn.

While it may seem that the pavilion is partnered with the city, Teykl said that it is a non-profit company and raises money through sponsors, foundation funding and residents donating what they can either online or on the lawn while volunteers carry illuminated buckets that hold cash donations. The money raised is used to pay the artists and to keep the organization operational, she said.

The Levitt Pavilion will rent out its lawn to different organizations to host events, like the Pride event and Momo festivals, during times when the Levitt isn’t hosting concerts. The pavilion uses the concert off-season to raise money to pay the artists who play on their stage during Levitt’s  free concert series, Teykl said.

Angela Peña, communications and program development director, started working at the Levitt Pavilion after her former coworker from another nonprofit, Teykl, said they needed someone “task oriented” to help organize the events. After working part-time for two years, Peña decided to follow her love for music and work full-time at the pavilion.

Peña said that on the lawn, it doesn’t matter what race you are. All that matters is that people are brought together by the music that they love to listen to. The pavilion is a “no judgement zone” where the people are dancing and having fun as a community, Peña said.

One of her favorite concerts was held in May 2022, and it was performed by Little Joe after a massive shooting had taken place. Little Joe was aware of how sensitive the crowd would be, and so he dedicated his concert to loving one another, supporting each other and spreading awareness to the community, which brought Peña to tears.

“This man put his rock star image aside, brought 5,000 people to the Levitt and he wanted to talk about being kind to one another,” she said.

The last concert of the Fall 2023 Concert Series held by the Levitt was performed by the War Hippies, a band made up of war-veterans who have seen a multitude of destruction take place on our planet and “want to be warriors in a garden, not gardeners in a war.”

Their mission is to “propagate peace, love, and safeguard the freedoms of people around the world,” their website said.

Paul Gaehring, the drummer for the War Hippies, said that they are constantly working with nonprofits because it’s important for them to give back and strengthen the community.

“We’re super into [bringing] people together, and that’s kind of our thing, that’s kind of our heart,” Gaehring said.