Hear GI Advances to Public Voting Phase for a Grant
SEPTEMBER 2, 2025 — Hear Grand Island is now in the running to win $120,000 to enhance its free outdoor music series in Grand Island starting in 2026.
With funding from the Levitt Foundation—a national social impact funder at the intersection of music, public space, and community building that supports the largest free outdoor concert series in America—Hear Grand Island hopes to qualify as a finalist to receive a Levitt Music Series Grant. The public is urged to support Hear Grand Island’s proposal by participating in the public voting process, via online or text to vote, taking place from September 5-15, 2025, at www.levitt.org/vote.
Levitt Music Series Grants are an exciting, multi-year matching grant created by the Levitt Foundation to bring the joy of free outdoor concerts to towns and cities across the country. For the 2026–2028 grant cycle, the Levitt Foundation will award U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofits up to $120,000 over three years (up to $40,000 per year), to produce their own Levitt Music Series—7-10 free outdoor concerts annually featuring a diverse lineup of music genres with professional musicians, activating an underused public space, creating a vibrant, inclusive community destination for people of all ages and backgrounds.
Hear Grand Island submitted the proposal for Grand Island to present the free music series in Railside. Grand Island’s proposal is now posted on the Levitt Foundation website, where the public can vote and learn more about the proposals from across the country that have advanced to the voting phase. An individual may submit one vote for up to five proposals of their choosing. There are two easy ways for the public to cast their vote: online at levitt.org/vote or via text the keyword HEARGI to 877-409-5525.
Reflecting the Levitt Foundation’s mission that all Levitt projects are community-driven, the public voting phase of the Levitt Music Series Grants selection process is an important way to measure community support. The number of online and text votes received for Hear Grand Island will be one of the key factors used when the Levitt Foundation determines the grant recipients this November.
Online public voting opens September 5, at 10:00 a.m. PT and ends September 15, at 5:00p.m. PT. The 50 finalists will be selected through the online and text-to-vote public voting phase. The Levitt Foundation will then review the top proposals to select the Levitt Music Series Grants recipients, which will be announced on November 18, 2025.
“Hear Grand Island has become a true community treasure, and partnering with the Levitt Foundation gives us an incredible chance to elevate summer Friday nights in Grand Island,” said Melissa DeLaet, CEO of the Greater Grand Island Community Foundation. “Our community has wholeheartedly embraced this concert series, and now more than ever, we invite your support to help it grow.”
Hear Grand Island asks supporters to spread the word throughout the community to family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors and rally the community to vote for Here Grand Island’s proposal. Learn more at www.levitt.org/vote.