The town of Galva had music in the air on many Sundays this past summer, thanks to a money they received from the Levitt Foundation.
The national foundation looks to strengthen the “social fabric of America through free live music” and awarded the Galva Arts Council a $25,000 matching grant to produce a 10-week free live music.
John Taylor, one of the concerts series’ chief organizers says that they are in the running for the same grant to help them hold the series in the Summer of 2019.
They are applying for the grant but are planning on booking national and regional musical acts regardless.
Taylor says Galva is past the first stage of selection and the next stage involves public voting.
Starting on Nov. 1 you can support Galva by voting through levittamp.org.
“As far as what you can expect for next year, I think it’ll be real similar to what we did this year,” Taylor tells WGIL. “A lot of it comes down to money, but there may be some upgrades to things that we’re doing.”
He says it will actually make booking acts a little easier if they don’t get the grant.
“We actually have to get all of the bookings approved through the Levitt Foundation, so they could veto something. I don’t think that they would, and we didn’t have anything that was questionable this last year. But they do have the right to come in and say [you can or can’t] book a specific act.”
Taylor says high on that list is building a permanent stage for Wiley Park, but being that it’s a city park, he calls it a “process.”
Last year they bought a new sound system for the Arts Council, which Taylor says was a major expense.
Taylor also says he believes that all other communities that received the grant had at least some paid staff, while Galva’s team consisted entirely of volunteer.
