WHEELING, W.Va. — Wheeling Heritage advanced to the final round of the Levitt AMP [YOUR CITY] Grant Awards after almost a week and a half of public voting.

Supported by the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation, a social impact funder at the intersection of music and public spaces, Wheeling Heritage increases their opportunity to be chosen as a top ten finalists in the final round of the Levitt AMP [Your City] Grant Awards.

Wheeling Heritage, in partnership with the City of Wheeling, Wheeling CVB, and Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce submitted the proposal for Wheeling to present the free music series in the Market Street Plaza.

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Wheeling’s proposal was available for public voting against 35 other communities from across the country. To advance to the final round of consideration, Wheeling had to be within the top 20 cities after the voting phase. Wheeling finished ranked 17. Reflecting the Levitt Foundation’s mission that all Levitt projects are community-driven, the voting phase of the Levitt AMP [Your City] Grant Awards was an important way to measure community support.

“We are thrilled to have advanced to the final round of this competitive grant, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing support we received from each person who voted for wheeling,” said Alex Panas, Program Manager for Wheeling Heritage. “Now that it is out of our hands, we are waiting with our fingers crossed in hopes that the Levitt grant review committee sees the same potential in Wheeling that we do!”

The Levitt AMP [Your City] Grant Awards are an exciting, multi-year matching grant opportunity created by the Levitt Foundation to serve small to mid-sized towns and cities with populations up to 250,000. Nonprofits will receive a total matching grant of $90,000 over three years (2023, 2024, and 2025 at $30,000/year) to produce their own Levitt AMP Music Series—an outdoor, free concert series featuring a diverse lineup of professional musicians that reimagines an underused public space to create an inclusive destination for people of all ages and backgrounds.  

With this grant, Wheeling Heritage would have the ability to promote local acts, while also bringing in acts from outside the area.

Wheeling Heritage thanked the community for supporting them in the voting phase since they could not have moved to the final round without the community’s support.