The Summer Sundown Music Series, presented by Longmont nonprofit Homeless Outreach Providing Encouragement, better known as HOPE, kicked off in July and featured a lineup of four previous installments of music and conversation.
The series sprung from the imagination of HOPE Development Director Kimberly Braun, who said she was seeking ways to dive deeper into the community and create new avenues for collaboration and partnerships after joining the nonprofit in March just as the coronavirus pandemic was taking hold. She sees the series, particularly the after talks, as a stepping stone to HOPE being “a conduit for deeper dialogue” and to be part of community solutions.
In an interview in June, Braun said her goal was for the series to offer a little something for everyone’s tastes. The artists represented a range of musical styles from bluegrass to Brazilian to Celtic to rock ‘n’ roll to Swedish to symphonic. The after talks also explored a broad range of subjects such as mental health, social stigmas and restorative justice.
The suggested donation for each concert was $20, with half of the proceeds going to performers and half to HOPE. As the series wraps up, Braun via an email on Thursday said, it has been well received.
“We raised about $4,000 and had about 200 viewers each time … totaling 1,000 or more enjoying music,” she said. “Not all donated but the reach was wonderful.”
She added that the talks focusing on social challenges “ were truly compelling” and she expects the series to bear longer-term fruit in building relationships with nonprofits in the community.
All the shows and talks were livestreamed from Unity of Boulder Church, which is providing its auditorium as a performance space and its tech expertise to stream the shows.
The Thursday concert will start at 7 p.m., followed by the talk by Brown, who is the author of “Active Peace: A Mindful Path to a Nonviolent World.”Learn more and register or donate here.
