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Meet Chris Zacher of Levitt Pavilion Denver

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Zacher.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Chris. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
In 2009 the City of Denver was looking for a way to turn their third largest park (in their urban park system), Ruby Hill, into a destination. The 88-acre park located adjacent to the Platte River was acquired by the City of Denver in 1954 and functioned more or less as a neighborhood park for the majority of its existence. At 88 acres Ruby Hill Park sits just behind City Park and Washing Park in total acreage.

By 2009 Denver was in the early stages of a population boom. Denver Parks and Recreation realized this and saw a need to bring awareness to their underutilized parks. The idea was to help with overuse at their more well-known parks by adding amenities to parks like Ruby Hill. At the same time, The Levitt Foundation was looking to grow their network through P3 partnerships to help revitalize underused park spaces. In 2009 the District 7 Councilman was Chris Nevitt, Chris was introduced to the Levitt Foundation, the Levitt Foundation was intrigued by Denver, and a match was made to move forward with the idea.

Fast forward to June 2012. Councilman Nevitt and the Levitt Foundation were still interested, but the Levitt Foundation only funds P3’s including themselves, a City, and a non-profit. What they collectively needed someone to create a 501(c)(3), raise funds to construct a venue, and build a team to run the venue. In early June 2012, Councilman Nevitt was mingling with Denver business leaders in a high-rise in Chicago on a Downtown Denver Partnership Urban Exploration trip when he was introduced to Chris Zacher.

At the time, Chris Zacher was running the non-profit, City Park Jazz. Under Chris’ leadership, City Park Jazz had gone from a summer concert series that was teetering on collapse to become a thriving scene for Denverites. Chris Zacher weighed the pros and cons and decided that, while it was going to be a challenge to get Levitt out of the ground if successful Levitt was exactly what the Denver arts and cultural community needed.

Chris Zacher spent the next five years raising funds, engaging the community, and working to get make Levitt Pavilion Denver a reality. On July 17, 2017, Levitt Pavilion Denver open its doors and invited Denver into its new “living room”. Offering 50 free concerts a year Levitt Pavilion Denver offers open access to the arts for all Coloradans and their neighbors.

Has it been a smooth road?
I like the idea of a smooth road, but not certain what that looks like in reality. No matter what you’re involved in there are going to be bumps and bruises along the way. Starting a 501(c)(3) is not an easy proposition. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get Levitt out of the ground.

Fundraising for a music venue that can’t offer an ROI on someone’s investment which means that you are looking for people dedicated to your mission and their community. You have to convince people that investing in their community is just as important in investing in themselves. The story you are telling has to align with the desires of the donor. You can’t change this story to appease any single person, it has to be about the mission you’ve created. At the same time, it has to be a passion plea, if you don’t truly believe in what you are doing it’s impossible for others to believe in you. We accomplished this but it wasn’t easy.

The music industry is tough. I say this because the struggles in this industry are omnipresent. Each year is akin to starting a new company from scratch. You might have fans and systems down but the product you’re buying and selling in in constant flux, music changes, people’s tastes change, and competition for bookings is fierce.

We’d love to hear more about your organization.
Levitt Pavilion Denver is a non-profit music venue located in Ruby Hill Park just a few miles southwest of Downtown Denver. We ‘re a community-based organization working to increase access to the arts for patrons and artists. We offer 50 FREE concerts on our lawn each summer featuring local, national, and internationally recognized established and emerging artists.

According to Pollstar, in 2019 the average ticket price to a concert in the United States was $96.17. This is a prohibitive barrier for a large percentage of our population, especially here in Denver. We operate under a belief that everyone should have free and open access to the arts so that’s what we provide. While we’re not first or only organizations to put on free concerts we do it differently than anyone else. We have a state-of-the-art venue that holds 7,500 patrons and our production value is in line with what you would see at other major venues. We’re also working to raise the pay for local musicians along with providing them with opportunities that would not otherwise be available to them. In addition, we offer opportunities for underserved children in our community through our ancillary programs and partnerships.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Denver is an amazing city for a business like mine. The latest report from the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts (CBCA), released in November of 2018, indicates that Arts and culture had an economic impact to the tune of $573 million in 2017. In the same time frame, Arts and culture provided 11,820 jobs and $183.4 million in pay. With roughly 15 million people participating in arts and culture. Those are very strong numbers to support what a great City Denver is for arts-based non-profits organizations.

If someone is starting out I would recommend that they connect with other arts and cultural non-profit leaders in our community. Attended non-profit and industry-related mixers, talks, and events. Conduct a needs assessment for their idea and a feasibility study to make certain that they can be successful.

Cities can always improve, but that improvement is a partnership between the city, corporations, small businesses, and citizens. It works to all of our advantages when we’re forward-thinking, philanthropically minded, and community-focused.

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Image Credit:
Joel Rekiel

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