While Swallow Hill Music’s doors remain closed, we are striving to engage and expand our community through online programming.
As a year of unprecedented change and evolution continues, Swallow Hill Music CEO Paul Lhevine shares our vision for the rest of the year, and beyond.
For 40 years Swallow Hill has built community by bringing together performers with concert goers, music teachers with students, those who love to listen to and learn how to play music with accomplished musicians. Over the last 5 years, we have ensured that those in our community who wouldn’t have the opportunity otherwise due to economic conditions, would have access to a world of music education and experiences that so many of us take for granted. We have nurtured our music community in our flagship building and in venues and locations across the Denver Metro area.
Since March 13th – our lights have been turned off and our doors shuttered in the face of this global pandemic – we have re-tooled our work, re-focused our energy and re-imagined our future. And while we have waited for a sign letting us know when and how we can invite our patrons and students back into our building with public health as our number one priority, we recognized that the world changed and jumped at the new opportunities in front of us.
Swallow Hill’s mission is to bring the joy of music to life every day and for 40 years we have done just that. And we continue to fulfill our mission only now Swallow Hill is bringing the vibrancy and robustness of our programs to virtual platforms, from concerts and classes to our community outreach endeavors.
Where we once believed these on-line programs would merely serve as a stop-gap measure to get us through until life returned to normal, we have committed Swallow Hill to the business of creating virtual programs as a fully integrated part of the Swallow Hill community and music experience. This is much more than what may just appear to be a natural, if not late-to-the-game, adoption of technology, this is the recognition that the definition of “community” is changing and where and how community is formed is changing as well.
In furtherance of this vision, Swallow Hill has rolled out a host of on-line programming – in the months and years to come we will be experimenting with different types of programs, platforms, hardware, etc. as we refine the virtual look, feel and sounds of Swallow Hill. It’s the same organic growth process that Swallow Hill has employed from the first day we opened our doors – we listen with intentionality to the desires of our community members and we strive to adhere to our values grounded in community, leadership, inclusivity, respect, quality and cultivation.
Swallow Hill’s Online Music School is well underway with our second online 8-week session that began at the beginning of this month. And Swallow Hill Live, now in our 19th week, with more than 120 live-streamed concerts under our belts showcases a different artist every night of the week at 6:00PM MDT on Swallow Hill’s Facebook Live platform. And our Community Outreach team is busy developing virtual programming that will drive music education and experiences for our communities early childhood learners.
We are beyond excited to grow and develop our online programming with a focus on our values and commitment to our mission of bringing the joy of music to life every day. We can’t wait to reopen our doors for in-person shows and lessons – but we hope you will take an opportunity to be a part of the virtual community we are bringing together and support these efforts that keep us grounded in our humanity. These are not easy times but our resilience is showing through.
I hope you’re staying safe and healthy,
Paul Lhevine
CEO, Swallow Hill Music