First Level Exchange Music Festival to showcase RI's artistic talent

By Matt Bower
Posted 1/14/16

Lindsey Lerner, a former Warwick resident and graduate of Bryant University last spring, has a steadfast admiration for the City of Providence and an undying determination to see it thrive, …

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First Level Exchange Music Festival to showcase RI's artistic talent

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Lindsey Lerner, a former Warwick resident and graduate of Bryant University last spring, has a steadfast admiration for the City of Providence and an undying determination to see it thrive, especially when it comes to the local entertainment scene.

“There are so many amazing, innovative things happening and transpiring in Providence,” she said.

Nowhere was Lerner’s determination more evident than the D.Y.D. (Do YOUR Dance) initiative she formed in collaboration with original hip-hop artist Phil “Phantom” Terry. D.Y.D. started out as a means to encourage people to discover their passion, pursue it, and share their story with others in an effort to get them to do the same, a message that was common in Phantom’s songs, but Lerner took things to another level when she transformed D.Y.D. into a vehicle aimed at connecting local musicians and entertainment establishments in an effort to mutually benefit one another while growing the live music scene.

Toward that end, Lerner organized several live concert showcases under the D.Y.D. moniker that brought together a wide array of musicians, including solo acts as well as touring bands spanning multiple genres of music. The movement may have started out small with a couple shows at Olive’s Martini Bar in Providence, but thanks to Lerner’s tenacious attitude and unyielding work ethic, the movement continued to grow and expand, culminating in the Fair Trade Music Series, which was held at The MET in Pawtucket last April.

Never one to sit idly by resting on her laurels, Lerner is ready to write the next chapter in her ever evolving quest to achieve a means of fair compensation for local artists and musicians with the establishment of the first annual Level Exchange Music Festival to be held in the Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket on Jan. 30.

“D.Y.D. was focused a lot more on shows and was used as a creative outlet with an online platform toward bridging artist and establishment,” Lerner said. “With the upcoming festival event, we’re raising awareness of the local community, which is unlike anything we’ve done in the past. This will be a showcase of the amazing talent Providence has to offer, all in one day.”

The upcoming festival will offer more than just music. Lerner said she’s working to get the 133 businesses and vendors working out of the Village area to open their doors to festival attendees and showcase their work/items.

According to the Hope Artiste Village website, www.hopeartistevillage.com, “Hope Artiste Village hosts a creative mix of art studios, live/work lofts, retail shops, light industrial workshops and professional office suites. This thriving mill space boasts cafes, a coffee roaster, a live music venue, fitness studios, designers, artisans, event spaces and a bustling wintertime farmer’s market.”

Lerner describes Level Exchange as the marketplace for music and performing artists to connect with local establishments for mutual profit based on Fair Trade principles. Through Level Exchange, she’s looking to create a steady stream of income for artists and a steady stream of customers for local establishments.

“This is not a platform for artists to simply get gigs,” she said. “The platform gives artists and establishments the tools to better themselves and foster community at the local level.”

Lerner said Level Exchange is about getting people to understand the intersection of the art of business and the business of art.

“We’re looking to start the push for local arts and local commerce to have value and get people to understand the importance of the relationship between the two,” she said. “The more that message is understood, the better off both communities will be.”

Lerner said her work with local musicians has helped her gain perspective of the struggles they face.

“Many times, musicians don’t know what to do, so they keep doing what everyone else is doing, hoping it will work – banging their head against the wall even though it hurts,” she said.

Rather than collaborate, Lerner said many organizations often compete with one another since they are nonprofits and there are only so many grants to go around, but she’s hoping to change that.

“Collaboration can lead to exciting and creative outcomes,” she said. “This is the first event of its kind. I know it won’t go perfectly, but having all these people get together, that’s where random collisions happen and new things emerge.”

A perfect example of what Lerner is talking about is the creation of local musical duo The Silent Shoals, which was born out of the Fair Trade Music Series. That concert featured solo artists Mike Maven and Aubrey Mable, who met for the first time that night while sharing the stage and developed what would come to be known as The Silent Shoals. The duo has since written and performed original material together, including recent stops in Colorado and Texas.

The Silent Shoals will be joined by a number of other local acts at the Level Exchange Music Festival, including Nobody’s Boyscout, The Fates, Beth Killian, Peyton Judge, Tammy LaForest, Jetty, K&M Music, Sean Murphy, an acoustic set by Sun of Sound, Caleb Erza, and Nate Cozzollino and The Lost Arts.

In an effort to ensure the musicians are fairly compensated, a fundraising donation page has been set up at www.gofundme.com/levelexchangemusic, where a $50 donation will be rewarded with a VIP ticket that grants backstage access with the musicians. Lerner said a portion of the proceeds would benefit the nonprofit Youth In Action.

The Level Exchange Music Festival will be held on Saturday, Jan. 30 at the Hope Artiste Village, located on Main Street in Pawtucket. A farmer’s market will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., with music starting at 11 a.m. Tickets will be $5, available at the door.

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