Rice Street Business Association
Rice Street Business Association
Back to FinalistsRice Street Business Association
Mission Statement
The Rice Street Business Association (RSBA) facilitates neighborhood-led programs and events to ensure Līhuʻe’s development is aligned with the vision and values in the Līhuʻe Community Plan and Kauaʻi General Plan, and yields community, collaboration, commerce, and sustainable growth.
Name of Public Space
Kauaʻi County Lawn
City, State
Līhuʻe, HI
Website
Partners
Organization Overview
The Rice Street Business Association (RSBA) was established in 2018 in response to the revitalization of Līhuʻe. Over the recent years, the RSBA has developed a wide array of community programming, such as: Aloha Friday Art Nights (muralists perform weekly live painting along Kress Street); Bikes on Rice (guided community bike rides); 2nd Saturday Night Markets; Small Business Mentoring; Rice Street Block Parties; Kauaʻi Pride Parade and; Līhuʻe Loops (walking tours to promote physical activity). The RSBA has also funded various public art projects across the island to support the beautification of public spaces. The RSBA is well-suited to execute the proposed Levitt AMP concert series in Līhuʻe given the strong relationships the organization has built with government and community stakeholders, particularly within the creative arts community. Over the last five years, the RSBA has also demonstrated its passion and ability to plan and execute large-scale community events and programs (500+ attendees) in public spaces.
Proposal Details
How will your town or city benefit from a Levitt AMP [Your City] Music Series and how will the series reflect the three main goals of Levitt AMP: 1) Amplify community pride and the city’s unique character; 2) enrich lives through the power of free, live Music; 3) illustrate the importance of vibrant public Places?
The overarching mission of the proposed Levitt AMP Music Series (“Live at the Lawn”) is to revitalize Līhuʻe’s public spaces through inspiring musical performances. The Levitt AMP Music Series will be presented through a ten to twelve week live music series at the Kauaʻi County Lawn, which will take place annually in the fall from 2023 to 2025. The live music series will be designed in such a way that it uplifts the three main goals of Levitt AMP:
1) Amplify community pride and the city’s unique character is the heart of this proposed music series. This will begin in the media and marketing of the music series, which will center local musicians and artists, as well as imagery of the Kauaʻi County Lawn and prominent public spaces in Līhuʻe. This will present a rare opportunity for Kauaʻi-based musicians and artists to showcase their talent in front of 1,000+ audience members, but will also be beneficial to Līhuʻe-residents, who have limited venues to enjoy live, local music.
2) Enriching lives through the power of free, live music is unfortunately an aspect of life that is sorely missing in Līhuʻe and throughout the Hawaiian Islands. Currently, there is no active music venue on the island of Kauaʻi, making live music only available at restaurants, hotels, and other private venues. These live music outlets cater primarily to tourists and are often unaffordable and inaccessible for many local residents. Through the proposed Levitt AMP Music Series, residents in Līhuʻe and surrounding communities will be afforded the opportunity to enjoy free, live music on an ongoing basis from fall 2023 to 2025. In addition to providing much needed social interaction, live music has also been shown to lower stress, increase mental positivity, and may contribute to higher life expectancies.
3) Illustrating the importance of vibrant public places is a cornerstone mission of the RSBA and partnering organizations. This music series will build upon previous and current efforts by RSBA and other community organizations to create vibrant public spaces—largely through public artwork—which are safe and accessible to pedestrians. For example, in 2020, RSBA partnered with the County of Kauaʻi to receive the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) “Our Town” Grant. This grant allowed RSBA to create a locally-owned business which offers a wide selection of locally designed and handcrafted products (Alakoko Shop), and develop regular community events and programs such as the Aloha Friday Live Mural Painting and 2nd Saturday Night Markets, which regularly see 500+ in attendance. Thus, through the proposed concert series, our team hopes to build upon previous efforts to activate the Kauaʻi County Lawn and create a better connection between this cherished green space and the Līhuʻe Town Core Center, as well as the greater community.
Explain how the Levitt AMP [Your City] Music Series will play a role in enlivening the selected public space and surrounding areas.
In addition to providing social and economic benefits to Līhuʻe residents and businesses, the proposed concert series will also activate the Kauaʻi County Lawn and surrounding areas to foster a more livable, multimodal, and age-friendly Līhuʻe. There has been major public investment via the “Lihuʻe Town Core Mobility and Revitalization Project” (funded by the TIGER grant) to improve the Rice Street through pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, as well as other streetscape improvements. However, there is still much work to be done in terms of developing events and programming of public spaces to attract residents to Līhuʻe. By creating a weekly destination through live music for nearly a 1,000 people, our team hopes to revitalize a critical downtown area and provide incremental improvements to support the County’s goals to create a vibrant and pedestrian-friendly Līhuʻe.
This proposed concert series will build on the previous and current work by RSBA and other community partners such as Get Fit Kauaʻi. This organization recently implemented the “Lihuʻe Loop”, which is a self-guided audio walking tour through Lihuʻe. RSBA supported this program by partnering with local middle school students to record their voices as they explained the history of the different landmarks included in the Lihuʻe Loop. These voice recordings are accessible along the walking tour by scanning QR codes. This project demonstrates the RSBA’s capacity to partner with local organizations to develop innovative ways to attract residents to often “overlooked” public spaces within their city and provide new opportunities for learning, physical activity, and social interaction.