The arts, especially music, is helping to revitalize the Lehigh Valley’s cities, Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. told an audience at the second annual Community Lehigh Valley Music Conference in Bethlehem on Saturday.
Folk singer Lili Anel performs at Lehigh Valley Music Conference
Speaking on a panel discussion about “The Importance of Music and Art to Our Cities and Communities” – among about a dozen panel discussions at Bethlehem’s Banana Factory on the three-day conference’s keynote day – Panto said the arts have become “the engine that drives economic development. It works.”
“It’s not just about the amenities of the community, it’s about money,” Panto said. “You can make money with the arts.” He used as an example how Easton’s State Theatre had brought people back to Easton’s downtown after the area had gotten a reputation as undesirable.
“Suddenly, they were having a good time in downtown Easton again,” he said. That resurgence continued with other arts destinations such as the Crayola Gallery, and got another shot in the arm with Saturday’s opening of Lafayette College’s Art of Urban Environments Festival in the city.
The festival, an outdoor exhibit that will be on display for six months , coincide with a Fringe Festival that Chansonnette Theatre will hold for 16 weeks in the Lafayette Arts Plaza in Easton.
“You’re going to see a lot more festivals and events” as cities realize the benefits of the arts, Panto said.
Panto also said the arts can enrich not only comunities, but be personally enriching, as well. And he said ”not only the wealthy should be exposed to the arts.”
“I believe that if we exposed youth in the worst neighborhoods to arts, we’d turn them around.”
The music conference, which featured 65 performance showcases over its three days, drew about 190 participants and registrants – nearly double last year, organizer Ian Bruce said.
It was held in the shadows of the newly opened $70 million SteelStacks entertainment complex on former Bethlehem Steel property in south Bethlehem.
Patrick Brogan, vice president of performing arts for ArtsQuest, the nonprofit organization that built SteelStacks, spoke on a panel discussion about booking acts and said the Lehigh Valley has a music scene “unparalleled for cities this size” nationwide.
“I don’t think they know how great we have it in the Lehigh Valley,” he said.
Much of the rest of the conferences’ panels again focused on telling artists that success comes mostly to those who do the most to make it happen.
“You’ve got to work hard,” said Sam Younes, who books acts for Luops Rocks of Allentown and other venues, and helps manage the Dave Goddess Band.
Other panelists included iconic promoter Sid Bernstein, who first brought The Beatles to America, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame keyboardist Bernie Worrell, and Emmy Award winning sound editor and designer Harry Snodgrass.
The conference also featured 65 musical performances at a half-dozen venues – 60 percent more than it offered last year.
Mike Ferraro & The Young Republicans
The performers Saturday at The Banana factory included folk singer Lili Anel, who Sunday gives a sold-out Mothers Day brunch performance at SteelStacks’ Musikfest Café.
Also performing were rising regional bands. For example, Mike Ferraro and the Young Republicans, a trio from Hackensack, N.J., played a raw but impassioned set of rock-pop.
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