Swallow Hill Music has become a Front Range cultural icon, offering 250 concerts to more than 92,000 patrons each year featuring world-class artists, experienced local performers and promising new talent. In addition to concerts, Swallow Hill Music has an active community outreach program, manages a scholarship fund and operates a successful music school. The organization defines itself as “a nonprofit community for individuals and families who want to learn about, listen to and perform music.”

For those in the community not familiar with Swallow Hill Music (swallow

hillmusic.org), it’s a jewel in the crown of Tier II Science and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD) organizations serving 147,000 patrons annually. Harry Tuft, who recently celebrated his 80th birthday, is credited with starting Swallow Hill as a performance-based expansion of his Denver Folklore Center. 

“I underestimated the learning curve,” says Paul Lhevine, CEO of Swallow Hill Music, when asked about insights gained since taking the helm in April 2015. That’s understandable considering his ideal background as a successful political operative, public affairs expert and cultural arts leader. Then again, Swallow Hill Music has a lot of moving parts.

Lhevine is one of those people you instantly like upon meeting. He’s personable and immediately instills confidence in his leadership direction for the organization. It’s somewhat ironic that after an intense nationwide search led by an executive placement consultancy and dedicated board members, Swallow Hill’s new CEO was right in our own backyard at Aurora Public Schools. 

So what’s on the horizon for Swallow Hill? Though the board and leadership are starting a strategic planning process anticipated to take the next several months to thoroughly develop, Lhevine is able to articulate key elements of their core direction. We can expect continued high-quality concert programming for first-time and seasoned performers, expanded music instruction and continued development of community partnerships.

Swallow Hill has experienced great success with the Lowry and Highlands satellite facilities, so the approach of adding other such venues will continue. “But we don’t want to expand too fast so we can keep the intimacy of the community we’ve built,” adds Lhevine. The intention is to bring the full Swallow Hill brand and offerings to those facilities.

The main campus is still Swallow Hill’s core location. According to Lhevine, the building “needs freshening up” but is a special place with great parking in a supportive neighborhood. 

Another of Swallow Hill’s plans: continue audience diversification, a challenge for most peer organizations. “All Tier II organizations are trying hard to diversify their audiences,” shares Lhevine. Starting early is key. One approach is outreach efforts in K-12 school education. Swallow Hill Music reaches nearly 5,000 K-12 students each year through lessons and assemblies.

Developing deep partnerships with organizations integrated in target communities is also critical. “It's not enough to simply announce programs and expect people to come. Success with such organizations is based upon true relationships,” asserts Lhevine. 

Additionally, inclusion of more musical genres is attracting younger and varied audiences to live performances. Through the scholarship fund and educational programming, music lessons are offered to those in underserved communities. More than $20,000 in scholarship grants each year assures that students of any income level can access music instruction. Make Music Denver (a partnership with the Denver Theatre District and Clyfford Still Museum presenting a free, all-day music celebration) and Altitud Latin American Music Festival are new offerings exemplifying Swallow Hill’s commitment to fostering inclusive cultural experiences. Service to community organizations allows Swallow Hill Music the opportunity to provide positive experiences to youth who have been identified as at risk.

Inclusivity also drives Swallow Hill’s music school, which hosts more than 51,000 visits annually through 950 music classes and 9,000 private lessons. In part because music instructors are employees loyal to Swallow Hill’s mission, they can be held to established standards. To ensure programs are improving consistently, students provide feedback formally and informally. There is a core curriculum featuring established milestones and skills progression.

“We're 80% earned revenue between tickets and tuition, but strategically we want to grow our fund development capacity,” says Lhevine. Most non-profits use benefits packages to attract sponsorships. Lhevine asserts “philanthropy changed in 2008-2011 with a greater emphasis placed on impact investing. Swallow Hill is doing impactful work that few others are doing. The more impact you're making, the more impact you have in a community, so those specific benefits matter less.” 

The leadership team remains cautious about being too corporate in their appeal, although Swallow Hill presents a unique opportunity for companies to demonstrate social responsibility. “Support us because we are part of the fabric of the creative class in the Denver Front Range,” is a powerful appeal to any company. Or any individual, for that matter.