Levitate Foundation’s Emerging Artists to Watch
- Sarah Bruno
- Jul 27
- 5 min read
At Levitate Festival, I had the pleasure of working with two artists who received The Levitate Foundation’s $5,000 grant and were spotlighted to the public on the Soul Stage. The grant was put in place for these emerging artists to use toward studio time, production, engineers, or whatever they see fit for their debut studio albums. Many of these artists have fewer than 1,000 streams on streaming services and less than 2,000 followers on social media platforms. Most of these small artists are from New England and are seeking their first festival experience. I really appreciated that the grants went to artists whose careers will be significantly affected by the exposure of playing at the Levitate Festival and receiving the grant after the performance.
I was able to sit down with Casey Rivers, who is originally from the greater Chicago area and described her hometown as “shopping malls and small preserves to walk your dog through,” but New England has become her new home in a seemingly life-changing way. Rivers recently moved to Rhode Island and can’t see herself living anywhere else now. She fell in love with New England because of its beautiful nature, hikes, surf culture, and music… she talked about how there was a little adjustment to the culture, such as no on-ramps to the busy highways, but is enjoying more opportunities to get outside and meet like-minded people who care for the environment in the same way she does. Conservation of wildlife, rivers, and the environment is driving both her music and day job. After taking an aquatic ecology course in college, she realized that environmental conservation could be a full-time job and said, “This can be a job? I want to do this forever.” Rivers works to preserve the land and rivers in Hope Valley, RI during the day and is a fantastic indie-folk storyteller by night.
As a musician, she writes about her frustrations with environmental injustices and how the environment is treated so poorly by the government and other forces beyond her control. We started talking a little more about her songwriting process, as her storytelling is completely captivating and makes you wonder how she truly does it. As a way to process events and better understand situations, she turns to writing. In her writing, she aims to create visuals and characters who help her see situations she’s experiencing from a different point of view. She has been playing the guitar since age 12, and her natural ability to tell a story all came together around four years ago when she first started her career as a musician. I was thoroughly impressed by her ability to start going to open mics at different bars and restaurants in a brand-new city, while she promised herself she would write new songs within a week of the next open mic to perform. She found that writing and putting songs out publicly were very beneficial, as they helped her meet new friends and see the response to her new songs each week.
She continuously expressed her gratitude for The Leviate Foundation and how life-changing it felt to be chosen on such a larger stage. Rivers said that the grant from the foundation really pushed her to take the next step to put the album into motion. She wrote a ton of new songs over the winter and was unsure what to do with them. With the grant, she aims to release her first studio album and a live recording of her music! Fans can expect the album to sound Americana-folk (as John Prine is one of her biggest musical influences), with rerecorded songs and a few extra tracks that she will release with the new album. As the interview was winding down, I felt like I understood her passion for nature and had to ask, “What is/are your favorite river (s)?” She immediately recommended the National Buffalo River, Fox River, and Wood River in Rhode Island. Casey Rivers, as a person, is filled with passion and motivation to succeed. As an artist, Casey Rivers is someone to keep an eye out for her storytelling abilities and a gorgeous blend of Americana indie-folk music.
I also had the privilege of interviewing another emerging artist, Laney Powers, who was also the recipient of The Levitate Foundation’s grant and invitation to play on the Soul Stage on Sunday. Power’s posse was hard to miss, as there were about 5 girls wearing shirts bedazzled with “LP,” “Laney Powers,” or “I love Laney.” I wanted to know more about these girls, their bedazzled shirts, and Laney Powers herself. I was welcomed into her dressing room as if I was just hanging out with my friends. They had a bedazzler on site and even offered if I wanted my shirt to have colorful gems on it. I interviewed her friends first to hear how her close friends know her and the impact Powers has had on them. One friend said that her favorite things about Laney were “how every creative outlet she uses, you can feel all of the emotion that she puts into her work.” Her other friends talked about how fun she is to be around, how genuinely herself she is, and her uniqueness that inspires them.
I felt like these descriptions really fit her online persona on Instagram and TikTok; she doesn’t try to fit the mold like so many artists do to be seen as successful. I interviewed Powers about how it felt to be involved with The Levitate Foundation, including an invitation to perform and receive the grant at The Levitate Festival. Powers said, “I know so many people in the music industry who are similar to me and trying to make it. The fact that I just happened to be lucky and to be the thing they [Levitate Foundation] were looking for feels so unreal but also so amazing.” Her biggest musician influences at the moment are indie-folk artists such as Adrienne Lenker, Faye Webster, and Sufjan Stevens; as well as pieces of “ear candy” from anywhere (i.e., Instagram, other smaller artists, and life) that get stuck in her head and help her come up with more ideas for songs. As for her songwriting inspiration, she draws heavily on her most personal feelings, such as her relationships and life. Though she only has two published songs out now, I am excited to see what she will do next for her music career!
Read more about the festival weekend and view the full gallery here!
