The Lark Downtown

Mission: The Lark celebrates and nurtures art, music and life. Purpose: The Lark will foster the arts in Hastings and surrounding communities; providing artistic and cultural growth through observation, education, inspiration and participation. The Lark is a fully renovated performance and gathering space with superior acoustics, versatile lighting, and contemporary design grounded by historic elements. In addition to The Listening Room concert series, The Lark produces in-house arts programming and hosts visiting arts organizations as well as a variety of community and family meetings and events. The Listening Room Concert Series is a 501(c)3 non-profit and it's board of directors is the governing body for our building, The Lark. The concert series started in the Summer of 1991 as a brainstorm of our current director, Robin Harrell. The purpose was to create a "venue" for local singer/songwriters to perform their music to an appreciative audience of music lovers. The series quickly grew into a larger room with crowds of 100-150 featuring performers from across the country. For 20 years we rented space for 12 concerts a year. Our main location was 106 N. Denver Avenue, The Knights of Pythias, with its 1950's décor and clamshell stage. In 2011, the KP Club closed their doors and we started looking for a new location. Through the help of Hastings' CRA, we found our beautiful historic building located at 809 West 2nd Street. It had been vacant for 2 years. We began design work and writing a business plan that could turn our small non-profit into an organization that could renovate and support a downtown building. Our fundraising began in Fall of 2011 with a goal of $1.5 million. By December of 2013 we had raised $1 miilion, renovated the first floor performance space and opened our doors to the public. That $1 million came from state and local grants and the generosity of over 400 people in the greater Hastings area. Wow. We are still so inspired and grateful for the support we have received.