It takes a village. That’s what Mike Killeen, Christine Mahin and Drew Robinson recall when they think of the early days of the Amplify My Community musical festival. It started as a group of friends who loved music and wanted to make a difference. The village part is the most important. The village is home to the countless local businesses, individuals and city officials who donated their time, money and efforts into transforming a vision into a reality. And don’t forget the artists—an increasingly growing group of singers and songwriters who not only believe in the show, but the cause.

Why not just gather a bunch of people passionate about music and causes and start a musical festival? And then, give all the money away. Easy, right?

“We believe, and still do, that music has the power to bring together people of different backgrounds and beliefs,” says Killeen, who also is a local musician, and President and CEO of Lenz Inc.

For Killeen, Robinson and Mahin, Amplify My Community, the name it was given, would help raise money and awareness for local-based, nonprofit organizations. The plan was to give every dollar raised at the concerts to the charities. The thought was instead of these groups spending any more time holding fundraisers, etc., Amplify My Community could be an avenue to help. “Honestly, we didn’t know how to do it, but we thought we could figure it out,” Killeen recalls. “Part of the process was that if we were going to do this, it would take everyone.”

That first show was small, but cathartic. In 2011, the Amplify team secured Eddie’s Attic and brought in the Lindsay Rakers Band, The Bitteroots and Trances Arc. They identified the Decatur Cooperative Ministry as the organization it wanted to help and raised $6,000.

“Fundraising has become increasingly difficult for nonprofit organizations,” says Drew Robinson, Amplify co-Board Chair and Senior VP at Newmark. “Charities typically rely on grants, individual donations and event-based fundraising. Grants are highly restrictive in their specificity; individual donations can be somewhat sporadic; and event-based fundraising can create a tremendous burden on time. Our gifts are unrestricted and can be used in any way they see fit.”

Take what the Decatur Cooperative Ministry did with an Amplify donation. The nonprofit used the gift to transition 75 families from living in hotel rooms to permanent housing. Funds also have been used to keep people from homelessness or on need-based school supplies, college scholarships, student meals, mental health resources, etc.

Moving from the intimacy of that first show, Amplify continues to grow. Over the past 13-plus years (a 2020 pandemic blip aside), the event has hosted artists like the Indigo Girls, Lucinda Williams, Mavis Staples, Patty Griffin, Melissa Etheridge, Ben Harper, Jeff Tweedy, The Jayhawks, Rodney Crowell, Dawes, Blind Boys of Alabama, Shawn Mullins, The War & Treaty, and others.

A recent addition has been the small stages on Friday evening, where locals can see free shows and events at local restaurants like the Brick Store Pub, Mellow Mushroom, O’Sullivan’s, Leon’s, The Marlay and The Reading Room. Amplify also hosts events in Athens, Georgia; Nashville, Tennessee; Asheville, North Carolina and Charlottesville, Virginia. “To walk around the town and hear live music pouring out of so many businesses warms our hearts,” says Mahin, Festival Director and the brainchild behind the event’s weekend-long concept. 

In a time when music and community together still matters, Amplify rolls on. “The Decatur community has meant everything to us,” Mahin says. “From immense support from the City of Decatur and its leadership, to the local businesses and volunteers who make us go, we are indebted and more inspired than ever.”