Report on the First Democracy Festival in the U.S. Capital Region

Learning Life held the first Democracy Festival in U.S. capital region on Saturday, October 26 at 1-6pm.  Held at Friendship Collegiate Academy in northeast Washington, DC, DemFest:

1. Drew at least 182 participants from the DC region and beyond.
2. Fostered collaborations with 35 organizations, including high schools, university partners, government agencies, businesses, and nonprofit advocacy groups in the DC region.
3. Included diverse democracy-related discussions, skill-building workshops, a democracy wall, organizational tables, comedy, theater, and a youth assembly on mental health.  Click here to view the full 2024 DemFest schedule.
4. Substantially expanded Learning Life’s event organizing experience and materials for future DemFests, including lists of potential partners, volunteers, interested participants, as well as documents and goods (DemFest sign-up sheets, surveys, posters, tote bags, t-shirts, magnets, etc.).

See the photo collage below for a visual sense of DemFest 2024.

“DemFest 2024 marks the beginning of new democratic tradition in our nation’s capital region.  It helps make democracy more engaging for a wider spectrum of DC area residents, including youth, who constitute the future of American democracy.  Thus, we intend to expand DemFest with each subsequent year in order to widen citizen participation, especially in this era of serious challenge to American democracy,” said Paul Lachelier, Learning Life’s founder.

DemFest is the second significant step in the development of a wider DMV Democracy Community in the Washington, DC area, following on the first step, Learning Life’s Democracy Dinners.  Launched in June 2019, the Dinners began as a way to connect and engage a growing number of democracy professionals in the DC region in conversations about the threats and opportunities for democracy at local to global levels.

With now 48 Dinners completed, 300+ participants, plus a wider network of 8,000+ democracy-related professionals in the capital area with whom Learning Life communicates, in 2025 Learning Life is launching the third step in the development of the DMV Democracy Community: the DMV Democracy Dispatch, an email newsletter to expand the Community, and help regularly inform and connect interested democracy stakeholders in the DC region, including government and nonprofit professionals, democracy-related business leaders, plus school and university teachers, staff and students.

“With the 2024 elections over, and challenging years ahead for democracy, what we as citizens do now, together, matters for the future of our nation.  If you live in the Washington, DC region, there is no better time to take part in the growing DMV Democracy Community to connect, learn, and strengthen democracy,” said Lachelier.

Learning Life would like to thank our DemFest sponsors: our site host, Friendship Public Charter Schools and their staff, as well as Open Gov Hub, Allied Telecom, and individual sponsors, Michael Brown, Matt Clausen, Laurie Cooper, Nichola Dyer, Amy Fisher Bruey, Ana, Francois, Philippe and Suzanne Lachelier, Cindy Mah, Bill Schneider, Nusrat Sultana, and generous anonymous donors.

We would also like to thank the many organizations and individuals who contributed publicity, tabling, speakers, performances, volunteers, ticket purchases, discounted goods, and/or else.  The contributing organizations, in alphabetical order, were:

Alliance for Regional Cooperation (ARC)
AmeriCorps
Better Angels – DC Chapter
Capital City Restaurant Group
Center for Free, Fair, and Accountable Democracy (CFFAD)
Center for Partisanship
Center for Religion & Diplomacy
Center for Values in International Development
Cesar Chavez Public Charter School
DC American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
DC Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, Office of
DC Board of Elections
DC Statehood Green Party
DC Tutoring & Mentoring Initiative (DCTMI)
DC Vote
Defending Rights & Dissent
Friendship Public Charter Schools
Georgetown Democracy, Education + Service (GeoDES)
Governance Alive LLC
Grassroots Comedy
Guided DC Museum Tours
GW Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service
The makers of “Join Or Die,” a documentary film
League of Women Voters of DC
Lutheran College Washington Semester
Make All Votes Count DC
Maryland Libertarian Party
Marymount University Center for Career Development & Community Engagement
Mikva Challenge
Multilateral Project Against Extremism (mPAX)
Open Gov Hub
Rising Organizers
Ron Brown College Preparatory High School
The Civic Circle
Tonic Theater Company

We were honored to have Prince George’s County Council Member Wala Blegay speak as part of a panel on careers in politics, and the former Mayor of Minneapolis, MN, Betsy Hodges, speak on democracy, race, gender and immigration.  Other contributing individuals, in alphabetical order by first name, were:

Alaina Leasure, Alannah Poplawski, Amy Nilsson, April Calderon, Audrey Banks, Avery James, Avram Reisman, Ben Yavitz, Bill Schneider, Caitlyn Shrewsbury, Carolyn Elder, Carolyn Lukensmeyer, Chase Bowsher, Chris Blackwood, Conor Kellicutt, Diya Jaisankar, Dorothy Simon, Elene Japaridze, Ellen Myers, Elton Skendaj, Emily Tang, Eunjin Park, Gabriela Hilario, German Eiras (wife, Andrea, and their daughter), Grace Anderson, Harrison Reinisch, Hasan Abumelha, Ian Bastida, Jacob Schwartz, James Liska, Jeffrey Richardson, Jenna Tooley, Jessie Tucker, Jiayi Wang, Joshua & Cindy Kisubika, Julee Sharma, Kadir Jun Ayhan, Kailee Sullivan, Kate Griesemer, Kayla Huong, Kurt Elftmann, Kiyono Hasaka & James Gomez, Kyle O’Donnell, Kymone Freeman, Leslie Figueroa-Borja, Lorelei Kelly, Luke Nathan Phillips, Ma’Shayla Hearns, Maddy Keen, Maebelle Faragallah, Maggie Yang, Mahum Shah, Matt Hurtt, Matt Turanchik, Melani McAlister, Mike Cooper, Nichola Dyer, Nick LaCascia, Nkosi Crawford, Paule Ndjiki-Nya, Peter Amponsah, Peter Vicenzi, Racquel Garcia, Danielle Reiff, Remaya Campbell, Rylee Christian, Samantha Cruz, Sami White, Summer Anwer, Sunny Kim, Suzanne Lachelier, Theo Kim, Trevor Ruszczyk, Valery Mayorga Garcia, Vinay Orekondy, Walter Heiser, Yvonne Oh, Zaineb Majoka, Zayd Hamid, and Paul Zeitz.  Our apologies for anyone we missed!  You can notify us of any omissions via email@learninglife.info.

 

 

 

Sat, Oct 26 at DemFest: No Sense of Decency

Get your DemFest tickets and RSVP for updates! 

Learning Life and Tonic Theater are pleased to present a reading of the play, No Sense of Decency, at the first Democracy Festival in the U.S. capital region on Saturday, October 26, 2024, at 2:30-4:30pm.

No Sense of Decency, by Richard Vetere, is set in Washington D.C. in 1954.  U.S. Senator Joe McCarthy, at the height of his influence, drawing on public fears of communism and homosexuality, confronts his Democratic political and moral archenemy in the U.S. Senate, Wyoming Senator Lester Hunt, Sr.  McCarthy tells Hunter that if he continues his reelection campaign, McCarthy will bring to national attention the arrest of his son Lester ‘Buddy’ Hunt, Jr, for sexually soliciting an undercover male police officer.  At that time, homosexuals were banned from working for, or having any formal connection to anyone who worked for the U.S. government. It was a ban conceived by McCarthy himself.  Buddy Hunt courageously urged his father to nonetheless continue his campaign, which Hunt was expected to win.  But confronted with the horrible dilemma, Senator Hunt committed suicide.  This tragedy was one of the main reasons why Senator Joe McCarthy was soon censured by his own Republican Party.  That censure quickened the demise of McCarthy’s political career and a horrible period in American history.

Join us on October 26 for the play’s reading to watch the drama unfold, as playwright Richard Vetere retells it!  Richard Vetere is a playwright, novelist, poet and film and TV writer, actor, director and producer. His most known work is The Third Miracle published by Simon & Schuster.  He co-wrote the screenplay adaptation starring Ed Harris directed by Agnieszka Holland, produced by Francis Ford Coppola and released by Sony Picture Classics. He also wrote the cult classic movie, Vigilante, called “one of the best indies of the 1980s” by BAM.  His teleplay adaptation of his stage play, The Marriage Fool, starring Walter Matthau and Carol Burnett was the highest rated TV movie ever for CBS TV Films. Richard will be at Demfest in person on Saturday, October 26 to discuss and answer questions about the play, following the reading.

Tonic Theater Company is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to increasing public knowledge and understanding of history and science around the world through the power of theater.  “Our understanding of history evolves, and science is constantly advancing. We believe that theater must also change and adapt. That’s why we’re reaching beyond theater walls and across borders to build a global community.”    

Toward Democracy Markets

Those who think about democracy and markets often think of them in opposing terms.  Markets follow money not people, and produce wealth efficiently but also inequalities.  Democracies, in contrast, follow people not money, and produce more equality and public goods, like schools and clean air, but are often inefficient because they seek wide public input, and require compromise among many conflicting interests.

Sat, Oct 26 at DemFest: Comedy Show for Democracy!

To see the show, and so much more, get your DemFest tickets, and RSVP to get updates.

Get ready to laugh and strengthen democracy at The Comedy Show for Democracy, produced by Grassroots Comedy!On Saturday, October 26 at 1:15-2:15pm, as part of the first DMV Democracy Festival, this show brings together hilarious local comedians who will strive to strengthen our democracy through jokes. Featuring the legendary Haywood Turnipseed Jr. (Kennedy Center), Chris Blackwood (Grassroots Comedy Executive Director), and special satirical appearances by Donald Trump (played by Jon Yeager) and Kamala Harris (played by Rashee Raj) from The Washington Roast. Laughter is the best medicine, and with so much at stake with the upcoming election- let’s get medicated.Grassroots Comedy is a non-profit that uses comedy to educate and engage the public on causes in need, and can only operate with the support of its generous audience. If you attend this show, please make a suggested donation of $15 – $50 at the show, online here, or via Venmo: @grassrootscomedy.

To see the show, and so much more, get your DemFest tickets, and RSVP to get updates.  And, check out the draft DemFest schedule!