The DMV Democracy Festival

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This page was last updated on July 24, 2024.  

Summary & Purpose 

Widen and deepen civic engagement, foster collaboration, and make democracy more fun, less fractious with a financially sustainable, youth and family-friendly democracy festival in the Washington, DC capital region.

Context 

Dance, flowers, marijuana, beer and wine all get festivals.  If we want to make democracy more engaging for more people, rather than boring or divisive, why aren’t we investing in democracy festivals?  If democracy is so important to Americans, why don’t we have democracy festivals every year in towns and cities across the country?  If Washington DC is the capital of our country, and democracy is central to American freedom, why does DC have folk life, kite flying, and cherry blossom festivals, but no democracy festival?

In the mid to late 1800s, American democracy was often highly participatory and fun, involving parades, rallies, music, public speeches and debates, culminating in elections with some of the highest voter turnout in U.S. history.  Democracy then was also conflictual, corrupt and exclusionary (e.g., women and people of color were often or always barred from participating), so progressive reformers gradually remade American politics into what it is now: relatively orderly, peaceful, inclusive, yet also less fun.  Can we make democracy fun again, without spurring conflict, corruption and exclusion?  Learning Life, a DC-based educational nonprofit, believes we can, in part with democracy festivals, as part of a wider Democracy Learning Community (DLC).  And we’re not alone: democracy festivals are spreading in Europe.  And, here are five reasons to support democracy festivals. 

Goals

Shorter-term, the goals are to produce a youth and family-friendly DMV Democracy Festival (DemFest) that:

  1. Makes democracy fun for all ages
  2. Widens participation in democracy
  3. Deepens civic learning
  4. Is financially self-sustaining, and helps grow the wider DLC 
  5. Fosters creative collaboration, particularly between folks in the DMV arts, education, business, philanthropic, and democracy sectors
Date & Location

DemFest is tentatively scheduled for Saturday October 19, 2024, though we are open to other weekend dates, like Saturday, October 26.  We are aiming to hold the first DemFest indoors at a university or high school in Washington DC, but we are open to other locations in or near DC, ideally within a 10-minute walking distance from a metro train station. 

DemFest 2024 will require (a) a variety of AV-equipped rooms with enough space and seats for 25-100 people, (b) a theater space for arts performances, (c) a stadium or other large room that can accommodate up to 200 people seated for the planned youth assembly on mental health (see below), and (d) a kitchen with at least a large fridge and ample counter-space to preserve and prepare food.  Further, given our small Festival budget, Learning Life is looking for a school or organization willing to donate their space for DemFest.  Site suggestions and offers can be sent to email@learninglife.info.   

Activities

Festival activities will include all or most of the following:

  1. Games, digital or analog, stationary or active, for kids of different ages and adults to learn and practice democracy through play.
  2. Musical, dance, and other arts performances focused on democracy-related issues, with opportunities for meaningful audience participation.  Note: We are looking for high school and/or college theater student volunteers to (a) in costume, represent lesser or better known leaders in US or world democratic history, and (b) perform a democracy play at DemFest, like: How to Overthrow Your Student Government, or Next Step for Democracy.  
  3. A democracy market where businesses (including DMV cooperatively-run businesses), nonprofits, and government agencies can table to provide democracy products for sale (maps, posters, cards, books, games, art, etc.), information, and/or opportunities to engage as citizens at local to global levels.
  4. Participatory discussions about local to global democracy topics, from local initiatives and international trends, to the 2024 elections, polarization and authoritarianism, to economic democracy, democratic innovations, and more.  
  5. Skill-building workshops like “Community Organizing 101,” “How to Run for Office,” and “The Voting Process.”    
  6. One or more poster exhibits featuring democracy research and projects by DMV youth and/or professionals.
  7. A youth citizen assembly on mental health allowing diverse DMV high school youth to come together to learn, deliberate and propose city, county and/or state policies to address the mental health crisis.
  8. An international family diplomacy dialogue on democracy live via Zoom to discuss how youth and families in different countries experience democracy, or the lack thereof.  
  9. A democracy learning community visioning session to give committed area residents the opportunity to learn, think and envision together what a vibrant democracy might look like in the DC region.   
  10. Films and/or documentaries focused on democracy issues.
Issues & Stakeholders

Democracy related issues/topics that may be addressed at DemFest in 2024 or beyond include, but are not limited to: the 2024 elections; DC statehood; election reforms and other democracy innovations; economic democracy; global trends and threats to democracy; citizen diplomacy; civic education; youth leadership on democracy; media and democracy; race, gender, class and citizen engagement; government accountability; grassroots advocacy and community organizing; careers in democracy; and more.  

Constituencies Learning Life is interested in engaging in DemFest include, but are not limited to:

  1. Teachers and students in DC area high schools and middle schools and universities who are focused or interested in the arts, history, government, social studies, and community studies.
  2. Performing and visual artists interested and/or actively producing art (theater, dance, music, film, documentary, painting, digital art, etc.) related to democracy.
  3. Relevant government agencies of DC and surrounding cities and towns, particularly municipal agencies concerned with recreation, arts and culture, education, youth, community affairs, and civic engagement.
  4. Democracy-focused professional organizations, whether these be focused on advocacy, policy, research, or else.   
  5. Community organizations, including student groups and teacher associations interested in the arts, democracy and government, social justice, human and civil rights, etc.
  6. Businesses related to democracy, like consumer and worker cooperatives, and businesses that sell democracy-related products or services.
  7. Foundations and other funders interested in community affairs and/or democracy-related issues.
Measuring Impact

For those interested in helping to evaluate DemFest’s outputs and outcomes, here is what we are considering measuring:

  1. Attendance: Track the total number of DemFest attendees.
  2. Collaboration: Track the number of festival contributors (e.g., sponsors, vendors, performers, etc.), their industries and/or demographics (age, gender, race, religion, religiosity, political affiliation, partisanship, etc.) and any collaborations that emerge from the festival.
  3. Knowledge surveys: Some DemFest activities, like digital games, may be conducive to measuring participants’ knowledge or skill before and after the activity.
  4. Sign-ups: Count the number of festival attendees who sign-up to get more info, or volunteer with the civic and political organizations that table at DemFest.  Resources permitting, there can also be a 3-6 month follow-up with those organizations to assess new collaborations emerging from DemFest, and how many DemFest attendees have gotten involved with each organization (though this latter measure may indicate organizations’ follow-up effectiveness as much if not more than festival effectiveness). 
  5. Exit survey: Festival attendees can be statistically randomly asked upon exiting the festival to answer survey questions that get at what they liked least, most, what they learned, think could be improved, and else.      
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