Call for Democracy Festival Liaisons

Learning Life seeks volunteer Democracy Festival Liaisons (DFLs) to join our DMV Democracy Festival Organizing Team.  DFLs mobilize members of their organization(s) and/or students at their school to participate in the DC region’s first Democracy Festival (DemFest) on Saturday, October 26, 2024.  More about DemFest and the DFL role below.

About the DMV Democracy Festival

Dance, flowers, marijuana, beer and wine all get 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 do we have DC beer, wine and cherry blossom festivals, but no democracy festival?

Learning Life, a DC-based educational nonprofit, is organizing a first DMV Democracy Festival or DemFest on October 26, 2024 in DC, before the November elections. We’re organizing DemFest in order to (a) help make democracy more fun and social, (b) widen participation, (c) promote civic learning, and (d) strengthen community by fostering collaboration between the DC region’s arts, education, business, philanthropic, and democracy sectors.

Learning Life is aiming for a festival with a range of engaging activities for youth and adults, including arts performances, exhibits, game rooms, workshops, discussions, a youth citizen assembly on security, and a democracy market.  We are currently recruiting a range of festival partners, including sponsors, donors, speakers, artists, gamers, tablers, workshop leaders, exhibitors, evaluators, and liaisons.

What Democracy Festival Liaisons Do

Time commitment: DFLs volunteer should commit 4 hours per week from their start date through the day of DemFest, Saturday, October 26, 2024.

As a DFL, you are a volunteer leader who identifies and connects diverse people in your organization or school and beyond to participate in DemFest.  Specifically, you:

  1. Set a personal goal for who and how many people you plan to bring / engage in DemFest.
  2. Identify diverse people / stakeholders in your organization(s) or school(s) who are inclined to, or should participate in DemFest.
  3. Speak with those stakeholders individually and in groups to explain the ways they can be involved in DemFest.
  4. Shepherd stakeholders through the process of applying to partner, or RSVP’ing to attend DemFest, and keep them informed and motivated to participate.
  5. Attend DemFest planning meetings via Zoom or in-person every week to share updates on the results of your outreach,  get updates on DemFest organizing, and connect with your DemFest team.
  6. Take part in DemFest on October 26, and help ensure that those you mobilized attend as well.
The Benefits of Being a Democracy Festival Liaison

As a volunteer DFL, you can benefit in several ways:

  1. Earn a $150 “Best DFL” Prize if you succeed in coming first among DFLs in bringing the most participants to DemFest in October.*
  2. Widen and deepen your relationships to your school(s) / organization(s) and the wider DC area.
  3. Help connect your school(s) / organization(s) to the community.
  4. Gain resume-building experience in leadership, grassroots organizing, and community event planning.
  5. Learn more about democracy, and how to nurture and protect it.
  6. Help make democracy more fun, inclusive and participatory in the DC region.
  7. Contribute to building DemFest and the wider DMV Democracy Learning Community, a growing association of people in the DC area connecting professionals, publics and policymakers via social events, products, services and spaces that nurture fun, learning, networking, collaboration and wider, deeper citizen participation.
How to Become a Democracy Festival Liaison

Send your resume to Learning Life’s Director, Paul Lachelier at paul@learninglife.info and indicate that you are interested in volunteering as a DFL.  No need for a cover letter, but please specify what organization(s) or school(s) you are part of, and for which you wish to serve as a DFL.  If your resume fits what we are looking for, DFL and DemFest Assistant Manager Audrey Banks will schedule a Zoom meeting with you to go over DemFest and the DFL role, and to answer any questions you may have.

*To qualify for the $150 “Best DFL” Prize, you must mobilize at least 25 people to attend DemFest.  To count, the 25+ people you mobilize must be at DemFest no later than 2pm, and must name you at the entrance/registration table.  The best DFL will be announced and the cash prize awarded at the DemFest culminating party at 5-6pm.