Last year, The Civic Circle reached more than 200 students through our library and school shows, our first songwriting workshop, and our Democracy Rocks concert. This year promises even more exciting milestones, as we launch our first after-school workshops focused on voting. We had our first workshop just last week at Making Home Possible (formerly Montgomery Housing Partnership) in Wheaton. Nick Newlin and LEA kicked off the first of three Fridays with a performance of…
The Civic Circle’s work would not be possible without our wonderful community of supporters, and it was gratifying to see so many people step forward to participate in our Giving Tuesday campaign. We had several parallel Facebook fundraisers under way to support our group, and quite a few contributions also came through directly via PayPal thanks to an appeal we sent out via email. Board member Hannah Rosenberg created an inspiring graphic to accompany our…
“Vote for Me!” was well received this month at Green Acres School, where Nick and Lea performed a half-hour version of the show for about 70 students in Grades K-5. This was a good opportunity for us to test the K-2 audience, which thus far has seen only the one-person version of the show. Students were engaged and enthusiastic, and several came up afterward to thank us for the performance. A few photos are below.…
Last year, The Civic Circle’s first public event was a Celebrate Democracy Concert, and we had so much fun that we decided to make a concert part of our annual offering. This year’s Democracy Rocks Concert took place at El Golfo, a wonderful restaurant in Silver Spring that shared 20 percent of the proceeds. We collaborated with Liberty’s Promise, another civic education group that focuses principally on high school students. Teaching artist Lea Morris (LEA)…
There’s growing agreement on the need for to improve civic education in the U.S., but not much consensus over just what it is that students should learn. The September issue of The Civic Voice examines the “deep and lingering rifts over how to tell the American story.” In an article cross-posted on Medium and on The Fulcrum, I look at the longstanding partisan divide between those who want students to focus on original texts and…