BIG THANKS TO THE MANY sponsors, friends and good citizens who made our seventh anniversary “Art of Democracy” celebration such a heartwarming success.
We had a surprise visit from Congressman Jamie Raskin, a civic educator in his own right, who told us that the same week his book “We the Students” was censored in Texas, “Vladimir Putin banned me for life from ever going to Russia. So I got banned in Texas and Russia the same week."
Another surprise came from the Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce, whose president and CEO, Stephanie Helsing, presented us with a certificate of congratulations on celebrating our seventh year. Thank you!
Other highlights included Civic Nation CEO Kyle Lierman’s comments thanking The Civic Circle for our work to “empower young people and amplify their voices,” and his lively Q&A with Student Member of the Board Anuva Maloo.
We were honored to give our “Art of Service” award to Silver Spring Town Center Executive Director Lisa Martin, and thank her for helping build community through the arts in Silver Spring. Lisa’s fans were out in force, and it was great to see them there, along with so many of our favorite community leaders and collaborators.
Songwriter Munit Mesfin's civic sing-alongs included a memorable call-and-response song about students rights that she wrote with her family band. Emcee Malachi Byrd helped us write an inspired collective poem about why democracy is an art, which read in part:
It is as quiet as the rain, it is as loud as thunder
Anyone can be a part of it
It takes creativity, there are successes and failures
And it takes practice, practice, practice
There was great generosity in the room, and thanks to our terrific sponsors and supporters we exceeded our $20,000 goal. If you could not attend but would like to support our mission to build democracy, community and youth civic engagement through the arts please click HERE.
