Musicians Respond To 'Lift Every Vote 2020' And Encourage Use Of #lifteveryvote

For the last 25 days hundreds of musicians, artists, cultural workers, and other creators have joined together to support Lift Every Vote 2020 (LEV 2020) with a series of viral daily performances and artistic actions across the United States.

LEV 2020 intends to "inspire civic action and encourage voter turnout in the lead up to Election Day on November 3".

The campaign is making a final call this week to all creators and performers, including musicians, dancers, poets, visual artists, and others, to harness their talents, organize, and present pop-up performances that inspire the country’s greatest ever voter turnout.

LEV 2020 participants are encouraged to stream and share their performances and events on social media using the hashtag #lifteveryvote and to nominate peers to take part in the challenge.

LEV 2020 was inspired by the summer-long grassroots efforts led by The Blacksmiths and The Wide Awakes, which organized peaceful rallies infused with music and art around New York City fighting for social justice after the murder of George Floyd. Jazz musician and double bassist Russell Hall led a ‘second line’ marching band at marches, rallies, and peaceful protests with the "direct intention to bring joy and music to the movement".

Hall says:

“Music has a magical way of bringing people together. We want this thing to really take off. We hope artists will take this challenge seriously, not only driving voter registration and turnout with the beauty of music, art and performance, but also energizing communities in all fifty states.”

In the course of just over 3 weeks, the campaign has seen over 3 million impressions on Instagram and over 1,000 submissions, with the momentum continuing to ramp up.

LEV 2020 is aligned with Election Defenders Joy to the Polls, an initiative which launched last week, bringing music and levity to voters in line for early voting in Philadelphia. Videos of voters dancing to the Joy to the Polls performances immediately went viral, generating over 6 million views.

Joy To The Polls continues performances this week and on election day at polling sites across the country to bring a feeling of joy and safety to the voting process amid long lines, voter suppression, and pandemic concerns. They have also enlisted musicians, artists, actors, writers and thinkers across the country in creating #JoyToThePolls playlists on Spotify to keep voters joyful while waiting in long lines.