DPL’s Unity Concert: Your Vote Rocks will be held 2–6 p.m., Aug. 24, on the first floor of the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library (1515 Young St.). Local Parks and Rec fans of all ages can immerse themselves in Pawnee culture while learning more about their own candidates and voting rights.
Influenced by both NBC’s Parks and Rec and MTV’s Rock the Vote, Kristen Calvert, DPL programs and events administrator, wanted to find a way to get people excited about voter engagement.
“The Unity Concert is an opportunity for people to come together and be excited about and learn more about what it means to be civically engaged,” Calvert says. “Even though our concert isn't to bring two cities together like in the show, the idea is that we all have commonalities and even inherently have bias. And if we can think through and work through those things, then we can get to a better place.”
The event will kick off with a Budget Town Hall Meeting at 2 p.m. There, Dallas residents can meet with other members of their community and Dallas City Council to give their input on the city’s budget for the Fiscal Year 2024.
Starting at 2:30 p.m., Dallasites and Pawnians at heart can get in on the family-friendly fun with a karate lesson from Karate Dance Party, whose performance is actually based off Johnny Karate, aka Andy Dwyer’s Parks and Rec routine. Although we understand no pony can truly compare to the original Li’l Sebastian (we, too, still miss him in the saddest fashion), fans can also meet a local lookalike provided by One of a Kind Pony Party.
The likes of Mouse Rat can’t make it to the Dallas library’s stage, but local acts Taylor Young Band and Deadbeat Club will step in to provide live music performances throughout the day. Meanwhile, attendees can embrace the Leslie Knope spirit of supporting their local community by visiting Dallas area art and vendors, including Lena and Lamore Jewelry, Motcy and Sewn by Priss.
Bullzerk: Buy local T-shirts will sell shirts specifically designed for the Unity Concert, along with other shirts the vendor has designed for the library in the past. Any profits made from the shirt sales will go toward DPL.
Food will be available from several Dallas-based businesses such as Amor y Queso, Dean’s Smokin’ BBQ and Vlexxias Sweets. Since Tom Haverford’s Snake Juice would be too strong for a civic event — or any event, really — Deep Ellum Brewery will provide some afternoon brewskis.
Along with the Parks and Rec fun, the Unity Concert will offer a space for Dallas residents to connect with and learn from real members of their local government. In addition to local candidates, attendees can also speak with members of several City of Dallas Services. The Dallas Police Department, Planning and Development, Animal Services and more will be available to meet with Dallas citizens to talk about the services they provide and to answer event visitors’ questions.
“As we were planning, our fellow departments from the city of Dallas saw the event and got excited about it and decided that they wanted to be a part of it, too,” Calvert says. “This is an effort on the City of Dallas's part to sort of meet people where they are.”
Rocking the Vote
With upcoming elections fast approaching, another focus of the event is to increase and educate voters about registration and engagement. The library will partner with the Texas League of Women Voters, Dallas County Elections, Jolt and the Youth Commission Democracy Committee to help teach voters about their rights and provide nonpartisan information on different candidates and ballot items.Before they leave, attendees can visit the traveling Smithsonian exhibition, The Bias Inside Us, before it leaves the Dallas library. The exhibition was the inspiration behind the Unity Concert, Calvert says, as it has furthered the library’s discussions on issues like media literacy and how people engage with news media. Having an event that provides people with new information and ways to think about how they interact with news and their own community is important to Calvert both not as a personal passion and as an ongoing mission of the DPL.
“One of the roles of the public library is to create a more informed population so that everyone can make informed decisions when they are voting or exercising their rights,” Calvert says. “We want everyone to feel like they can be here and be connected to resources and get information that they might have otherwise. Just being able to have that space where people can come and meet with their elected officials, or to get information to be better prepared when they are making decisions about who elected officials should be… that's a role that we always want to play.”
More information about the Unity Concert’s partners and schedule can be found at dallaslibrary.com.
