CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Community members are invited to gather for an evening of food, civic engagement and entertainment as Indivisible Charlottesville hosts a community potluck and concert watch party on Sunday.

The event, which marks the one-year anniversary of No Kings Day, is designed to bring neighbors together through community-building activities, voter education and a shared celebration of First Amendment freedoms.

The evening will begin with a community potluck from 5-7 p.m. at Belmont Park. Organizers say attendees will have an opportunity to meet neighbors, learn about local activism efforts and receive information about three proposed constitutional amendments that will appear on Virginia’s November ballot. Voter registration resources will also be available.

Following the park gathering, participants will head to Firefly Restaurant and Game Room for a livestream watch party of Rise Up, Sing Out: A Concert for the First Amendment. The national concert event, hosted by the Committee for the First Amendment, is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. and run approximately 90 minutes.

According to organizers, the concert celebrates freedoms protected by the First Amendment, including freedom of speech, religion, the press, assembly, protest and expression.

Vanessa Russell, Indivisible Charlottesville’s membership and community building lead, said organizers wanted the event to highlight forms of civic engagement beyond demonstrations and protests.

“We really wanted to showcase how Indivisible Charlottesville and activism extends beyond just protesting in the streets,” Russell told Cville Right Now. “While we want to make those showings, we really also want to be building our community and, honestly, feeding each other with food and knowledge.”

Russell said the event was created to give community members a chance to connect in a more personal setting.

“People come in and they see a protest, they join a protest as kind of the first step in action, and then what else can they do?” she said. “What else can they do to get involved and support their community and really start making changes? That’s why I really wanted to focus this on not just another time to be together in a protest, but a time to actually get to know each other.”

Organizers say attendees will have opportunities to speak with volunteers and community members about ways to become involved in local advocacy and community support efforts.

Russell said building relationships at the local level is an important part of strengthening civic participation.

“I feel like a lot of trust has been lost when it comes to our leaders and who represents us in the government,” she said. “I think people really trust the people that they know. The more that we’re able to build those relationships and provide a solid ground of connection for people to ask questions and get information and be informed, that is really how we’re going to grow a community and grow a real democracy that works for us all.”

The First Amendment theme of the concert was another key reason organizers chose to participate in the national event.

“The First Amendment protects us from retaliation and punishment for expressing our views and challenging authority and engaging in debate,” Russell said. “Our founders made it the First Amendment for a reason. They put it at the top of the list because it is important that we are able to address grievances and say when we disagree with something.”

A major focus of the evening will be voter education, particularly surrounding Virginia’s proposed constitutional amendments and participation in local elections.

“Ballot amendments don’t get talked about enough,” Russell said. “Lots of people don’t even know what’s on the ballot, and non-presidential election years have much lower voter turnout. We want our community informed and ready to participate in November and beyond.”

Russell emphasized that local elections and ballot measures can have significant impacts on communities.

“A lot of people don’t understand how important local government and local action is to building a democracy that works for us,” she said. “Voting in local city elections, school board elections, state district elections and statewide ballots is where real change can start.”

She added that organizers hope the event will encourage greater civic participation in the months ahead.

“If we can get a higher voter turnout this November, that would be a piece of success that I would want to come out of this,” Russell said. “A short-term goal would be to see an increase in our active volunteers and more connections being built between individuals who might not know each other.”

Russell said she has seen growing interest in community involvement following years of social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think community power is growing,” she said. “I think more people are starting to get involved with different aspects of things. The isolation of what the pandemic had done to us kind of pushed people away, but now we’re starting to build that community back and really be there for each other.”

Organizers hope attendees leave with new connections, a better understanding of local civic engagement opportunities and more knowledge about issues that will appear on November’s ballot.

“We are hoping that attendees will leave with a broader understanding of the many ways that they can get involved in community support and activism, as well as knowledge about the proposed constitutional amendments that will be on the ballot in November,” Russell said. “And hopefully make a few new like-minded friends while they are at it.”

Russell added that everyone is welcome to attend and thanked Firefly Restaurant and Game Room for opening specifically to host the Sunday evening watch party.

“We just hope that this is another fun event that’s not just out in the streets protesting but really looking at ways to learn and get to know each other and build the world that we want,” she said.