Rise Up Sing Out

A Nationwide Celebration of the First Amendment. 

On June 14, while the White House hosted a cage fight on the South Lawn, the Committee for the First Amendment filled New York City’s historic Town Hall with a different vision of American collective power.

Rise Up, Sing Out brought together together artists, activists and musicians for an evening celebrating the five parts of the First Amendment, the role culture and art have always played in resisting authoritarianism — and invited people across the country to gather, sing and act together. 

Jane Fonda, Robert De Niro, Bette Midler, Patti Smith, Ayo Edebiri, Tessa Thompson, Lily Gladstone, Rufus Wainwright, LaTosha Brown, Wilson Cruz, Joy Reid, Ms. Rachel, Peppermint and many more leading industry voices took part.

And across all 50 states, people joined them via livestream.

8 million views of the livestream and clips
66,000+ people registered to watch
30,000+ people gathered at 2,000+ watch parties

From audience to action

“Fascism thrives in isolation,” Lily Gladstone told the audience. “We are going to face this storm together.” From a 200-person theater in Wisconsin to a living room in South Carolina, people did exactly that.

But Rise Up, Sing Out was designed to catalyze action. Throughout the night, audiences were given concrete ways to act: challenging the Paramount–Warner Bros. merger, supporting grassroots organizing in the South, volunteering with Election Protection and signing up to work the polls.

More than 8,500 people petitioned their Attorneys General to challenge the Paramount merger and nearly 1,000 calls were placed the following day to their offices. 700 people signed up as poll workers and 500 signed up to volunteer for Election Protection hotlines. Nearly 200 entertainment professionals joined the Committee that weekend.

It was our theory of change in action: artists brought people together, people found community, and inspired people to action — at home, in the streets, in the media and at the polls.

As Patti Smith sang: “The people have the power — don’t forget it.”