It Takes a Village to Empower

Written by DCMS Fundraising Team Lead Megan Dunn

If you’re reading this, you’re a part of our village. Whether you’re a DMV creative, a supporter of the arts, someone who believes in our mission, or you came upon us by chance—there’s a reason you’re here.

Together, we’ve kept the DC Muscic Summit community activated throughout the pandemic. We engaged each other on Instagram live to share how we’re #CreatingInCOVID, held virtual concerts with local favorites, celebrated events like Black Music Month and Pride Month, and of course we rocked the Virtual DCMS 2021. And we’re still building...

Riding the vibes of the last four years and focusing on a hybrid of virtual and in-person learning, networking, and inspiration, we’re building a membership-based, creative professional development organization! Our mission is realized through: 

• Building and nurturing a vibrant, sustaining creative community across the DMV.
• Providing affordable and relevant resources and educational opportunities for independent creatives, ensuring that people of color and women are welcomed, supported, and protected.
• Continuously seeking to inspire and encourage our music community.

Invest in DCMS

Our prolific team of volunteers support events, programming, technology, and marketing—and we want to operate on the next level. To get there, we need the freedom to serve the community around-the-clock. 

We set a goal of $2,000 to formally establish a 501(c)(3) non-profit, needed to secure grant funding and in-kind resources. This status will expand our capacity to serve the DMV independent creative community, and realize our vision to be their go-to resource to advance their creative careers.

You—our villager—have been an incredible source of support and positive momentum throughout our existence as an idea, and as a community. Help us cross the finish line of becoming a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit.

“It’s Bigger Than Hip-Hop”

In the wake of 2020, we learned so many hard and powerful lessons that came with a tidal wave of action to fight racism and sexism. The country's racial reckoning sparked new efforts to rectify years of gross underfunding of Black women founders, and we’re here to keep that momentum, and grow intersectional progress.

Dior, our founder and Executive Director, is a woman artist of color, who intentionally activated a diverse community that spans all ages, demographics, orientations, and ethnicities, and our mission in programming is to reflect our diverse culture. DC Music Summit values social justice, inclusion, and generational healing. And this undertaking cannot be done without the support of our village!  

Eternal Gratitude

You can share our GoFundMe with your networks; you never know who we could reach! THANK YOU, AND MAY PEACE AND MUSIC BE WITH YOU!

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