Jazz Parade for Democracy - Highlights, Overview, Interviews Links
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Lady Liberty imploring the crowd to help her during Act 1 (Photo by Rebecca George Photography, used with permission) |
The accelerating erosion of American freedoms under the Trump Administration in 2025 inspired Indivisible Charlottesville members Nancy DeWitt to create, and Isabelle McMahon to organize, an extremely ambitious piece of performance art on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall. On November 1, 2025, a 45-member brass band, 30 choral singers, and 30 costumed performers with props staged a 90-minute "Jazz Parade for Democracy" extravaganza for an audience of roughly 750 people, many of whom became impromptu participants!
Video Highlights from the 3 Acts
- Act 1, “Mourning” — Objective: raise awareness about the potential losses and setbacks we face under the current MAGA administration, highlighting the urgency of collective action.
- Act 2, “Join the Movement” — Objective: Inspire confidence that both individual and group efforts can create meaningful change, encouraging others to join and support the movement.
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- Act 3, “Celebrate in Unity” — Objective: Foster a sense of optimism and joy within our community, showcasing how resilience and unity can inspire hope and positivity for the future.
Interviews with the Creators and Key Players
To better understand how we pulled it off, and why this production was so meaningful to us, watch 1:1 video interviews with Nancy, Isabelle, and some of the other key participants at the links below, where you can also follow along with a human-proofed interview transcript that also has stunning event photographs. You can ask questions or leave your thoughts on anything you see or read via comments on this multimedia NowComment platform.
• Sage Bradburn had the Lady Liberty lead role; she talks about the challenges of the role, the surprising power of this production, and the profound impact performance art can have on both the onlookers and performers (and shares her own deep emotions about the experience).
• Isabelle McMahon was the co-creator and Production Coordinator; she explains the power and value of performance art for activists, the importance of being brave in the face of attempted authoritarian intimidation, and why this movement means so much to her as an American by choice.
• Nancy DeWitt was the co-creator and Creative Director; she talks in-depth about the creative process that made her collaboration with Isabelle so successful, and how the idea for the production evolved into the complex undertaking it turned out to be.
• John D'earth, recently retired after 40 years as UVA’s Director of Jazz Performance, assembled and led a 45-member impromptu band. John talks about his surprisingly great experience as a professional musician plugging in to a very amateur community event, the composition he contributed to the performance, and his thoughts on many political topics, including race and what really makes America great.
• Rebecca George is a local professional photographer who took fantastic photos of the parade; her interview gives tips on capturing the action at rallies and special events in interesting, attention-grabbing ways. She’s generously created an “open gallery” giving us (and you!) free access to, and free use of, all her jazz parade shots; just be sure to give Rebecca George Photography a photo credit for any photos you use.
• Emily Little was the jazz parade’s drum major and got to see the first reactions people hanging out on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall had when they heard and then saw our musicians and actors and singers coming their way; catch her interpretation of what that was like, plus her thoughts on finding (and creating) community through collective action.
• Craig Green and Kelly Ceppa are each a co-leader of two different Charlottesville choral groups, Wonderground Singers and Charlottesville Women's Choir respectively. Both groups made very significant contributions to the performance; learn about their groups, how they chose which songs to sing, and what they found meaningful about their Jazz Parade experience.
You can also watch choreographer Susan McCulley demonstrate and explain the simple dance movements she chose for the Jazz Parade in this video.
Forthcoming Jazz Parade Overview Article
An imminent issue of The Grassroots Connector, a national online newsletter for progressive activists, will be running a detailed overview of how the "Jazz Parade for Democracy" came to be; the hope is that our success (on so many levels) will inspire organizers and creative folks in other cities to stage this or a similar performance art work. We’ll update this page with the article link when it comes out.
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