BETTY celebrates the holidays, 30 years together, and the launch of a non-profit tomorrow at The Hamilton.

Sisters Elizabeth and Amy Ziff first encountered Alyson Palmer in 1986. The three were attending college in the District at a time when D.C.’s independent music scene was thriving. They performed as a vocal trio during a special show at the original 9:30 Club, where Palmer worked, and received a warm response. Thus, BETTY was born.

“It was a thrilling time to be in D.C.,” said Palmer in a recent interview with DCist. “D.C. was in an extremely political time because it was the Reagan years. That’s why the art was so exciting, because people were reacting to that conservative mind set.”

Now based in New York, BETTY returns to Washington tomorrow evening with much to celebrate. The band’s show, taking place at The Hamilton, will include holiday-themed material and will serve as a precursor to the trio commemorating its 30th anniversary. The performance will also benefit the Whitman-Walker Clinic to recall BETTY’s activism at the height of the AIDS crisis.

BETTY has been politically outspoken throughout its career, often at the expense of mainstream success. Support for LGBT rights cost the band major label support at a time when labels had the clout to make stars out of relative unknowns. The group has always placed a higher value on its commitment to justice and fairness than commercial success. In some ways, the group prefers that its music hasn’t been reduced to being a commodity.

“Frankly, we don’t give a rat’s ass,” Palmer said of any missed opportunities.

The use of art to speak to broader social statements is another theme that runs throughout BETTY’s work. BETTY created the soundscape that accompanies Filthy Lucre, an installation at the Smithsonian’s Sackler Gallery that comments on the tensions between art, money, and patronage. BETTY Rules! was a successful, semi-autobiographical off-Broadway musical that dramatized the tensions that lead to what, in 2005, The Washington Post called “unexpurgated feminine chutzpah.”

“The thread to our creative output is ‘harmony out of dischord,'” Palmer explained.

There are themes of empowerment and self-advocacy throughout BETTY’s catalog. The songs are not overtly political, but their framing is. The band prides itself on building connections, whether it’s through staging an entertaining show or more overt forms of activism. To that end, BETTY is using tomorrow’s show to launch The BETTY Effect, a non-profit that bridges the members’ views on arts and activism. The organization’s mission is to use “music, songcraft, and performance skills to empower women, girls and those striving for social justice by promoting self advocacy and creating community worldwide.”

“We’ve always people who hook other people up,” Palmer said. “The BETTY Effect is all about connecting, inspiring, and assisting organizations that work for equal rights.”

“Connect” was a word that Palmer used throughout the interview with DCist. BETTY works to forge connections on multiple levels. When it comes to live performance, Palmer notes that a BETTY concert is, first and foremost, meant to entertain. She also hopes that it will create bonds among audience members, as well as between the audience and the artists on stage.

“What we hope people experience is an absolute stopping of time,” she said. “We want them to leave everything on the door step and have a positive feeling with like minded folks. For us to use art to have people connect, in the purely simple way humans were meant to connect, around the fire with our music, that would be the greatest thing.”

BETTY performs tomorrow, December 1, at The Hamilton with opener Margot MacDonald. 6:30 p.m. doors/7:30 p.m. show. Tickets $20-$30.