Elena & Los Fulanos will perform at MY AMERICA: DC Creates (Photo by Mark Seltzer via Facebook)

While social justice activists will party for peace, D.C. musicians will gather for a creative festival and showcase over the presidential inauguration weekend.

MY AMERICA: DC Creates-Innovates-Unites is taking place on the evening of January 21 at the Edgewood Arts Center.

“I believe D.C. artists are in the right place at the right time,” says Deborah Lash, a D.C.-based artist who’s worked on projects in realms ranging from documentary TV and theater to music, literature, and dance. She’s organizing the event in hopes of conveying how D.C. artists and musicians “see America and what they want it to be.”

During the presidential campaign, Lash says it was clear to her that “America’s best wasn’t being represented.” What hit her the hardest, she says, was the footage of the president-elect’s derogatory comments to Billy Bush. “As a woman and survivor of so many aggressions against myself and my body, this was a particularly painful moment.”

Aafter Donald Trump was elected president, “I was stunned,” she continues. “I felt lost until I remembered that for many of us, our best tool is creating.”

So she launched an Indiegogo campaign to fundraise for the event. It’s raised more than $2,200 in a month. She also recruited local artists to volunteer, submit their art, and sign up to perform. “It’s become a big collaborative effort,” she says.

Some of those performers include the latin group Elena & Los Fulanos, multi-instrumentalist Brian Farrow, trumpeter, writer, and spoken word artist Charmaine Michelle, and garage band Pagan Reagan.

Tickets are $15 in advance and $18 at the door. Any profits will go to the DC Arts & Humanities Education Collaborative.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Lash says. “I hope we can be a sharp thorn in the side of the new administration—pushing peace, hospitality, and kindness.”