Common performs at Global Green USA’s 12th annual pre-Oscar party at AVALON Hollywood on February 18, 2015. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Global Green)
Update: The concert’s mistress of ceremonies is Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong Women Of Color Reproductive Justice Collective in Atlanta.
According to Leah Jones, the organization’s executive administrator, each partnering organization will be given a certain number of tickets to distribute. Once SisterSong reserves tickets for staffers, people from the general public can be added to the organization’s guest list. However, the number of tickets allotted to SisterSong has yet to be confirmed by Planned Parenthood.
In addition, it’s unclear if all of the organizations that are part of the All Access coalition are participating in this particular event. Planned Parenthood’s release does not name Show Up!’s partnering organizations, though it says guests can obtain tickets from them.
Original: Common and The National are co-headlining a free event in D.C. on the day before inauguration.
Show Up! is being presented by Planned Parenthood and All Access, a national concert series that emerged last summer to galvanize people around supporting reproductive health care and abortion rights.
The event is taking place at the 9:30 Club on January 19.
It comes as Speaker Paul Ryan recently announced that the reconciliation bill repealing Obamacare will include defunding Planned Parenthood. The healthcare provider has been receiving federal funding since 1970, and received $528 million from the federal government in 2014, most of which was used to fund STD/STI testing and contraceptive services.
“On the eve of the Presidential Inauguration, we plan to send a clear message to the incoming administration that millions of people across this country are prepared to fight attacks on reproductive health care and abortion services,” said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, in a release.
In addition to other performers, the event will include several reproductive rights organizations, activists, elected officials, celebrity supporters and advocates.
“Women should be able to make their own decisions about their bodies and health. This is a basic human right, and we’re at the very beginning of a long and tough battle to defend these basic rights,” said Matt Berninger, lead singer of The National. “A concert in DC, inspiring people to take action, seems like a pretty good way to kick it off.”
The event is one many alternative inauguration gatherings happening in D.C. next week. Solange is expected to perform at Busboys and Poet’s sold-out Peace Ball at the National Museum of African American History Culture, also on January 19. And local musicians are performing at the Edgewood Arts Center on January 21.
Show Up! tickets are limited and “available through partnering organizations,” according to Planned Parenthood. We’ve reached out to them for more details and we’ll update when we hear back.
