HeadCount
HeadCount is a national non-profit organization that works with musicians to promote participation in democracy in the United States. It is best known for registering voters at concerts – having signed up over 1,000,000 voters since its launch in 2004.[1][2]
Founded
2004
Andy Bernstein, Marc Brownstein
United States
Lucille Winegamie
Participation Row[edit]
HeadCount manages Participation Row activism villages at various music festivals including Lockn' (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016) in Arrington, VA, True Music (2013) in Scottsdale, AZ, Phases of the Moon (2014) in Danville, IL, FloydFest (2016) near Floyd, VA the Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival in Okeechobee, FL, The Traveler's Rest Festival in Montana, and Newport Folk Festival and Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island. HeadCount also put on a Participation Row for the Dead & Company tours, which was preceded by Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead in both Levi's Stadium and Soldier Field and on Dead & Company's 2016 Summer Tour. Participation Row traditionally hosts 8-16 different non-profits, allowing concert-goers to take actions related to the non-profits. Each Participation Row has also included a silent auction of signed merchandise, with proceeds going to the participating non-profits. At the Fare Thee Well shows, the Participation Row silent auction included a D'Angelico EX-DC electric guitar signed by all 7 performers and played by Bob Weir on stage during the second Santa Clara show. The auction for the guitar closed at $526,000 [1], making it the 20th most expensive guitar of all time [2]. For Dead & Company's 2023 Final Tour, ten unique D'Angelico guitars designed by AJ Masthay will be auctioned. Proceeds benefit both HeadCount as well as environmental activist group REVERB.[55]
Structure[edit]
Since its inception, HeadCount has been largely volunteer-driven. It fields volunteer teams in most major U.S. cities. Each consists of a trained team leader who runs the local operations, and a cadre of volunteers. These teams then set up tables at concerts through which they register voters and disseminate information related to political issues and upcoming elections. This approach has allowed HeadCount to keep its operating costs low while reaching a very large number of people. In any given year, the organization sets up these tables at 500 to 1,500 concerts or more.[56]
HeadCount is supported by a Board of Directors[57][58] including Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir.[59]
HeadCount is based in New York City, but has volunteer street teams all over the U.S.[60]