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Chronological February 6, 2023

Want to ENJOY Gideon’s 60th? Throw a Concert for Indigent Defense!

Written by stephen.saloom

Want to have a great time with your friends, fellow defenders and other justice and music lovers to celebrate Gideon’s 60th on the weekend of March 18?
 
Throw a Concert for Indigent Defense!  
 
Just go to the Gideon @ 60 Tool-Kit to get the basics of “What is a Concert for Indigent Defense” and “5 Easy Steps for Making your Local Concert for Indigent Defense.”  The key is just getting a musician/band to say yes, and then sending out a press release like this one from the Orleans Public Defender’s Office, which has proven able to major local press for the constitutional right to counsel – and how it’s not properly supported in that local jurisdiction.
 
Here are the simple yet key things to do:?

  1. Go to the webinar "How to Declare a Concert for Indigent Defense" next Tuesday, 2/7, at NoonET/9amPT.?I'll share the basic info about how it works and what (little) is required to catalyze an existing show into a "Concert for Indigent Defense" that gets really solid attention.   If you can't make it, get a friend/defender/band member you can rely on to do so.  It'll make everything else very easy – and be effective.?If you can't make it to the webinar, just do send me a note and I'll keep you looped in just fine, though.  

 

  1. Get your fellow local defenders to identify a local band to call their show on the weekend of March 18th a “Concert for Indigent Defense” that your office can help publicize.  (And if the musicians are interested but not yet booked, have them book one that weekend.).

 
At its core, Concerts for Indigent Defense is an add-on to existing concerts.   The booking and money for which all flows like any other show.  It can be at a popular venue, a dive, on your back porch, at Madison Square Garden.  What matters less is how big, and more is that there is one, and that the band is willing to have it called a Concert for Indigent Defense.That enables your office and the national effort to call attention to the constitutional right to counsel in your local, its shortcomings, and the show and musicians themselves.Which’ll get us some public attention and a bit more support to help address those shortcomings.