Civic Saturday brings friends and strangers together to nurture a spirit of shared purpose.

It’s a place to connect around the values and practices of being an active citizen. To reckon with and reflect on our nation’s creed. To build relationships that create new civic traditions that are joyful and communal.

There aren’t many places for us to come together and reflect our faith in democracy, so we’ve created one of our own. A gathering designed to rebuild belief in our civic institutions and in each other.

Watch a previous Civic Saturday →

Civic Saturdays are a wonderful forum to say…. What are your civic values? How do we form a cohesive fabric together?

Kevin F. Civic Saturday Fellow

A civic analogue to a faith gathering

America is not defined simply by the promises on parchment, but rather by our willingness to reflect on and keep working toward them. Indeed, democracy works only when enough of us believe that democracy works.

A person holding a printed program and singing.In 2016, we hosted our first Civic Saturday gathering in a local bookstore in our hometown of Seattle. After a seismic election, we knew our community needed a place to process, reflect, and figure out what to do next. These gatherings quickly became a regular civic ritual.

At Civic Saturdays, we share music, poetry, readings of civic scripture, and what we call a civic sermon. If these elements sound familiar, it’s because we’ve designed Civic Saturdays as a civic analogue to a faith gathering. We recognize the power of coming together in this way — with a sense of ritual and structure — in service of deepening connectedness and belief. In this case, belief in democracy.

Ready to feel some civic spirit?

Tune in on YouTube.

You can find recordings of some in-person gatherings and all of the virtual Civic Saturday’s we’ve held over the past few years. Sharing music and poetry helps break down a sense of separateness and connect our hearts.

Host gatherings of your own.

In our Civic Saturday Fellowship, you’ll join a network of over 140 people around the nation who are leading their own gatherings. You can lead them on your own, with a friend, or through an organization you work with.

Growing gatherings

A group of people sitting on the steps in a small amphitheater while listening to someone speaking to the crowd.

People across the nation are yearning for fellowship, a connection to common purpose, and a bigger story of us. That’s why we’re spreading this revival of spirit across the country. From Wichita, Kansas to Miami, Florida, Civic Saturdays are happening in banquet halls and street corners, art stores and Zoom rooms.

Our Civic Saturday Fellowship is a place for you to learn how to take the Civic Saturday format and adapt it to the needs of their hometowns. The Fellowship is a six-month experience of learning, connection, and transformation.

We are building a nation-wide movement of civic rituals and gatherings. Are you our next Fellow? Learn more about the Civic Saturday Fellowship →