Held at a church turned SW Arts club, Blind Whino - Rock the Vote (A non-partisan youth engagement organization) hosted its Annual White House Correspondents’ Weekend Kickoff Party, in celebration of the 2015 White House Correspondents’ Dinner weekend.
Additional sponsors included iHeart Media, the Video Game Voters Network (VGVN) and Ogilvy Washington.
The first 200 guests received a pair of Earlove earbuds.
After heading inside the venue with my new media buddies, Katie Frates from the DailyCaller & Domingo Juan, I made my way to the DJ booth to snap photos of the crowd and started to sample the food bites catered by STK Washington D.C. Two food trucks (The Big Cheese & The Peruvian Brothers) were located outside for those who were craving for grilled cheese and Peruvian food.
After mingling downstairs and catching up with familiar faces, I headed upstairs to check out the performance by RDGLDGRN, a local band from Reston, VA. Along the way, I came across the impressive artwork heading up the stairs and on the walls! I thought the venue, Blind Whino, was a perfect spot for the youth-centric crowd. Millennial central!
Blind Whino is a 501(c)3 Non-profit Arts Club and Event Space located in the Southwest Corridor of Washington DC and birthed from creators Shane Pomajambo of Art Whino and Ian Callender of Suite Nation.
First time attending an event at the Whino and I was utterly in awe of the colorful building. Hence, why I couldn't stop taking pictures of the building. Beautiful! I look forward to attending more events at the colorful venue in the future.
I spotted Kelly Rutherford (Gossip Girl) upstairs taking photos and speaking with various people from the crowd. Dressed in an Armani cap-sleeve dress, the actress was very delightful and patient with the media & fans surrounding her. After mingling with two new groups, I came back downstairs to chat and final photo snapping with my media crew before I called it a night.
The party had fun photo booths the guests and VIPs participated in. My favorite was the twitter mirror! I spotted several guests snapping their food and themselves with the twitter mirror. I thought it was too cute and talk about an ice breaker! I wonder where one can buy this twitter mirror? - seriously!
I had a blast attending the Rock the Vote Kick-Off Party. It was great seeing new faces and checking out a new band.
Photography by Christine Shepherd
About Rock the Vote
Rock the Vote is the largest non-profit and non-partisan organization in the United States building the political power of young people. Fusing pop culture, politics, and technology, Rock the Vote works to mobilize the millennial voting bloc and the youth vote, protect voting rights, and advocate for an electoral process and voting system that works for the 21st century electorate. Since 1990, Rock the Vote has revolutionized the use of pop culture, music, art and technology to inspire political activity. Now, for almost 25 years, Rock the Vote has pioneered ways to make voting easier by simplifying and demystifying voter registration and elections for young adults.
Rock the Vote has run the largest voter registration drives for young people on record during the past six Presidential elections. In 2008 and 2012, our on-the-ground efforts, online organizing, and cutting-edge tools and technologies made us the largest non-partisan voter engagement campaign in the nation. All of these efforts have resulted in Rock the Vote processing nearly seven million voter registrations, bringing millions more to the polls, and becoming a trusted resource for young people, government agencies, and technological innovators passionate about political discourse and engagement. See more information here.
About Fusion
Fusion is a multi-platform media company that serves a young, diverse, and inclusive millennial generation across its television and digital platforms (fusion.net). Fusion delivers a unique mix of news, pop culture, and comedy content that is both smart and irreverent. Fusion was launched as a joint venture between Univision Communications Inc. and the Disney/ABC Television Network on October 28, 2013. Fusion has agreements with several major distributors to carry the cable network including DirecTV, Dish, Cablevision, Charter, Cox, AT&T U-Verse, Verizon FiOS and Google Fiber as well as OTT providers including Apple TV.
About Twitter
Twitter (NYSE: TWTR) is a global platform for public self-expression and conversation in real time. By developing a fundamentally new way for people to create, distribute and discover content, we have democratized content creation and distribution, enabling any voice to echo around the world instantly and unfiltered.
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