The non-profit camp for aspiring female rock legends, Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls’, is raising the barn and putting on a show Saturday (8/22/09) at noon in NYC. It’s a recital of young women alumnae from session two of this year’s camp. Well, it’s actually much more than a recital; it’s an all out jam session! Check it out at Music Hall in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It’sten bucks to get in the door, but for an extra $15 you also get a t-shirt and can feel good about supporting the budding rock stars among us.
The camp, where eight-to-eighteen-year-old girls learn every aspect of becoming a rocker chick, from songwriting to production and marketing, also caters to the older (meaning 19+) crowd. Ladies Rock Camp in downtown Brooklyn is open to women campers who identify as female, trans, and gender non-conforming. The organization reinforces that no musical experience is necessary nor is owning a musical instrument – just a positive attitude and the burning desire to rock out!
And why do girls and women need our own camp? Well if it ain’t obvious I’ll tell you: it’s still a man’s world (and music is a heavily male-dominated profession). We need to be seen and heard and noticed and supported and, and, and, and--the list goes on and on.
By the way, just who is Will Mae? Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton was an early blues and rock performer and songwriter who was one of the first women to play the music that came to be known as “rock n’ roll.”
The price of the one-week camp is $250-$350 per person and that cost ensures financial aid is available to those accepted to the program who cannot afford the tuition.
The first music camp for girls, Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls, was founded in Portland, Oregon in 2000.
