Mission
Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls is a non-profit music and mentoring program that empowers girls and women through music education and activities that foster self-respect, leadership skills, creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration.

Statement of Purpose
The organization brings together girls and women from diverse communities and encourages them to explore self-expression through music, hone their critical thinking skills, build meaningful alliances with other girls and women, develop confidence in making healthy choices in their lives, and effect positive change in their communities and in the world.

The organization operates a summer day camp, after school programs, and community events in New York City.

History
Founded in 2004, Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls held its inaugural camp session in 2005 at the New York Society for Ethical Culture in Manhattan. 66 girls attended. In 2006, the program expanded to include two sessions, and a total of 160 girls attended. The 2006 camp season took place at Brooklyn Friends School.

Since 2007, Rock Camp has been hosted by the Urban Assembly School for Music and Art in Downtown Brooklyn.

The camp is named after Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton, a blues and rock performer/songwriter who was one of the first women to play the music that came to be known as "rock n' roll." The camp grew out of the Portland, Oregon-based program Rock n' Roll Camp for Girls, which was founded in 2000.

Programs
The organization serves 500 - 700 girls and women annually through its programs.

Summer Camp

The summer camp is an intensive one-week day camp program. The organization currently offers two sessions every summer, serving a total of approximately 150 girls. Daily programming consists of instrument instruction (drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, vocals, DJ/turntables, and sound & recording), band practice, and workshops on a variety of topics, from songwriting to self-defense. Games and crafting activities (including making band t-shirts and buttons) are interspersed throughout the day.

Campers form bands on the first day, and during daily band practice they write music and lyrics collectively, assisted by band coaches. At the end of the week, the camp bands perform their original songs at a large-scale recital concert.

Camp classes are taught by volunteer women musicians, who also serve as informal mentors. Counselors are present throughout the day to lead activities and provide campers with support and assistance.

Campers pay a participation fee in accordance with their household income. In order to ensure that girls from a broad range of economic backgrounds are served, the camp has a policy of providing a minimum of 50% of participants with scholarships. Particular focus is placed on conducting outreach to minority, low-income and/or underserved communities.

Most campers come from the five boroughs of New York City and the metropolitan area, but campers have also attended from New Jersey, Connecticut, Michigan, Florida, Texas, Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Nova Scotia. Approximately 25% of the campers report annual household incomes under $20,000, and more than half of campers receive partial or full scholarships (full tuition for the 2005 and 2006 sessions was $500). The camp group reflects the racial and ethnic diversity of New York City communities, with more than half of the campers identifying themselves as African-American, Latina, Asian-American or multi-ethnic/multiracial.

Girls Rock Institute After School

Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls operates an after school program, Girls Rock Institute, for students at the Urban Academy School of Music and Art (UAMA), a public charter school in Brooklyn.

Girls Rock Institute participants meet twice weekly for a total of four hours per week, and receive hands-on instrument instruction, forming one or more bands, and composing original music. The program integrates a strong focus on building leadership skills and positive self-esteem through workshops on performance and body image/representations of women in the media. The program is provided free of charge to participants.

Students in the 2007-2008 pilot session collectively wrote six songs (including a rap song in Hindi), and performed alongside professional musicians at a benefit show and at the annual gala of the National Organization of Women.

http://www.myspace.com/williemaegirlsrockandrule

Leadership & Staff

Board of Directors

Hanna Fox (President)	Attorney, Arnold & Porter LLP
Rose Thomson (Treasurer)	Independent tax preparer, bookkeeper, and financial planner
Ruth Lockwood (Secretary)	Musician, music educator
Daphne Brooks	Associate Professor of English and African-American Studies, Princeton University
LaRonda Davis	Advertising professional, Publicis; President, Black Rock Coalition
Victoria Hart Glavin	journalist, author, and Executive Director of hip hop label PileDriving Records
C. Mia Juhng	Principal, Mia Marketing, LLC
Dr. Jennifer Manly	Associate Professor of Neuropsychology, Columbia University

Staff

Karla Schickele	Executive Director
Emmet Moeller	Volunteer Coordinator
Jackie Oberman	Program Coordinator
Winter LaMon	Program Assistant

 

Advisory Board

The Advisory Board is made up of volunteers, camper parents, participants in Ladies Rock Camp, and community members. The group meets three times a year and is responsible for advising the Board of Directors and Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls staff on all aspects of camp.

 

The current members are:

Caryn Brooks	Arabella Kauffmann
Joey Cambareri	Hildegaard Link
Daphne Carr	Julianna Marx
Karen Crowe	Alison Mazer
Ingrid Dahl	Jacqueline McMillan
Margo Donahue	Simone Meltesen
Teri Duerr	Rebecca Miller-Webster
Kate Garaufis	Katie Moeller
Courtney Gillette	Jodi Morrison
Kristine Goldy	Marianne Pillsbury
Molly Gove	Julie Salthouse
Leah Graniela	Sady Sullivan
Caryn Havlik	Laura Vuksinich
Lesley Hunter	Corey Zaloom
Jill Jorschick

Founders' Circle

Willie Mae got started in August, 2004, when a small band of dedicated women started talking about setting up a rock camp for girls in New York City. Some had volunteered at the camp in Portland. Some had always heard about camp and wanted to go but it was always too far away. Some just thought it was a cool idea. Originally dubbed “The Working Group,” now known as the Founders’ Circle, these women worked together to make camp happen for the first time on the East Coast. They are:

For more information see our Press page.

A Little "Rock" History

The approach of rock camp is inspired by the openness and freedom and fighting spirit of music that is born of people just jumping in and doing it, which includes early rock n' roll, along with all forms of folk music around the world, blues, rap, country, hip hop, and other "popular" music.

Rock n' roll, at its origin, was a tool of rebellion and survival, an expression of vitality, community, and desire. Born of the struggle of slaves and the hardship of poverty in the American South, it was a form of music available to all people, requiring no formal training or access to expensive equipment. We dig that.

Over time, of course, rock n' roll evolved in both scope and scale, giving rise to newer forms of music, and in a few short decades, exploded from something threatening, local, and underground to a big business industry. Funny how that changes things.

Funny, too, how throughout the history of popular music, one thing has remained unchanged: women are more often spectators than players or producers. That we don't dig so much.

Rock camp is dedicated to the proposition that music belongs to everyone. We want girls to feel they can just jump in and play guitar, work the soundboard, direct music videos, and write songs about what matters to them. We want to encourage them to explore the openness and freedom and fighting spirit of homemade music, and make it their own. And we want them to carry that feeling with them in whatever they do.

Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization.
All site content ©2006 Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls.
Site design by Sonya Balchandani. Photos ©2005 & 2006 by Kate Milford (unless otherwise indicated).