Culture
Athens Rock Camp For Girls Empowers Aspiring Rockers
By: Emily Votaw
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The Athens Rock Camp for Girls is a weeklong, immersive educational experience intended to cultivate self esteem, create leadership opportunities, encourage the development of life skills, and foster social change through the creation of music and musical performance by girls and non-gender conforming youth ages 12 to 18. The camp is the Athens extension of a summer camp that was founded in 2001 by a Portland State University student that has since expanded to include not only a summer camp, but a yearlong after school program, the Girls Rock Institute in Portland.
During the Athens Rock Camp for Girls, each camper is taught to play an instrument, and then five bands are formed out of the campers, who then go on to write songs for their band that they will perform as a part of the camp’s final performance. Campers are also taught skills such as self defense and media literacy, as well as music-specific skills such as flyer making, booking shows, and the art of stage presence.
WOUB spoke to camp organizer Amy Ashcraft, camp counselor Keely Harper, and camp instructor Emersynn McGuire about the camp and their experiences with it in the feature embedded above.
This year, the camp will take place Monday, July 22 through Sunday, July 28 and culminate with a performance by the campers on Saturday, July 27 in Ohio University’s Glidden Hall at 7 p.m. There is a door fee of $5-$20 depending on what attendees can bring, which is directly put towards supporting the camp’s future endeavors. The Athens Rock Camp for Girls is always looking for donations of instruments, camp materials, and monetary donations to keep the volunteer-run organization running. You can find out more, and how you can donate, right here.