Empowerment stems first and foremost from embracing and loving oneself, a quality that Girls Rock Columbia instills in the form of music. This local branch of the national Girls Rock organization works year-round to plan a summer camp and various events that help boost confidence in young girls and transgender youth in the Columbia community.
With the motto, “Your voice is your most powerful instrument,” Girls Rock seeks to not only grow confidence in young girls by enabling them to learn new instruments and perform a rock show debut at the end of camp, but also by making sure they know it is okay to speak up. “The ultimate goal is to foster a new generation of young women who are thoughtfully able to engage in community advocacy and who are able to identify their own power and then use that power to promote positive social change,” says Executive Director Mollie Williamson.
Williamson, a USC social work graduate student, has been working hard this year to make sure 2015’s camp is the best one yet. The Columbia branch took root in 2013 after seeing an influx of Columbia-based volunteers at the Charleston camp. Williamson was one of the founding members of the Cola division and has a deep love not only for grassroots, nonprofit efforts but the feminism movement. Her love for these two aspects of the camp has then formed into a love for music and what it offers.
“Music is important because it is one of the few times someone has a microphone and a platform to speak and is able to really show that what you have to say matters. That’s what we should be teaching girls— it’s important for them to be heard and it’s okay for them to be loud and it’s okay for them to be angry. And there is no predetermined idea of girlhood that they have to fit into,” says Williamson.
While most campers are in the 8-12 age range, youth up through the age of 17 are invited to apply for camp. However, the weeklong program brings up ideas that apply to all age ranges, from bullying and peer pressure to social justice, body image and alternative aggression. “Some of those are teen-specific, but we believe it is so important to instill these ideas, because adolescent girls’ self-esteem plummets compared to male peers,” says Williamson.
While the main agenda of Girls Rock is to teach girls new instruments (specifically rock and roll classics: drums, bass, guitar and keyboard) and form weeklong rock groups, the camp also offers workshops in screen-printing, zine-making and self-defense.
“It’s really powerful to see 8-year-olds saying in unison, ‘My voice is a powerful instrument’ or ‘I am worth defending,’” says Williamson. “It’s also crazy how fast you see changes. There will be a girl who doesn’t sing the first day, and by the end of the week, she is all over the microphone.”
Girls Rock Columbia will be sponsoring an event at Tapp’s on Main Street on March 6 geared toward kids and family members. There will be an instrument “petting zoo,” where girls can come learn the basics of how to play instruments and engage in mini-workshops of what is offered during the summer camp experience. Since camp applications open March 1, this will be a way to draw interest and explain what Girls Rock is about to potential campers and parents.
There is also a volunteer showcase that will feature 10 bands consisting of Girls Rock volunteers who are new to the whole “playing an instrument” thing. The showcase will be held at New Brookland Tavern on March 28.
“We have all these instruments that we don’t use in the winter, plus the women who volunteer will say, ‘I wish there was Girls Rock when I was a kid,’ so this is our way of trying to implement that,” says Williamson. “Also, it lets people kind of understand what camp is about. It’s about music, but more importantly about music as a means of social justice. It’s not important that you play all the chords right. It’s like, ‘Hey, this is scary and it’s important to be brave and it’s okay if you fall on your face, but there is a community of women that is going to back you up.’”
In its initial year, Girls Rock Columbia had 17 campers. However, last year, camp tripled in size. This year, the organization is planning for a similar growth and working to offer a second session of camp in 2016 to accommodate more interested individuals. Girls Rock Columbia is also working on developing an after-school program, something that is already available at other branches around the country.
Williamson herself has taken up an instrument since first working with Girls Rock. She now plays the bass, encouraged by all the campers around her to find confidence through music. “Once you spend a week with an 8-year-old, telling them ‘You can do this,’ then, well, you start thinking, ‘I should do it too if I’m promoting this,’” says Williamson. In fact, the director played bass with a group formed through Girls Rock in an opening show for Indie Grits last year. She hopes by going outside of her own comfort zone, she will inspire young girls to do the same.
“People like to tell kids and girls in particular, ‘You have the potential to be a leader or strong or an ally,’ but it’s like kid’s aren’t pre-people. They don’t have the potential to be leaders- they are leaders, and that needs to be recognized,” says Williamson.
You don’t have to play an instrument to volunteer for Girls Rock, however. You can do anything from be a counselor to host a workshop to simply move heavy equipment. You can also donate money toward scholarships for low-income girls. The organization is currently trying to get more USC students involved in volunteering. “It’s the perfect demographic,” says Williamson. “I mean, it’s women who are finding their own leadership roles and figuring out their own identity.”
Girls Rock will take place this summer during the week of July 20. You can visit girlsrockcolumbia.org if you want to get involved and rock on.
