Girls Rock! DC’s Summer Camp is a week-long in-person music education program for young folks ages 8 to 18 in the DC area. During the week, campers receive small-group instruction on electric guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, turntables, digital music, or vocals; form bands, and collaborate to write an original song or DJ set, which they perform at a showcase at the end of the week.
Girls Rock! DC was founded in October 2007 by an all-volunteer collective of DC metro area musicians, teachers, artists, and community organizers.
The first rock camp for girls started in August 2001 in Portland, Oregon. Since then, many Girls Rock camps have popped up throughout the country and the world. The International Girls Rock Camp Alliance was formed to help spread the mission of the camps and empower people to start camps in their own cities and towns. Girls Rock! DC is a member of the Alliance, which also hosts an annual conference to help all the camps improve and expand. So, not only is Girls Rock! DC supported and made possible by hundreds of artists and activists in the DC area, it’s also part of a larger community of thousands of people who believe in giving girls and non-binary youth, including trans youth, every opportunity to rock out!
Our first camp was attended by 43 young people, who performed their original songs and DJ sets at DC’s legendary 9:30 Club to a crowd of 700 screaming fans. Every year, we get bigger, louder, stronger, and more fun!
GR!DC builds upon the experience of our organizers, including their musical backgrounds, connections to local youth, and grassroots social and political organizing skills. Our camp’s organizers, volunteers, and supporters are local, relevant role models so that campers see themselves reflected in leadership from their own city and communities. Women, trans people, and gender non-conforming people are so often underrepresented in both mainstream music and the images we see in our daily lives. Choosing local role models helps create a sustainable and supportive community of peers and mentors in the DC area that will last far beyond the week of camp.
