Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls
Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls (Willie Mae) is dedicated to youth empowerment through music. It believes that music can serve as a powerful tool of self-expression and self-esteem for girls and young women and can help combat racism and stereotypes by building bridges of communication and shared experience among girls from diverse communities. Rock 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.”
Rock Camp offers two summer camp sessions, an after-school program, a ladies camp and several mini-camps a year. It gives girls and women the opportunity to get hands-on experience playing musical instruments, writing songs, performing, learning about different types of music, and generally “rocking out” in a supportive environment that fosters self-confidence, creativity, tolerance, and collaboration.