Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls
Celebrates A Decade of Empowering NYC’s Girls
With Star-Studded Anniversary Event
A Little Bit of Rhythm & A Lot of Soul
An evening of cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, music, prizes featuring:
Santigold, Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill),
DJ Rekha, DJ Robi D Lite, Chiara de Blasio, and more!
Friday, December 4, 2015 from 7:00 – 9:00 PM
Location: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217
★ Honorary Event Chair ★
Laurie Anderson
★ Event Chairs★
Debra Granik (Writer/ Director, Winter’s Bone)
Kristen Kusama-Hinte
★The Rhythm & Soul Host Committee★
★Honoring★
Wave Maker: Santigold
Musician and Producer
Ground Breaker: Carla Miller
Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs, Universal Music Group
Game Changer: DJ Rekha
Producer, Curator, Educator
Buddies of the Year: Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill) and Sara Landeau
Artists and Activists
Camper Alum of the Year: Chiara de Blasio
(Mayor de Blasio’s daughter attended first ever session of camp in 2005)
Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls is a non-profit music and mentoring program that empowers girls and women through music education, volunteerism, and activities that foster self-respect, leadership skills, creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration.
Launched in 2005, the organization will celebrate a decade of uniting girls across greater New York City in a shared mission to ROCK* with a first-of-its kind special event and fundraising benefit December 4th at Roulette in Brooklyn.
Featuring live music and dancing, sets by DJ Rekha, DJ Robi D Light and additional surprise guests. Food will be provided by Olivia Cooks for You plus beer, wine, and signature cocktails, including a special concoction made with Tito’s Homemade Vodka. Guests will also have the chance to win awesome raffle prizes, including a wine tasting class for 4 at Some Good Wine. More fabulous raffle prizes will be announced soon.
All proceeds from the event will be used to give girls, young women, and trans youth from low- and moderate-income households in NYC the opportunity to attend our Girls Rock! Camp and other music and mentoring programs.
The Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls (WMRC) Fairness Fund allows WMRC to provide scholarships and sliding scale tuition to more than half of their campers annually, and offer all community- and school-based programs free-of charge to participants.
Tickets range from $50 to $500 dollars with corporate packages also available. Further info on tickets and sponsorship packages here.
ABOUT WILLIE MAE ROCK CAMP FOR GIRLS
Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls was founded in 2004 by a group of New York City women musicians as a grassroots effort. Since 2005, the organization has served more than 1,000 girls in 58 NYC zip codes through a variety of programs. All programs are offered free of charge or with sliding scale tuition.
The inaugural camp session in 2005 at the New York Society for Ethical Culture in Manhattan. 66 girls attended. Over the years, Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls’ program offerings have continued to grow significantly in response to continued strong demand. The summer program more than doubled in size in its second year, and now runs at full capacity. Summer camp locations have included Blue School in Manhattan’s Financial District, Cathedral High School, The Co-op School in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, and Brooklyn High School of the Arts.
WMRC now offers year-round programming, too, with after school programs at public schools throughout NYC and special events at Willie Mae Music Lab, its Brooklyn-based community music facility offering a wide variety of affordable music programs and resources for girls and women.
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.