Building socially just community with girls, transgender youth, and gender expansive youth by developing leadership, fostering self-esteem, and encouraging creative expression through music.
Through our music education programs for girls and transgender & gender expansive youth ages 8 to 16, we are committed to educating girls and TGNC youth about the musical, technical, and creative aspects involved in musicianship because we believe that they are rarely encouraged to explore self-expressive creative outlets and are less likely to be given access to musical and technical instruction or equipment. We believe that music can be a crucial tool in allowing youth to respond to preconceived notions of what they can do and what they can become.
Our Core Values
We value diversity and inclusion; we seek to represent the demographics of Chicago and reflect the community we serve in all aspects of our organization.
We value the power of music as a vessel for culture and beliefs, and we use it to create personal and social change.
We value curiosity; we practice reflection and recognize the importance of pushing our learning and thinking in an ever-changing world.
We value equity in all forms; we stand strong in our unwavering commitment to social justice and anti-oppression work.
We value building leadership; we seek to play an active role in developing and empowering the next generation of youth who are doing important work in their communities.
We value efforts that actively expand opportunities for girls, women, gender expansive people, and transgender people of all ages.
We value empathy and compassion; we are dedicated to sustaining a supportive community and seek to understand the experiences of all our constituents.
Girls Rock! Chicago was founded in the Fall of 2005 when two groups of like-minded women, both seeking to start a Chicago camp, found each other and combined resources. GR!C formed a 9-member board, organized fundraisers, collected gear donations, secured a space at Roosevelt University, and held our first annual camp in August 2006. Our first camp featured a small group of dedicated volunteers and 16 enthusiastic campers between the ages of 8-16.
Melissa began playing music at age 8 with the clarinet, had brief run-ins with guitar and piano and eventually settled into drums. She became interested in DIY culture in her formative years and began publishing zines at the age of 14. When writing about independent music was no longer enough, in true DIY fashion, she started making her own, regardless of musical ability. When she’s not advocating for women and girls, she can often be found in the company of cats, bikes and baked goods.
Danielle Sines is a singer-songwriter for local Chicago band, Impulsive Hearts. She started playing piano at five, rebelled against studying classical music and picked up a guitar as a tween in her awesome band, Seven Gallon Sparkle. Now, she sings, shouts, plays guitar and piano, and records noises on tape recorders for her band, Impulsive Hearts.
When she’s not dreaming up summery tunes, she’s working as a marriage and family therapist, or DJing at CHIRP Radio.
Mare Ralph grew up in greater Chicagoland and began playing guitar at age fourteen. Like many LGBTQ youth, they struggled throughout adolescence – with depression, substance abuse, and other self-destructive behavior. Music was a lifeline and a way to express and process those difficult feelings.
Mare’s life revolved around playing music and touring until their band was in a van accident in 2009. While recovering, music took a backseat as they discovered other passions and graduated from DePaul University in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education.
They moved to Louisville KY in 2014 and fell in love with girls rock camps, recognizing that their teenage experience makes them completely, uniquely qualified to support girls, trans youth, and gender-nonconforming youth in finding their creative selves and feeling whole. Mare organized with Girls Rock Louisville since its founding in a variety of roles. While in Louisville, they also worked with disconnected youth as a teacher, advocate, and restorative justice facilitator.
Mare is currently a pursuing a Master’s in Urban Planning and Policy at UIC’s College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs. They are excited to be back home and able to gain new skills organizing with Girls Rock! Chicago.They believe that music is a tool of community building through creative expression and that joy is a revolutionary force.
Laura hails from lil’ Freeport, Illinois, where she picked up the work ethic and rebellious spirit that only a small-town upbringing can provide. She started playing piano at the age of 8 and began her training in classical harp two years later. More recently, she’s taken on the pedal steel guitar. Laura earned her Ph.D in School Psychology from Loyola University and her M.A. in Educational Leadership from Concordia. She is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and works as a school district administer for academic and social-emotional prevention and intervention supports. Laura is an adjunct university instructor and teaches graduate courses ranging from evidence-based practices for children with special needs to applied research and statistics. Other interests include vintage clothes, playing guitar in the forest, backcountry camping, road trips, and the little things in life.
Music has always been a part of Ann’s life, as a fan and playing a few instruments joyfully and haphazardly. Ann currently does design and construction oversight for non-profits and enjoys reading, crafting, and exploring the city on bike and foot in her free time.
She feels GR!C is an incredible organization because it gives young people different perspectives and tools to express their ideas.
Madeline grew up in a small southwest suburb of Chicago. As many do, she wishes there was rock camp when she was a kid. Nevertheless, she earned a Bachelor of Music degree in the Contemporary, Urban, and Popular music program at Columbia College Chicago with a focus on songwriting and vocal performance.
Madeline came to Girls Rock! Chicago first as an instrument instructor in guitar and keyboard and as a band coach before joining staff as a Gear Coordinator in 2018. In 2019 she was hired as GR!C’s Operations Manager.
Madeline is so proud to foster the creativity and self esteem of girls, trans, and gender expansive youth by amplifying their voices and instruments in a world in which they’re often dampened.
Fallon was born in St. Peters, Missouri but quickly moved to Chicago when she was 10. Her love of music comes from her father, playing keys to accompany his bass listening to his jazz and rock collection. Fallon learned classical clarinet in grade school and tenor saxophone in high school. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Jazz Studies from Columbia College Chicago and lends her talent as a multi-instrumentalist in Chicago-based band, Impulsive Hearts.
Fallon joined Girls Rock! Chicago in 2016 as a counselor and keys instructor and joined staff in 2018 as one of our Gear Coordinators. She loves this organization, the people, and the empowerment of youth GR!C provides to its campers.
Maiya grew up on the South Side of Chicago and began attending Girls Rock! Chicago camp as soon as she was old enough to apply. In addition to learning to play drums at camp, Maiya has been immersed in the arts her whole life, primarily as a dancer at the Hyde Park School of Dance and on Whitney Young’s Guys and Dolls Dance Company. In her free time she enjoys photography, making jewelry, seeing live music, and thoroughly dissecting every episode of Rupaul’s Drag Race.
Maiya has been heavily involved in the GR!C community for over 10 years, serving on the inaugural Youth Action Committee and volunteering as a Jr. Counselor at 14. Since then she has taught drums, led workshops, and most of all shared her love for GR!C with its next generation of campers. Maiya is currently studying cinema and media studies and dance at The University of Southern California. She could not be more excited to continue giving back to a program that has been so impactful on her development as both an artist and an activist!
Everett Hurckes is a multi-instrumentalist and a former camper of Girls Rock! Chicago. They received their BA in Gender Studies at University of Chicago where they sang in Unaccompanied Women!, a campus a cappella group. Most nights you can find Everett working the box office or behind the stage at Thalia Hall.
Everett loves teaching people of all ages how to play instruments and they are so excited to be part of the staff at GR!C. Everett has taught bass, bands, and other instruments at GR!C and they bring extensive gear knowledge to our team.
Kate Stanley is a Chicago native who grew up on the northwest side of the city. In high school, Kate was involved in choir, theater, and guitar lessons. In college, Kate earned her BA in Secondary English Education and MS in Special Education and currently works as a special education teacher.
She has volunteered with GR!C since 2018 and joined staff as a Volunteer Coordinator in 2020. Kate is excited for her new staff role as Outreach Coordinator, developing opportunities and relationships with businesses and artists throughout Chicago. She enjoys learning guitar and playing open mics, yoga, and traveling in her free time.
We usually announce the camp dates in mid-March. We have to coordinate with three main venues from which we rent our camp space (our host school, our showcase venue, and our recording studio) and around two major festivals to secure our dates. We choose dates that won’t put our own in showcases in conflict with Pitchfork Music Festival and Lollapalooza, and that means we have to wait for those dates to be announced in the late fall/early winter.
We welcome campers and volunteers who are girls (cis or trans), transgender youth (of any identity), and gender-nonconforming/non-binary youth. If you’re unsure if that umbrella covers you, just ask! We will meet you with kindness and respect. Additionally, we trust you to identify yourself/your child and do NOT require any “proof” of your gender.
Girls Rock! Chicago is all about breaking down stereotypes, creating a supportive and encouraging environment, taking creative risks, and creating positive social change in our community.
No! No music experience is required for Girls Rock! Chicago programming. Music is for everyone.
As of 2023, YES!! We’re so excited to welcome campers to two sessions this summer. Campers signed up for both sessions will receive $50 off their total tuition!
No, we only use electric instruments at camp. Campers are welcome to bring their own electric bass or guitar, but we also provide instruments for every child.
We are able to accept a limited number of scheduling requests for our recording day, but we cannot guarantee any specific time slots. We start drafting the recording schedule on roughly the second day of camp since campers record with their entire band (which is formed on the first day of camp). Before we accommodate scheduling requests, we have to first group all of our bands with lefty drummers at the beginning or end of the day and then ensure that siblings are grouped together so that families don’t have to make multiple trips to the recording studio. That doesn’t always leave us with room for adjustments, and we sometimes receive vastly different requests in the same band. We try our best, but it’s incredibly helpful for us if families leave their schedules open on our recording day of camp.
We take requests such as this into consideration when facilitating band formation, but ultimately leave the decision of who will be in a band up to the campers. If you are concerned that your camper will be grouped into a band with someone they don’t get along with, please reach out to us! We take care to ensure that campers talk with each other and meet new people with respect and openness. Keep in mind that an important part of the camp experience is learning to make new friends and collaborate with people whose perspectives and experiences may be different from their own. We strive to create a welcoming and inclusive environment to all campers and strongly encourage everyone at camp (youth and adults alike) to engage with new friends as much as possible. Please note that our band formation process occurs at camp with all campers present, so pre-forming bands is not possible.
We don not offer private lessons at this time. Sometimes we are able to provide a referral list from our volunteer pool but currently very few of our volunteers teach private lessons. Send us an email at info@girlsrockchicago.org and maybe we can point you in the right direction!
The camp application will open approximately two weeks after the camp dates are announced. Returning campers get advance notice via email. We send out a notice to our entire mailing list and also post on our blog, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Girls and trans youth face unique challenges and oppressions in their lives due to their gender identities. We want to create a uniquely safe space that supports, uplifts, and cares for people of all marginalized gender identities while allowing them to take creative risks and form strong bonds with their peers, as well as inspire our participants to create change in their communities.
We host workshops at camp and in other programs that focus on topics related to playing and composing music with a band, building self-esteem, and exploring what it means to be a girl or transperson making music. Past workshops have included song-writing, performance and stage presence, DIY effect pedals, DIY recording, media literacy, gender and inclusion, the history of women in rock, art and activism, and t-shirt surgery. Each camp session, we lead a one hour-long workshop that explores the question “What’s with the ‘girl’ in Girls Rock! Chicago?” The objective of this workshop is to provide campers with a basic understanding of gender, and how that relates to and impacts one’s experience in the world, especially in terms of oppression, bullying, and self-esteem. The full curriculum is available at www.girlsrockchicago.org.
No! Experience as a musician is appreciated for some roles like instrument instructor, but not required for roles such as band coach, counselor, roadie, and others.
We want every camper to have the opportunity to learn to play a traditional rock instrument. We offer vocal workshops and provide each camper with the opportunity to sing in their band if they so choose.
Unfortunately, we are unable to accept any scheduling requests for the showcase. We structure the lineup in a loose age order so that it flows cohesively and also so that our graduating bands can “headline,” so to speak. We typically do not develop the lineup until the Friday afternoon of each camp week following dress rehearsal so that staff can get a good sense of what each band sounds like. It is critical that families leave the showcase day open from 9 AM – 3 PM.
It usually takes about six months after camp for us to create the camp CDs and prepare them for families. It’s a long process! First, our recording engineers mix the tracks, and then another company has to master the tracks. We also have to create the art for the CDs and CD jackets. Once we have the mastered tracks and art, we send them off to a CD duplication company to manufacture our CDs and wait for them to be shipped to us. Then we have to plan a CD release party at our office. Whew!
We’ve got the next best thing: Let’s Rock! Camp for adults!
There’s room for everyone to help at Girls Rock! Chicago! Cisgender men (who cannot volunteer during our programs) are welcome to volunteer at our office, during load-in and load out, and events such as the Annual Auction or on our Board of Directors. Cisgender men can also help us out by donating gear, cash, or setting up benefit events!