Girls Rock! Canberra shines a spotlight on marginalised gender identities—and helps them take the stage.

Posted on 17 August, 2022

 Supporting young people of marginalised identities (including trans and cis girls, gender-diverse people and trans-boys) Girls Rock! Canberra is back for its sixth program—and you better be ready to make some noise.

Running from Monday 26 September until Friday 30 September, with a showcase on Saturday 1 October, the beloved school holiday Rock Camp has become a stepping-stone in the local music industry for young people aged between 10-17 who want to learn an instrument, form a band, write a song and find out more about the industry.

Aiming to be a place to foster the next generation of musicians and music industry workers, Girls Rock! encourages young people to express their creativity, take pride in their accomplishments—but according to Canberra Coordinator Deimeon Spilka, the program is also a safe space designed to amplify the voices of marginalised gender identities through music.

“There’s not a lot of spaces where you can just be 100 per cent yourself,” they say.

“I was originally a camper at Rock Camp…And part of the reason I originally came to camp was I’m openly a non-binary trans person and Rock Camp was the only program I’d ever seen that quite openly stated that this was going to be a safe space for me, that trans people were going to be safe there. And I think that’s really, really important.”

Helping young people create and collaborate through promoting inclusivity, diversity, respect and accessibility, across five days, the ‘campers’ form their own band, learn an instrument (with the choice of electric guitar, drums, vocals, bass or electronic music), watch live performances, and attend creative and capacity-building workshops and work with mentors.

 

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Showcasing their new skills and performing an original song at the end of the week, no music experience is required—and while learning an instrument in five days might sound daunting, according to Deimeon the “DIY attitude” of the camp is to teach young people that they can do whatever they put their mind to, and that they can do it right here in Canberra.

“One of the important things about the Canberra camp is that we’re really trying to make Canberra a place where artists can stay. We’re trying to make it accessible for young people to get into the arts and also hopefully encourage them to stay in Canberra,” they say.

“I’m a young person who grew up in Canberra, I was born here, I’ve lived here my whole life and I know that a lot of people have that ‘I’ve got to escape Canberra mindset.’ But we hope through our activities at camp, helping young people get into gigs and playing live music that we can help support them into making Canberra a more dynamic and fun place to live.”

With applications closing at midnight on Monday 22 August, the cost of the September 2022 session is $500, including daily morning and afternoon tea, as well as all instrument use and workshop materials—and don’t worry if it’s out of the budget, partial and full scholarships are offered on a needs basis.

“Part of trying to make camp accessible is we offer scholarships to our campers to help with the cost, because we want camp to be a place where everyone can come and is welcome,” says Deimeon.

“It’s just a really incredible experience where you can learn new things, meet new people and prove to yourself that you can do whatever you want.”

Interested? Rock on.