Girls and nonbinary kids become punk stars at St. Pete Girls Rock camp
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Anarkitty performs for campers at St. Pete Girls Rock. Photo: Courtesy of Sandrasonik Creative Photography
Jannus Live is known for hosting world-famous musicians, but this weekend's headliners are bands you've never heard of — because they didn't exist a week ago.
Why it matters: Girls Rock St. Pete takes fifty girls and nonbinary kids aged 8-17 and turns them into punk rockers with the confidence and knowledge to take on the world offstage.
State of punk: Eight bands formed in the weeklong camp hosted at Allendale United Methodist Church will take the stage Saturday, performing original songs.
- Alumni will perform as Anarkitty, which opened for Pussy Riot and Idina Menzel at the last two St. Pete Pride festivals.
How it works: Campers are grouped into their bands on day one and assigned vocals or an instrument (guitar, bass, drums, keys) that they've never played before.
- Kids are grouped apart from siblings, friends and former bandmates. After hours of daily instrumental instruction and band practice, they find their sound and name for the big show.
What they're saying: "What we're trying to teach the campers here is [that] mistakes are your best friend," Jesse Miller, the nonprofit's executive director, told Axios.
- "The faster you make them, the more you embrace them, the quicker that you can just be like, well, I messed up, and I'm gonna try again."
- "It's really cool to watch. Even the shyest kids really embrace the messiness of learning music."
Between the strings: Music is the camp's Trojan horse, as Miller calls it. Kids are also there to learn about social justice and advocacy.
- Aside from instrumental instruction and band practice, the five days are packed with activities like scream circle and "freakaerobics," along with workshops on self-love and body positivity, disability awareness, intersectional feminism and self-defense.
- Two full-time on-site therapists help kids with issues that pop up like bullying, eating disorders, coming out as LGBTQ, family issues and processing trauma.
The bottom line: "You take away the foundations and the building blocks of being able to create a better community and a better self," camp founder Rachael Sibila told Axios.
What's ahead: Applications open soon for grownup women and nonbinary folks to get a similar experience at Ladies Rock Camp in October.
- The organization also hosts monthly youth open mics at The Chattaway.
- Miller and Sibila are hoping to start after-school programming and expand community outreach in the future.
🎟️ If you go: Doors open for Saturday's show at 6pm. Tickets are $20, with options to add a camper scholarship or update the instrument library.
