YMCA to host girl rock ‘n’ rollers

By Veronica Newbury

Rock Camp For Girls, a local organization that encourages diversity and inclusivity in the music industry, has been awarded a Canada 150 “micro-grant” to put on a one-of-a-kind show at the Taggart Family YMCA-YWCA in Centretown on March 10.

RC4G, which puts on an annual music camp for girls aged 13 to 17, was one of 35 recipients of small sums awarded through the Ottawa 2017 Micro-Grant program. The program is aimed at animating the capital — which is also hosting the Juno Awards in April — during the 150th anniversary year of Confederation.

The grants, valued between $500 to $1500, are being administered by the Juno Host Committee in partnership with the Ottawa Music Industry Coalition, as well as the Ottawa 2017 initiative that’s organizing the city’s sesquicentennial celebrations.

There were more than 180 applicants. “We’re trying to get as many different kinds of music in different parts of the city as possible,” said Andrew Vincent, executive director of the OMIC.

Between January and March, the grant recipients will use the funding to organize musical experiences in all 23 of the City of Ottawa’s wards.

“We were looking for events that created opportunities for musicians to connect with new audiences and for audiences to have new experiences with music,” said Vincent. He added that the program also aimed to encourage audiences to be “introduced to new kinds of music or music being performed in non-traditional spaces.”

Other recipients of the grant include songwriters Craig Cardiff, a past Juno nominee, and Amanda Lowe, who organized a song-writing workshop for new Canadians. The PepTides, a local pop-funk band, teamed up with OCCO Kitchen in Orleans for a night of music and locally sourced food.

Rock Camp For Girls is hosting an all-ages musical showcase and jam session for the Y event.

According to Tiffanie Tri, vice chair of the organization, the Argyle Street YMCA was the chosen venue for the show because of its accessibility.

“One thing that’s difficult for the music scene in general is there aren’t a lot of all-age events, or you have people sneaking in and it isn’t safe for younger youth. We wanted to have a place that’s very safe and inclusive,” said Tri.

Young female songwriters will perform their material in the first part of the evening. The audience will then have a chance to try out some of the instruments for themselves.

“The title of our event is See It And Be It,” explained Tri. “In the music industry, there’s a lot of disparity. It isn’t gender-equitable. We’re hoping that if they see youth and female artists up there, people will say: ‘If she can do it, I can do it, too.’ It’s about slowly changing the image of what music can be.”

Madison Watson, a board member with Rock Camp For Girls, said that while society seems to be embracing more diversity in the music scene, more work needs to be done.

According to Watson, many girls attending the annual rock camp retreat in the fall still feel as if they are not given the same opportunity as boys and young men to break into the industry because of their gender.

“There can be a lot of barriers for people outside of the normal, accepted ‘white cisgender male performer,’ ” explained Watson, referring to the term for those whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth. “The reason for that is because those are the people who have held the power. They are the ones booking gigs, who are signing contracts. We’re trying to do what we can to change that.”

The RC4G event itself is being coordinated by young women enrolled in a gig-planning workshop that the organization is also offering. They are in charge of everything from booking the artists to promoting the event and making sure it stays within the budget.

“These are girls getting mentored by other women who have experience planning these events so that they can hopefully put together their own shows in the future,” said Watson.

While he said it is too soon to say if the micro-grant program can continue past this year, Vincent suggested it has potential to become an annual fixture of the Ottawa music scene.

“Based on the applications we’ve had and the events that have already taken place, we’ve seen that for a fairly small investment, you get a really amazing result.”