Celebration, Updates, and Plans for the Future
We are celebrating two radical and powerful weeks of rock camp at our SoLunar Festival! Between our two camps, 100 young people ages 9 - 16 entered the hallways of the Eno River Universalist Unitarian Fellowship (Durham) and the Universalist Unitarian Fellowship of Raleigh. Within a week, campers learned instruments, formed bands, participated in a range of community-led workshops, recorded their original songs, and performed their original songs on stage.
We are still so moved by the young people who participated in camp this year and allowed themselves to be vulnerable, step out of their comfort zone, and take up space. We had 22 youth bands blow the crowd away at Motorco Music Hall in Durham and Pour House Music Hall in Raleigh, performing with peers they had only met a week ago.
Returning to summer camp this year was a heartwarming experience. It was delightful to see returning youth and so many new faces in-person. Girls and gender-expansive young people are so often discouraged from taking up space and being loud. A majority of young people at GRNC identify as LGBTQ+ and camp provided a safe space for them to explore their identities, while receiving accessible music education and participating in radical conversations around gender justice, racial justice, sustainability, and media literacy.
We are grateful for the volunteers, sponsors, partners, and community members who made camp possible this year. A special thanks to our volunteers especially who hauled gear, cheered on campers, facilitated workshops, and kept camp running.
Our team has been reflecting on the less-than-ideal circumstances we were given to plan this camp. We entered the year with less than half of our usual projected budget and an almost entirely volunteer team. We had to navigate and plan for unpredictable COVID-19 conditions, while dividing our time and energy for our annual fundraiser as that was happening. Not to forget, we had spent the better of two years diving into a reflection of our work and how we can improve our offerings.
Recognizing we will not reach all of our organizational goals overnight, 2022 has been one stepping stone among many as we move closer to the world we’re creating. After assessing our budget, we made the informed decision to first ensure that our team of staff and volunteers were resourced and supported in order to serve our campers. Our Fundraising Committee hosted an incredibly successful Rock Roulette fundraiser this year, generating over $21,000 for our organization.We are grateful for the donations we received during our Rock Roulette fundraiser which helped us to distribute $17,000 in stipends to our six summer contract workers and 50 volunteers. We introduced a new position of Wellness Facilitator to be on-site at camp and lead cultural mindfulness trainings to the entire adult team before the start of camp.
This year we also prioritized the hiring of LGBTQ+ and BIPOC individuals. Youth of marginalized genders and sexualities and youth of color deserve access to the abundant music resources and nourishing spaces GRNC provides. We want both our leadership and team of volunteers to reflect the young people we hope to serve.
We were able to offer Equity Scholarships for the first time this year which fully covered the cost of tuition for summer camp to Black youth, Indigenous Youth, youth living with disabilities and undocumented youth while continuing to offer financial assistance for campers of all identities. We are grateful to have been able to provide $6,020 in scholarships and financial assistance to our campers this year.
With summer camp over, our team is now working on…
Reflecting on summer camp and making note of adjustments for next year
Planning for an After School program in the fall
Initiating outdoor Gear Hangs at our storage locker
Securing funding in the form of grants and grassroots fundraising
Growing our Committees, Staff, Working Board, and Advisory Board
You can be involved with our work by joining a committee or applying to be on our Board of Directors. We will share announcements about our upcoming programs through our newsletter and on Instagram.
Thank you again for an incredible summer!
You Rock!
Hema
