Julie Doiron, Kendra Gale and others to perform May 13 in support of the first Greater Moncton Girls+ Rock Camp.
Matt Carter
The Greater Moncton Girls+ Rock Camp have something special planned for Mother’s Day. An impressive mix of established and emerging female performers will take the stage for an afternoon fundraising concert and auction at the Moncton Press Club beginning at 2 p.m.
“The Mother’s Day Fundraiser show really blew up and has turned into something even bigger than we initially planned,” said GMG+RC co-founder Dylan Hackett. “The music lineup is going to be all local and all female-fronted bands including Julie Doiron, Amy Stone and the Veneers, Radium Doxy, Kendra Gale Band, and Alumette (Mylene Surette). People should check them out online, it’s quite a variation of some really awesome local bands.”
The event will also include an art auction with work by several local artists including Lysanne Lombard, Chelsea Gauvin, Hil LeFrank and others.
In addition to the support received from local musicians and artists, Hackett says the event has also received support from a number of local businesses who stepped up to donate auction items.
“It’s awesome because local businesses and artists have reached out to us to donate art, jewelry, gift baskets, and gift cards to the event,” she said. “We’re really happy that the community is behind us on this and are recognizing the need to support and create spaces that are not only supportive for women, but are run by us as well.”
Proceeds from the Mother’s Day fundraiser will help support the first edition of the Greater Moncton Girls+ Rock Camp which will run August 13-17.
“We began the Greater Moncton Girls+ Rock Camp Foundation in April to raise funds for two main reasons,” said Hackett. “The first is to assist in covering the registration costs for campers who need it. This way we are fulfilling one of our key mandates which is making our camp as accessible as possible. The second reason is for operational costs like renting a venue for our fundraising event, renting equipment, and promoting the camp.
“The funds raised from the Mother’s Day show at the Moncton Press Club will go directly toward the camp in August, specifically, renting out a facility and music equipment, paying our mentors, promoting our events and supporting the kids who wish to participate,” she said.
The initial Moncton event is open to female-identifying, transgender, and/or non-binary gender-identifying adolescents ages 12-18 with the aim to create a supportive, fun environment where campers can work together to create original music. Registration is now open.
Co-founder Ilisha French-Daigle was inspired to launch a rock camp in Moncton after attending a similar event in Fredericton organized by the Charlotte Street Arts Centre.
“This year is the first year for the camp in Greater Moncton. There was one in Fredericton in August last year which was run by the Charlotte Street Arts Centre,” said French-Daigle. “I heard they were having one there so I became a volunteer and went to Fredericton for five days and slept on a friend’s couch so I could teach and mentor a band. The experience was pretty great. I also taught the bass class every day, which I hadn’t done before, but my students were really eager to learn so it made it easy. It was so cool, because there was a rule we all set together at the beginning of camp which was to be supportive of your band mates during the week and I really did get to see a lot of that happening between the campers. And they wrote a lot of cool songs. It was pretty exciting for someone like me who grew up not really seeing enough other girls and women in music.”
Hackett believes this summer’s camp will offer young musicians an introduction to the city’s music scene while at the same time helping to create an even more positive, diverse and supportive community.
“The camp will provide a much needed outlet to the youth in our community to receive positive female mentorship in a supportive environment,” said Hackett. “Greater Moncton has a supportive music scene and though it is fairly diverse in terms of music, it is not diverse in all ways. Our goal with the Greater Moncton Girls+ Rock camp is to increase the number of women, trans, and gender non-conforming people within it. Seeing more people of colour in our music scene is also very important to us. As musicians, promoters and fans who are female, we understand the barriers that exist in a scene with respect to promotion and booking to producing and playing. It’s important for these members of our community to have every resource, tool and role model available to them in order to have a strong presence and be comfortable in an industry that is often dominated by men.
“We hope the camp will inspire young women to start bands, write songs, book shows and ask questions but ultimately, to get involved and carve a creative space for themselves in the community.”
Mother’s Day Concert and Local Art Auction | May 13 | Moncton Press Club | Doors at 1:30 p.m. | Show at 2 p.m. | View Event
About Greater Moncton Girls+ Rock Camp
To empower, teach and provide a supportive environment for self-expression, cooperation and self-confidence building through music.
With the support of our partners, Music New Brunswick and YWCA Moncton, our objective is to organize and facilitate a five day rock n’ roll camp in Greater Moncton in August, 2018. We will offer registration to 20 female-identifying, transgender, and/or non-binary gender-identifying adolescents, ages 12-18, with priority registration for people of colour. Following the camp, there will be a large public showcase event where the campers will perform in bands and distribute their band merch in the community.
