Saskatoon music camp teaches new instruments, gender empowerment
A group of young musicians, creators and performers capped off a week-long camp with performances at the Broadway theatre on Saturday.
Girls Rock Saskatoon is a chance for kids aged 9 to 14 to learn a completely new instrument, form a band, and write a song to perform at the end of the week.
Camp director Alison Whelan started Girls Rock Saskatoon in 2014 with a focus on gender empowerment, awareness and acceptance, and says the kids needed this interaction after the pandemic.
“It was pure excitement and happiness that we can just gather kids and adults again in this way to be really supportive and encouraging after so much time of isolation and being apart,” said Whelan, who added that the response from the kids to trying a new skill and improving their awareness of others has been rewarding.
“It’s been intense, in a very positive way. I think the kids have been really ready to do something like this. to do something creative, to do something collaboratively that's not really through a screen probably for the first time in quite a few years.”
A member of the newly formed band “The Crows,” Autumn says taking on the challenge of a new instrument and making a band seemed impossible on the first day.
“At the beginning, I was like how is this possible? How are we going to master this instrument and a whole song in a few days?” she wondered. “But we actually did it and it worked out really well.”
Fellow “The Crows” band member Georgia says she had been waiting for the chance to come to Girls Rock Camp for over two years.
“I signed in two years ago, but COVID happened,” said Georgia. “Then I didn’t go for a year, so I’ve been waiting for two years and I was super excited.”
For Riel, who played drums for the first time this week, anything is possible when you set your mind to it.
“I just learned the drums really quite quickly, and in my opinion, it’s pretty easy,” said Riel, who admitted being hesitant to come to camp because it was in the last weeks of summer.
“I thought I wouldn’t want to come to camp, but in the end, I’m really glad I did.”
Whelan said the dream is to bottle that energy and positivity from Girls Rock Camp and share it with even more people.
“It’s acceptance, and meeting people where they’re at, and it always warms my heart,” said Whelan.
“And I wish we could take the Girls Rock Camp pedagogy and spread it further into the community and reach more adults also because the message that these kids have is always overwhelmingly positive.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Attempt to have murder charge quashed against alleged serial killer dismissed by judge
A motion filed by the man accused of killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg to have one of those murder charges quashed has been dismissed by the judge – weeks before the start of his trial.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.