We sent our fifteen year old daughter to Amplify for the first time this Summer, and she had an…read moreamazing time! We would highly recommend Amplify for any girl that is passionate about music or art- especially middle and high schoolers trying to find themselves in the world while being pulled every which way by social media.
For a bit of context, our daughter has had a passion for singing since she was able to sing. From singing in the car as a toddler, to completely filling both her iPad and the family iCloud account with videos of herself singing along to her favorite artists during COVID lockdowns, she was always singing. But the insecurity and bullying that came with middle school and high school stifled that for her, and singing became something that she did in secret. She insisted she wanted to pursue a career as a singer, but she was afraid to let anyone hear her voice. When we read up a little more on Amplify and the positive environment and opportunities that they provide for girls to explore various aspects of the music industry, we decided it would be just the confidence boost that she needed to come out of her shell and let her voice be heard.
While the girls are at camp, parents are kept informed through the camp's social media groups for parents of campers, and through the bunk1 app, both of which feature pictures and videos that are uploaded every day or two. We loved seeing pictures and videos of the girls having fun and interacting with the various visiting artists. If any issues or questions came up, camp staff would text us to keep us in the loop, such as when our daughter wanted to change her intensive on the second day of camp. She also sent us an amazing video of our daughter practicing with her band. That's right, the girl that was afraid to sing in front of anyone was singing confidently and beautifully with her band on the second day of camp! She also performed in the camp talent show, and (after a little bit of jitters) the camp showcase! I haven't seen our daughter's performance video yet (I heard that they send out the full performance videos later in the year), but the pure joy I saw in the videos that were posted from the talent show was absolutely infectious! The girls are so supportive of the other bands, dancing and singing along to the lyrics as they cover songs from artists ranging from Bikini Kill to Billie Eilish!
Besides practicing and performing with her band, the biggest highlights of the camp for our daughter were the performances from visiting artists. Each two week session features visits from well-known and emerging female artists. During our daughter's session, Lisa Loeb and Emi Grace both visited the camp, performing for the girls, answering questions about their experiences as musicians, and signing autographs. During session three, the camp also invites campers from all sessions back for Campchella, an all day music festival featuring some of the artists from each session and over fifteen artists in total. Emi Grace quickly became one of my daughter's favorite artists during her visit to camp, so she was super excited to see Emi perform a second time at camp before she headed off to Chicago for her Lollapalooza gig!
Overall, I'm really impressed with Amplify and the positive impact it had on my daughter. My daughter loved the music aspect the most, but I feel like Amplify is so much more than just a music camp. It's a totally accepting and inclusive community of creative girls coming together to grow, learn, and have fun, without a cell phone in sight! From starting bands and songwriting, to photography, album design, and fashion design, to working on Cuqui magazine, to musical theatre, there's something for every interest. I love how Amplify brings the community and diy spirit that I grew up with in the 90s riot grrl scene to a new generation! Girls to the front!
