Black Girls Play provides an evolving range of opportunities and activities that allow the girls to engage in skill-building activities and relationship- building social development. BGP participants learn to envision their own successes as they experience breakthroughs to higher levels of critical and creative thinking, and increased proficiency in their musicianship. The goal is to maintain a sp
ace where young Black girls and women feel valued and supported in advancing their academic and career pursuits in the creative industries. By attending weekly private lessons, performance ensemble classes and production/business of music mentoring sessions, participants develop the skills and self-confidence needed to excel in the field of music as creative leaders in performance, production, engineering, journalism, music education, arts administration, management, etc. Participants attend up to 3 sessions weekly as follows:
-A weekly private lesson to increase knowledge of and technical expertise on their instrument
-A weekly Black Girls Play ensemble rehearsal in accordance with their skill level.
-Business of Music mentoring sessions. These sessions introduce the girls to occupational choices in the field of music. Children do what they see and, Black Girls Play has a directed focus not only on the musical needs, but the social and emotional needs of Black girls who want to live a life in music. To that end, all of the teachers and industry mentors are Black women who are professionally active in the music business as performing artists, composers, educators, arts administrators, sound engineers, videographers, photographers, artist and venue managers, entertainment lawyers, and more. The main thing is that the girls learn from women who look like them and the teachers/mentors see themselves in the girls, providing a seamless experience in holistic, authentic reciprocity.
