RECAP: POC Zine Project & Girls Rock Camp collaboration in 2013

We appreciate the love:

“Working with the POC Zine Project was a total pleasure. The workshops that they presented at Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls were inspiring, engaging, radical and fun (a perfect combo), and the youth were psyched about the ‘zines they created with POCZP.

Also, Daniela is wicked organized, which made the planning process a dream. Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls is excited to continue working with and supporting POC Zine Project!"—Emmet Moeller, Program Director, Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls

How did we end up collaborating with folks who are part of Girls Rock Camp Alliance? Find out below! <3

[DESCRIPTION: Savannah smiles at POCZP’s zine workshop during Bay Area Girls Rock Camp's Girls Rock After School Program (GRASP) in January of 2013. Photo credit: Gabby Miller]

2013 was POCZP’s first year collaborating with two Girls Rock Camps on POC Zine Project-led youth zine-making workshops that also incorporated accessible histories of POC creators from the 1700s-today. 

[DESCRIPTION: Watch this video to learn more about The Girls Rock Camp Alliance]

POCZP wanted to experiment with partnering with GRCA because several of our touring members have had positive experiences volunteering & teaching through GRCA across the country. Osa Atoe (Shotgun Seamstress zine series) and Suzy X (Shady Hawkins) are just a few zinesters/musicians of color who have supported GRCA with their time, energy and talents. 

POCZP’S RECAPS FOR 2013 GIRLS ROCK ZINE-MAKING WORKSHOPS

[DESCRIPTION: A mini-zine/pocket zine made at our Oakland workshop by a young anon <3]

POCZP’s first step in our ongoing, collaborative process was doing a workshop with Bay Area Girls Rock Camp in Oakland, California, USA, the last week of January. This came about because POCZP founder Daniela attended an LGBTQ pride event in Oakland in September of 2012, where she met Bay Area Girls Rock Camp organizer Gabby Miller. After they connected, Gabby invited POCZP to lead youth zine-making workshops during their next Girls Rock After School Program (GRASP) session in 2013.

Daniela coordinated with POCZP west coast coordinator/touring member Mariam Bastani, who donated her time to lead the workshops at no cost. She also brought Kat, a volunteer (thanks Kat!). The sessions happened through GRASP in Oakland, CA, on 1/19 and 1/21, 2013. 

Here’s a peek at one of the workshops in real-time:

[DESCRIPTION: ENDLESS YUM from Bay Area Girls Rock Camp on Vimeo]

Mariam’s recap, in her own words:

I was coming at it through music, since we were at rock camp. The younger kids were really into it. The teen workshop was attended by a ton of workers and we played some punk and showed a video of the aABC No Rio Zine Library.

Punks and activists are the ones who have had zine libraries for years and those are the examples I used to focus on the DIY nature of zines. Presenting punk as another of many DIY options is just where I come from. I was showing commonalities within groups that want to express themselves and that zines are accessible/ another DIY option.

BAY AREA GIRLS ROCK CAMP TESTIMONIAL

Each day there were 30 participants in the workshop. Tuesday was 3rd through 6th graders, and thursday was 7th to 12th graders. GRASP is the Bay Area Girls Rock Camp’s "Girls Rock After School Program”. They were an hour long each. Very short, but the beginnings of something! 

Each day Mariam and Kat brought a ton of examples of different ways to make zines (big fold-out art zines, itty bitty zines, one page zines), and then showed us how to make a one-page zines. The students then got to make their own and spent the majority of the hour working steadily on their zines while Mariam and Cat helped them learn the folding and cutting techniques, and showing them more examples.

At the end of the hour we were lucky to have the time for a AWESOME zine readings where a wide range of zines were introduced to the world - titles included:

- “Endless Yum" 
- "Everyone can be a family" 
- "Eyes Understand" 
- "Cute Animals" 
-” Where’s Oprah?“

it ruled! - Gabby Miller, Bay Area Girls Rock Camp

NEXT STEPS: POCZP founder Daniela and west coast coordinators will be meeting with Bay Area Girls Rock Camp organizers this month to discuss ongoing collaborations for during & after #RaceRiotTour.

About Bay Area Girls Rock Camp

Bay Area Girls Rock Camp is a nonprofit dedicated to empowering girls through music, promoting an environment that fosters self-confidence, creativity and collaboration. It is part of the Girls Rock Camp Alliance. 

Girls Rock After School Program (GRASP) is a 10-week program for girls 8-18 years old. Students attend instrument lessons, form a band, collaboratively write an original song, participate in exciting workshops, and perform with their band at a live showcase. All ability levels are welcome; no musical experience is necessary. Applications in Spanish are available upon request.  

To sign up, go to www.bayareagirlsrockcamp.org and fill out an online application, or call to request a paper application: (510) 267-1808.  Applications in Spanish are available upon request.

GRASP is located at Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts in downtown Oakland @ 1428 Alice Street.

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We <3 Brooklyn  

[DESCRIPTION: Leah is '8 ½’ years old and made a mini-zine in homage to Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls at our #poczines session on August 21, 2013. Photo credit: POCZP]

We love it when all the stars seem to align in support of POCZP being a part of young people finding their voice in fun and transformative ways…

Your workshops were some of our campers’ favorites, and we were thrilled to have you and your co-presenters there talking about 'zine making in communities of color. 

It was a pleasure working with you, and I hope that Willie Mae Rock Camp can support POC Zine Project in other ways going forward - let me know if there’s anything we can do to help!—Emmet Moeller, Program Director, Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls via email to POCZP

On August 20 and 21, 2013, POCZP founder Daniela Capistrano and facilitators Suzy X (POCZP touring member), Patricia Rogers (masConsumption) and POCZP’s longtime ally Kate Wadkins led four zine-making workshops with young people ranging in ages from 8 - 17. These sessions took place at this year’s Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls’ Girls Rock! Camp. Session 2 was held at Cathedral High School in Midtown Manhattan, and the showcase was held at Roulette in Downtown Brooklyn. 

Here are some rad photos from our sessions, which our followers on Instagram (@poczineproject) saw in real-time: 

[Description: 31 photos taken by POCZP founder Daniela at Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls’ 2013 Girls Rock! Camp with her smartphone]

How did this collaboration come about? Simple! Emmet Moeller, Program Director, attended our zine workshop (in collaboration with MOONROOT and Dr. Adela C. Licona) at this year’s Allied Media Festival in Detroit. Emmet then quickly reached out to Daniela about POCZP doing PAID sessions, in support of our #RaceRiotTour fundraising efforts (it makes a huge difference when people include/make space for us in their programming budgets!). Because we were offered payment, we were able to temporarily devote resources away from #RaceRiotTour planning to workshop logistics. We had so much fun with the young folks as part of this year’s Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls events!

Here’s Daniela’s recap, in her own words:

I’m looking forward to exploring what long term collaboration will look like between Girls Rock Camp Alliance and POCZP. The workshops were a lot of fun; I always enjoy helping young people find their voice through their own materiality and sharing knowledge.

I liked the diverse mix of young people and voices; none of the white youth reported that they felt excluded or silenced because we celebrated zines by POC (it’s white ADULTS largely who react this way) and were very respectful and open to what was being discussed. Their positive participation and energy was an important factor in the success of the workshops. I’m keeping this brief so you’ll read the other recaps below! <3

Here’s Suzy X’s recap, in her own words:

This was my 5th summer volunteering at Willie Mae—and it was an excellent one, because I had the opportunity to teach kids about zines! As a group that’s never lived in a time without the Internet, some campers were skeptical of using zines as a medium of expression. "I have a blog,” some said, “I can just type in it from my phone!" 

In remembering my own first websites—hosted on the now defunct Geocities and Angelfire—Daniela and I discussed the value of keeping physical versions of our work, as our favorite blogs and hosting sites are always under the threat of turning over. While blogs are great for putting your ideas out into the world, journals, sketchbooks, and zines make great personal and cultural artifacts. 

That said, many campers took really well to the idea of the zine, crafting their own mini-zines about topics like gender, body image, and corporate greed—or just plain positive write-ups about their own bands. Some even took a more experimental angle, such as the class of 9-year olds who competed with each other to make The World’s Smallest Zine, the kids who made zines within zines and a girl who made an "abstract” zine with nothing in it. Some of the best, most inspiring work comes from total noobs with little experience, and that’s what makes self-publishing such an important tradition to sustain.

[Description: 41 photos taken by Kate Wadkins at Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls’ 2013 Girls Rock! Camp]

Here’s Patricia Rogers’ recap, in her own words:

I feel so lucky to have been given the opportunity to co-lead the zine workshops. I started the zine because I wanted to do something that called for collaboration and I wanted to help give young artists and creators a voice.

Ever since starting masConsumption, early this year, I have been able to work with such amazing people, put on amazing events and learned a lot. However, I haven’t felt the kind of fulfillment I felt after working with the girls at the Willie Mae Camp.

Sometimes I forget why I got into this in the first place and working with them reminded me. Seeing these ladies express themselves, learning and collaborating. The excitement they had to just be able to learn a skill that can help them for the rest of their lives.

I know they won’t all grow up to become zine editors but teaching them how to make a mini zine with just one piece if paper will be so rewarding for them. These young girls are growing up in such a technology based world and I think being able to be crafty and write or physically draw their feelings and imagination.

I am really excited about future mentorship and being a resource for those young creative and artistic ladies.

Here’s Kate Wadkins’ recap, in her own words:

When Daniela Capistrano approached me to collaborate on a workshop at Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls, I couldn’t be more enthusiastic in my reply—POC Zine Project and Willie Mae are two of my favorite organizations in New York and I felt honored to be a part of it. Daniela and I have been collaborating on events since 2010, and I’ve also worked with Suzy X before: I invited her to show some of her comics in an art show I co-curated in 2011, called BIG MOUTH: Contemporary Feminist Voices in Art + Illustration. Patricia Rogers of masConsumption Zine was new to me and I was really excited to see what we’d come up with all together.

We approached this workshop with a free-form attitude: Daniela would lead us in with a history of people of color in zines, offering knowledge we lack both in school AND in zine culture, one example being that Black women like Ida B. Wells used this format for years to combat oppression. Then, she’d tell each group a bit about why POC Zine Project exists, and how the kids individually could access the media that POC Zine Project makes available. Then, we make zines. 

As a white woman, a good portion of this workshop was listening, for me. Daniela, Suzy and Patricia all shared their stories as women of color media-makers and discussed the various institutional structures they’ve come up against in their personal, scholarly, artistic AND political lives. While these women are collaborators (and friends) of mine, I was offered a chance to learn more about why they do what they do, and why zines are so crucial to their own artistic processes.

As I was only able to co-lead the morning sessions, I worked with campers ages 10-16 (younger girls attended the afternoon sessions). What I witnessed was amazing! I wasn’t surprised, though, because every time I watch youngsters given the opportunity to make zines, they do something incredible. These 10-16-year-olds bore their hearts out on paper, with markers, pens, Sharpies and collage. They wrote about heartbreak, identity politics, racism, and sexism. Some of them wrote about roller derby or how they just don’t like people. Many of them came up with their own fun and innovative ways to creatively bind their finished zines.

One thing struck me while watching these girls cut up newspapers and magazines to create their own art: this workshop empowered them to literally and physically subvert mainstream media. A lot of us in the zine community see this as a primary function of zines, but it was extra powerful to watch young girls engage in this process in a tangible way.

How did we feel after collaborating with folks from Girls Rock Camp Alliance? Judge for yourself in the photos below…<3

[DESCRIPTION: (L to R) Daniela Capistrano, Patricia Rogers, Suzy X and Kate Wadkins. Photo by Jamie]

[DESCRIPTION: (L to R) Suzy X, Kate Wadkins & POCZP founder Daniela Capistrano at Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls 2013]

COMMUNITY: Interested in incorporating POCZP into your programming schedule? We are open to discussing possible collaborations after #RaceRiotTour.

Please send us an email with “POCZP collaboration” to poczineproject@gmail.com, which we’ll categorize as a general inquiry and follow up by December 1, 2013. Please note “URGENT” in the subject line as well if you are interested in partnering in January of 2014.

We offer free services to grassroots orgs who don’t have operating budgets. We require payment from orgs with funding. Thank you for your support. You can learn more about our services on the #RaceRiotTour page.

ABOUT THE GIRLS ROCK CAMP ALLIANCE

The Girls Rock Camp Alliance is an international 501©3 coalition of organizations whose shared mission is to empower girls and women using the tools of music education to foster self-esteem and confidence. To this end, the GRCA promotes, strengthens, and expands services provided by its affiliated camps. GRCA provides resources and networking opportunities for its member camps, and promotes the establishment of like-minded institutions worldwide.

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SUPPORT POC ZINE PROJECT

If everyone in our community gave $10, we would more than meet our fundraising goal for 2013. If you have it to spare, we appreciate your support. All funds go to our 2013 tour, the Legacy Series and the poverty zine series.

DONATE link via PayPal: http://bit.ly/SHdmyh