Joy and Art and Song: A Reflection on 2020

Dear Girls Rock Philly friends, family, community,

Amidst all of the trials and challenges that bring us into the homestretch of 2020, we're sending you all the love and gratitude we have. While the causes and conditions of injustice and challenge are familiar, this year has demanded unprecedented courage from all of us. You’ve shown our city and our wider world that when we choose each other– our mutual safety, care, dignity, freedom and joy– the world is better for it. We're so proud to know and love you.

This year we acknowledge our capacity to change and adapt as the marrow of our work together. GRP was founded in the spirit of breaking down barriers that limit our potential, and reimagining spaces that reflect and reinforce the magic of our communities. Our continuation means running into and renegotiating the boundaries of our work; adjusting, shifting, and adapting whenever it becomes clear that it’s time again to make space. We cannot begin to guess what the future holds, so we look into 2021 and beyond with the following in mind:

We commit to building an organization that celebrates and centers BIPOC Women and Trans leaders, and practices accessibility and inclusivity beyond buzzwords.

We commit to supporting a new cohort of Youth Leadership at GRP –our largest ever– with paid leadership positions and new collaborations with Philly Youth Organizers as we learn, listen and dreamweave together for the future.

We commit to strengthening our programming: we’ve successfully introduced brand new programming like C.A.R.E. Lab and expanded our Gear Library for rentals and direct actions. We’ll keep offering digital music programming, skillshares and community-led workshops, expanding our toolbox for the work ahead.

We commit to courageously reimagining our work with and for our community, taking space and making space to celebrate all that we are and hope to be in the years to come.  For us, this means thinking critically and working actively to  dismantle systems of oppression, within and outside our organization. We will continue to hold space for our grief as well as our joy on the path forward.

In the face of a global pandemic, in the midst of a vital uprising, through the gauntlet of a harrowing election season, Philadelphia is being recognized transnationally for its radical, transformative, revolutionary Joy. You, our beloved community, played an inextricable part in reminding the world that, in spite of the efforts to erase or undermine us: change is inevitable, and We Are the Ones to sing it in. In our 16th season, our work at GRP is only just beginning.

There has never been a path forward without the leadership of the communities we center, and there has never been a more vital time to celebrate and amplify our voices and our creativity. No matter the changes 2021 brings, we will keep loving, keep fighting, keep living the questions alongside you. We are not alone. We see you, we love you, we got you.

In Joy, and Art, and Song,

Girls Rock Philly

Now more than ever, GRP is committed to providing accessible programming– and financial contributions from the community make it possible for us to keep it that way! Contribute here!