COVID-19 Update: Shifting in Service
“When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”
― Audre Lorde
Hello GRP Family,
How are you? Would you put your hand on your heart, and take a deep breath with me?
I’ve been thinking about how to reach out. Overnight, we’re living update to update, and we promised to return to you in a few weeks with one. Some answers remain unknowable—others we have much sooner than we’d like:
Girls Rock Philly is cancelling all in-person convenings through May, including Spring ARC. We hope that together we can flatten the curve of new cases soon enough for Summer Rock Camp, but only time will tell. We are planning full steam ahead, including accepting volunteer applications, camper applications, and meeting with Youth Action Council.
Looking back, I don’t know what would have changed in 2019 if we were aware that COVID-19 would arrive on the scene at year’s end; what I do know is that we couldn’t have sung any louder, couldn’t have hugged any harder, couldn’t have danced any better, starfished any bigger, couldn’t have cried sweeter tears of joy, or been more grateful.
Original Art by Molly Costello, Glowing Season, 2019.
Over the past week, whenever I’ve felt isolated and afraid of an unknowable future, I resource my experiences at GRP to still my worry, find my breath, and remember that I’m not alone. No matter the impact coronavirus has on our daily routines, we have all the tools we need. Where Rock Camp has often served a suspension from business as usual, I see it now as a unique training for the difficult moments ahead.
We know better than anyone how to create meaningful connection, tap our creativity and curiosity, learn from our frustration, listen deeply, lean on each other, and ask for what we need. No matter what happens, we’ll get through it together. Get ready, stay ready.
A wise sibling in our community shared the insight that strong leadership is the kind that best prepares it’s community for change. That’s why this staff is so grateful for your leadership:
You teach us how to hold tightly to the Need, loosely to our strategy: While the medium may look different, the core of our work is the same. We are staying curious about ways of building community, staying connected, and leveraging all of our resources to support one another. Here are some other things we can provide right now:
Directory of our Teaching Artists for distance learning: Coming soon!
Remote meeting office Hours with staff to share time, songs and skills during social distancing
You teach us to be adaptable! We are endlessly curious and solutionary, and we’ll find ways to offer our work remotely! In some ways, this makes GRP more accessible than ever before! Here’s what we’re building infrastructure for:
Youth Empowerment/Leadership meetups online:
Distance Learning/Remote Learning Trainings for Youth
Access to devices and wifi for youth in need of support
Networking Folks through the GRCA and other like-minded orgs
Support in coordinating remote creative collaboration
Creating online resources for teaching artists & caregivers that center our norm critical pedagogy, and gender inclusive practices
You teach us to center Joy! Our Creativity is our best ally in an uncertain time! We want to amplify every joyful moment and stick together by celebrating the silliness, curiosity and freewheeling spirit that is the heart of our work!. Share your stories and creative projects in this time- we'll provide prompts and projects! Tell us when you’re down, reach out, and ask for what you need! We’ll be following up with links to all the resources mentioned above, and we’ll keep you posted on our progress.
Annemarie Barret, “Resilience”
You teach us to take care. At GRP, we know our work doesn’t happen in a vacuum. We recognize that the labor that makes rock camp run is provided by folks who volunteer it, and we see first-hand the impact this crisis is having on the most vulnerable among us. We will work as hard to advocate for economic relief and mutual aid in these moments as we will to provide you new mediums of programming. We will also continue our work of minimizing burnout and maximizing care org-wide, making GRP sustainable as the long-term financial impacts of this crisis become clearer.
We are grateful beyond words to our sustainers, whose monthly donations are the reason we can continue our work. You provide the essential resources we’ll need to get through this moment, and we don’t know where we’d be without you.
As a staff, we can’t begin to know what direction our organization will need to take to navigate the coming weeks and months. As we explore new ways of supporting our communities, let’s focus on staying healthy, protecting each other, and keeping the songs of our hearts turned all the way up.
We are all in uncharted territory, but we trust the principles of our work to guide our decisions as we move forward.
We’re so grateful to each of you— it’s a rare thing that your place of work is also your community; your closest friends, colleagues, collaborators and accomplices. Even when we’re scared, even if it’s not the same, we’re not alone. There’s no one else we’d rather have at our sides. We love you.