Celebrating our new name!
A letter from Chris Pienta, long-time BRPM Board member and volunteer:
Hello! I wish I could be here at our June 11 Reveal party to celebrate this glorious, long awaited day! Though I’m currently traveling, I wanted to say a few words about what this name change means for me:
I was initially introduced to GRCB from living in JP. I signed my 11yr old sister up for camp because I knew she loved singing and playing music. I had no idea what a transformative program GRCB was, and I saw the ways in which it boosted my sister's confidence and made her feel so proud of her accomplishments. Months after the showcase I would catch my sister watching the video of her band performing and having the biggest grin on her face. My sister struggled in school, was on an IEP and has dyslexia. At that time it was rare to see her beam with confidence and feel like she was successful at learning something new. After going to the GRCB showcase and seeing my sister shine, I knew how special and rare GRCB was.
The next summer I looked into volunteering but saw on the website that GRCB was a place for girls and women and if you didn’t identify as such, you were not able to volunteer. At that point I was figuring out my own gender identity but I knew with certainty that I did not identify as a woman. I decided GRCB was not for me. Years later I became friends with various folks who had similar identities as myself and were involved in GRCB. I asked them about the organization's name and mission. I was told that the GRCB community was very inclusive and despite the name, is a place where my identity would be respected.
I started to volunteer in 2017 and right away I fell in love with GRCB. After summer programming, I volunteered for BEATS, After-school, SAVY, and eventually joined the Board of Directors. Throughout all the programs I volunteered with, I heard so many folks express that the name was not representative of the volunteers and participants in the organization.
In 2019, the GRCB Board and founding volunteers came together for a retreat to find out the results of a community survey that was sent to every volunteer, parent and participant ever to participate in GRCB. Unsurprisingly, there was an overwhelming suggestion to change the name and mission of GRCB to more accurately represent the community which it serves. Other rock camps in other states had already changed their name to be more inclusive. At this retreat we decided to change the mission of the organization to include gender expansive youth and adults. It was also decided that the name change was on the horizon. From here we changed all of our literature from “girls and women” to “youth and adults”. We knew we wanted the name change to be a community process led by the youth of GRCB. It took a few years of thought, discussion, small changes and hard work to get where we are today.
As a member of the trans community as well as an active GRCB volunteer this name change is incredibly meaningful to me. I now can feel like this organization is a place for me as well as everyone that makes up our amazingly vibrant community. Not only are we changing our name, we also have gender justice workshops and affinity groups for the gender expansive community members at our programs! In a world right now that has so much active violence and extreme legislations targeted at the trans and LGBT community, trying to keep us silent and erase us, GRCB creates a space to hold us, encourage us and amplify our voices. I am so lucky to be a part of this community and am overjoyed to support our new name!
GRCB has always been at the forefront of raising up the voices of those who are marginalized. It makes sense to change our name to reflect all the identities that make up our magical community. Though we serve all ages at GRCB, our main focus and mission is uplifting the voices of our youth. It’s especially awesome that this name change was created, designed and led by the GRCB youth. Listen to the youth, they will show us the way and are the leaders of a more inclusive future. Thank you all, love you all, and as always, YOU ROCK!