Among the many important lessons at TNTRC: your amplifier goes up to 11.
File this under Why Didn’t They Have Stuff Like This When I Was A Kid?:
The Tennessee Teens Rock & Roll Camp (TNTRC) is a summer day camp for girls and boys ages 10-17. TNTRC’s mission is to support a culture of positive self-esteem and collaboration among young people while building community through music. TNTRC recognizes the potential of every young person to be a strong, talented, creative and empowered individual while providing a safe space where everyone rocks. Aside from instrument instruction, TNTRC offers many other ways to rock out. Exclusive performances by local, regional, and national bands and artists offer campers an opportunity to experience a diverse range of musical styles. In camp workshops, campers will learn skills like songwriting, recording, and screenprinting, in addition to life skills like teamwork as they join forces to complete projects over the course of the week. The most exciting part of camp week is the opportunity for campers to form their own band and collaborate on a song to perform at a showcase at the end of the week.
For just $275 kids get to immerse themselves in music-making for an entire week at the University School here in Nashville with the good folks from the Youth Empowerment through Arts and Humanities. And thanks to the Tennessee Teens Rock & Roll Camp‘s Adopt A Camper program, scholarships open the camp to all kids regardless of their families’ financial situations. But the week’s activities are only possible through the generosity of the local community.
Gear is the lifeblood of this operation – and let’s face it, East Nashville, the one thing none of us are running short on is musical gear. Without your amplifiers, guitars, basses, keyboards, cables, microphones, mic stands and PAs, the camp can’t happen – so anything you can loan to the program for its one-week run really does make a difference for these kids. The camp’s organizers guarantee that anything you loan to the program will be watched closely, included in their inventory, locked in storage every day and never taken off-site. If you have something you can spare for a week in June to help these kids out, fire off an email to rockcampgear@gmail.com - and if you do end up offering something to TNTRC on loan, let them know the East Nashville Blog sent you.
Learn more about Youth Empowerment through Arts and Humanities and its programs like the Tennessee Teens Rock & Roll Camp at the YEAH website, or connect with YEAH on Facebook.
