Girls voices matter in Chicago and abroad

Our 12^th annual Youth Performance Camp was phenomenal! 42 girls learned acting, dance, film making and social emotional skills over seven weeks in sessions Monday thru Friday from 9am until 3pm. They performed in the community at several daycares and senior centers, went on field trips and even performed for two other community-based summer camp programs.

 The finale was a sold-out show at the Reva and David Logan Center in Hyde Park for a standing room only audience of parents, partners, and friends. The girls, ranging in age from four to 14 love performing and it shows from the time they hit the stage until the final bow. The audience loved it and the girls felt empowered knowing that they had worked hard, and their efforts were appreciated.

 In early August, Ms. Penn and Ms. Ryonn traveled to our Mounds, IL chapter to have one introductory session and one rehearsal. 22 girls and three parents participated in the session Two weeks later, the Global Girls performance company, eight girls ages six to 14, joined 12 members of the Mounds chapter on stage in a skit called "Be Careful What You Wish For". They performed for an African America Women's Health Conference at Shawnee College.

 Now that schools are back in session, Global Girls is open for business and ready to engage girls not only in Chicago but also in our chapters in Mounds, East St. Louis, Springfield, and Champaign, Illinois once again. We’ve partnered with three Chicago Public Schools to offer onsite dance and theatre training. We are also hosting girls in our afterschool and Saturday program at the Global Studio.

 Global Girls will soon have chapters in Los Angeles, California, and Washington DC thanks to two loyal alumni members, Ryonn Gloster and Nailah Harris. In October, we’ll start a third out-of-state chapter in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

 We believe there can never be too many girls learning to use their voices, building agency, and advocating for themselves and other girls as they take the stage to tell their stories. And, we say, “Global Girls are blossoming everywhere” as an aspirational idea that we know in our hearts based on our trajectory, will become a reality!

Links:

• Global Girl blossoms

Girls with passports don't promote problems. They help solve them. Global Girls has taken 27 girls on international arts education trips, and all are now women contributing to society. In June 2023, we'll transport girls from the south side of Chicago to Tanzania and open new worlds of possibilities.

For over 23 years, Global Girls has been a community staple introducing African American youth to the performing arts and teaching vital communication and life skills. Our youth and adult performance companies produce timely, issue-based plays and short movies that entertain and inform. Thousands of girls now proudly call themselves "Globes" and hundreds are currently in Global Girls programs in Chicago, Springfield, Champaign, East St. Louis and Mounds, Illinois.

Travel is an integral component of the Global Girls model. Legacy Globes time and time again discuss ways in which traveling locally and internationally radically expanded their worldviews and altered the courses of their lives. Through travel, they became Global Citizens appreciating other people and being concerned about issues beyond themselves, their neighborhoods, and their country.

Here are a few comments from some of our past travelers.

“Global Girls made me really want to live! And to realize there is way more outside of Chicago. A lot of people in Chicago think that it is just Chicago, and I am really glad I was outside of that thinking cause there is so much to this world and so many places to go.” (RG, 2007)

“Travel is one of the best things you can do. It opened me up to go out of state for college. I was open to different states, things, people, and environments.” (PJ 2009)

“I am a citizen of the world. I was born in Chicago, I am nationally an American, but I will go anywhere and learn how to live the life they live.” (TB 2005)

 “That trip (to India) definitely made me more well-rounded and more aware of issues that are happening around the world like the immigration debate and what is happening in Venezuela. I try to pay attention to it.” (AP 2013)

If you believe in the potential of girls and the importance of expanding perspectives through travel, please help us take Chicago girls to Tanzania where we will work with our partner Muda Africa, one of the premier dance companies in Dar es Salaam. We'll also engage youth in arts education projects. Your support will help pay for airfare, lodging, and meals. Thanks in advance for your support.

Links:

• Global Girls in India
• Tanzania, here we come!