Girls Write Nashville Helps Young Songwriters Find Their Voice

Girls Write Nashville, a non-profit organization started by singer-songwriters Georgia English and Jen Starsinic, aims to provide high-quality artistic experiences and community for young female songwriters.

Last year’s program was awarded the “Thrive” grant from the Metro Arts Commission and accepted nine girls who received one-on-one mentorship from volunteers of the songwriting community, professional recording and workshops. The first year program finished up with recording sessions at the Sound Emporium and a CD release show at The Family Walsh on July 9th, as well as performances at the Tomato Arts Festival and Music City Winterfest.

Focusing their attention on 7-17 year old girls from Davidson County, the organization has now doubled in size, taking on twice as many participants and mentors, establishing two concrete programs, hosting a growing list of events and workshops, and garnering a board of directors; including Pamela Cole (Fanny’s House of Music), Courtney Artis (Community Achieves), and Mark Simos (Berklee College of Music).

Participants in the Mentorship Program will be paired with a professional female songwriter to collaborate with and attend monthly meetings at Studio NPL (located in the downtown Main Library) with, culminating in a recording session at Nashville’s Sound Emporium. Writing Teams Program participants, grades 2-5, will collaborate with co-writing teams and learn the basics of production, and write and record their own songs to be published online, leading up to a final live performance.

Young songwriters can audition for either the Mentorship Program or the Writing Teams program, which run from January to June. There is an “Off-Season,” through the months of July to December, in which writers are encouraged to perform at city-wide events such as the festivals listed above as well as venues such as Bobby’s Idle Hour on Music Row and more.

This year, the CD release show will be held at The Local on Saturday, July 7th, with doors opening at 1pm. Season 3 of the program will run from January-June in 2019 with auditions taking place in November of 2018. Anyone interested in joining the program, either to volunteer or audition, can contact Jen Starsinic or Georgia English or visit their website for more information at https://www.girlswritenashville.com/