This week’s Community Corner spotlight features Girls Write Nashville! Co-founders Jen Starsinic Becca Naber sit down with Brother Love to discuss the program’s past and future. GWN is a non-profit songwriting mentorship program that cultivates empowered expression and positive community for teen girls. It is specifically designed to “build resilience and confidence in girls while spacemaking for an inclusive and safe city-wide music scene.” This mission was successful from the get-go, leading to its return year after year. Jen recounted a story from the first installment where the girls “couldn’t wait to do it again” after its conclusion. From there, the program only grew.
Girls Write Nashville pairs young prospective songwriters with individual mentors for a 6-month course to develop their musical skills. Many participants remain with the program for several years. Both board members are former educators, concocting the program after noticing the steep confidence drop in girls upon teenhood. Inspired by the disconnect between the wealth of the music scene in Nashville and the experience of the kids who grew up here, they aimed to bring the joy and magic of songwriting down to a local level to young girls from local schools. One of the primary goals is to make a safe space for learning and growing, both for adults and teens. Girls Write Nashville is “committed to accessibility and inclusivity,” ensuring that all facets of the program are contributing to this goal.
Recently, Girls Write Nashville expanded its reach into a production mentorship, a new offering that is still in development. They are currently seeking a studio for this area of focus, but it remains DIY for now. Still, this addition is a testament to the ambition of the program and the drive of its team to truly help out the young prospectives in Nashville. Girls Write Nashville holds an annual NSN event in partnership with Lightning 100 where mentees open up for established songwriters. Last year, Katie Pruitt and Daisha McBride rounded out the headliners. Support GWN via their website and get involved with their mentorship program today!
