Yearly, nonprofit group Chicxs Rockerxs (pronounced cheek-ex roh-kerr-ex) hosts a week-long summer time camp in Southeast Los Angeles for women and gender nonconforming youth to unleash their internal rock stars.
On the camp, which passed off from June 30 to July 4 this yr, college students be taught new devices, attend inventive workshops, and carry out unique songs in bands with their fellow campers. College students ages 8 to 17 qualify for enrollment.
But two weeks earlier than camp this summer time, amid the citywide uptick in raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, organizers heard some college students had been staying house in concern.
“As we were planning and getting ready for camp in person, that’s sort of when the raids started happening in Southeast L.A., and we saw how intensified they were in the area and how violent [they were] and just really damaging to the community,” mentioned organizer Audrey Silvestre.
To safeguard campers and their households from ICE raids within the area, Chicxs Rockerxs canceled the in-person camp — however not totally.
Organizers shortly moved this system on-line. Staffers provided to drop off musical devices, reward playing cards for meals, and camp provides to households who weren’t comfy going out in the course of the raids. In addition they made a proper announcement on Instagram, informing supporters concerning the essential format change.
“We want to reaffirm that CRSELA stands in solidarity with our Black and Brown immigrant communities. As an organization, we formed in response to the firsthand challenges faced by girls and LGBTQ+ youth in Southeast LA, a predominantly Latinx/e immigrant region,” the put up learn partly.
“Thank you for thinking of the babies!!!” one particular person commented on the camp’s put up.
“Your SELA community supports you!” one other particular person wrote.
“It didn’t feel safe to be asking our communities to take the risk to leave their homes if they didn’t feel safe to do so,” Silvestre mentioned.
Chicxs Rockerxs beforehand went digital in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and facilitated their music camp by having college students join by means of Zoom to create bands, be taught songwriting expertise, and provide you with an finish product they may report collectively within the video classes. In keeping with Star, an organizer who requested that their full title not be disclosed for privateness causes, the digital mannequin they developed for the pandemic was restructured for this yr’s camp, and lots of adjustments had been made to reinforce the expertise.
“We wanted them just to have an opportunity to have a safe space to create and to express themselves, and it didn’t necessarily have to result in a song at the end of the week,” Star mentioned. “It was just opportunities to be creative.”
College students nonetheless discovered new devices this yr, as staffers had been in a position to drop off keyboards, guitars, bass guitars, drum pads and karaoke microphones to campers for each day classes. Moreover music programs, college students additionally participated in smaller breakout rooms referred to as “jam rooms,” which included totally different themes and artistic actions. For instance, some jam rooms consisted of karaoke, whereas others targeted on making TikToks and interviewing each other.
“The idea behind these rooms was to keep it fun, because it’s Zoom and it’s not the most exciting for many kiddos who went to school on Zoom,” mentioned Silvestre. “It’s not the most enjoyable way to experience camp, but it’s for them to have fun, bond with their bandmates and just be in community with each other.”
Whereas campers all participated on-line from house, some staffers operated in particular person at their campus to stream lunchtime performances and each day assemblies. The organizers created a “DIY television studio,” which they described as much like public entry cable, permitting them to toggle between totally different cameras from their set to make classes dynamic and enhance the digital expertise for college students.
College students like 17-year-old Naima Ramirez, who attended camp for the previous 4 years, mentioned she appreciated what Chicxs Rockerxs did for her and fellow campers.
“I think it was very thoughtful and kind of them to forget all of the scheduling that they had originally done for in-person camp and scramble into doing everything on Zoom,” Ramirez mentioned.
Ramirez mentioned she was initially dissatisfied to listen to that camp was shifting on-line however believed Chicxs Rockerxs did the appropriate factor due to the present surroundings in Southeast L.A.
“I was bummed because it’s my last year and I was really looking forward to being in person,” Ramirez mentioned. “But I also understood why we had to go online.”
For organizers at Chicxs Rockerxs, the security and well-being of campers and their households is their high concern. Despite the fact that camp took a distinct strategy this yr, they mentioned they’re at all times keen to assist campers past the inventive providers they supply.
“One of the things CRSELA prides itself in is that this is meant to be a safe space,” Star mentioned. “I’m really proud that we [were] able to create a safe space in a different way for [camp this year]. It’s a safety precaution for our community, and I think that’s more important at this time.”
