9 ORGANIZATIONS TO SUPPORT THIS WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
Women’s Audio Mission
Women’s Audio Mission is a San Francisco and Oakland-based recording studio and nonprofit dedicated to the advancement of women and gender-expansive people in music/audio production and creative technology, fields in which they are critically underrepresented. WAM uses music and media arts training, mentorship, and conferences to serve over 4,000 women, girls, and gender-expansive people annually in order to inspire them to amplify their voices and become the innovators of tomorrow.
WAM’s award-winning curriculum weaves art and music with science, technology, and computer programming and works to close the critical gender gap in creative technology careers. Additionally, their studios are the only professional recording studios in the world specifically built and run entirely by women and gender-expansive staff.
2. Lavender Rights Project
Lavender Rights Project elevates the power, autonomy, and leadership of the Black intersex & gender diverse community through intersectional legal and social services. They utilize the law as an organizing principle to affirm civil rights and self-determination.
Their organization disrupts oppressive systems that target Black gender diverse and intersex communities of color and lead to disproportionate levels of poverty, housing disparities, and gender-based violence, especially among Black and Indigenous people.
Lavender Rights Project is creating a world in which the Black and Indigenous gender diverse communities are at the forefront of liberation and recognized for their power to build. Representation matters and we are an organization led by Black trans women and femmes. By following their wisdom and nuanced understanding of community needs, they build decolonized systems of care and support.
3. Women in Vinyl
Women in Vinyl is a registered nonprofit 501(c)(3) working to raise funds that support those aforementioned in starting their educational journey through scholarships, mentorships, job boards, business development and workshops to create, preserve and improve the art of music on vinyl.
The organization was created in 2018 by Jenn D’Eugenio. It was started as, and continues to be this blog, website and online community with corresponding social media accounts to showcase women working in the industry by sharing their stories with the world.
In 2020 we created a board encompassing a strong group of people in various roles within the music and vinyl industry. As of 2022 Women in Vinyl became a registered nonprofit 501(c)(3), and as of 2023 have expanded their board to continue furthering their reach, mission and vision.
Women in Vinyl works to inspire, and create role models to support minorities of all kinds within the community in finding their way to the vinyl industry with purpose and not by chance.
Support and empower women, female-identifying, non-binary, LGBTQ+, BIPOC and otherwise marginalized people working in the vinyl industry from cutting engineers, and record labels, to pressing plants, and those running or working in record stores; by showcasing their successes and providing a place for them to connect, network, and share their experiences and advice.
Support career development, and provide tools to help those working in the field advance in their career; to expand opportunities in these fields and to share resources and knowledge through demystification, education, collaboration, and diversity.
4. Junior High LA
Junior High is a non-profit 501(c)3 community arts space prioritizing the safety and expression of female, queer, nonbinary, and artists of color. Their physical space, publication, podcast, and other ventures function on principles of radical empathy, equity, and mutual aid.
5. Amplify Sleep Away Camp
Their mission is to empower girls through music education, the creative arts, community, and positive mentorship. Their vision is to provide a brave, diverse, and inclusive space to youth. They envision an equitable world that celebrates creativity, embraces authenticity, and values all voices.
Santa Barbara County’s population is 47% white, 43.7% Latinx, 5% Asian, and 2% Black. This region faces unacceptable racial disparities: only ~12% of local Latinx high school seniors went on to 4-year colleges in 2017–18. In comparison, that year their white counterparts attended 4-year institutions at a 41% rate. North Santa Barbara County furthermore has a greater proportion of Latinx communities, but almost no access to arts education. New Cuyama, for instance, is home to 517 residents, 122 of which are youth. They have no music classes in school, nor does the town have a music teacher. Since launching in 2012, Girls Rock has been rooted in amplifying marginalized voices through the arts.
They have provided over $1,000,000 in scholarships to low-income youth, youth of color, and refugee youth, and we continue to develop fully subsidized programs that deliver empowering arts instruction and mentorship to marginalized youth. They partner with several organizations and crucial community leaders in order to provide subsidized arts programs throughout California. They are dedicated to hiring staff from diverse backgrounds. Their staff training includes training in racial equity, and they actively work with communities of color in order to best adapt their programs to their specific suggestions and guidance.
6. Girls Behind The Rock Show
Girls Behind The Rock Show is a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization, and the largest online platform and resource for women and gender-nonconforming people in the music industry. They were founded on and stand for the principle of female empowerment within the music industry. They look to empower education through the creation of programs to give marginalized genders the opportunity to forge their dreams. They believe that when everyone has a voice, opportunity flourishes.
Girls Behind the Rock Show started as an idea on paper years ago to help more women become involved in the music industry. Over the years they have developed programs to help advance marginalized genders working within the music industry. Wherever they are in their career, they want to help them find their path, make connections and receive the education and support they need.
Their Values are as follows:
Open the Dialogue - Addressing the gender imbalance within the music industry through open conversation between music industry professionals.
Break Down Barriers - Curating educational programs for young music industry professionals to help increase accessibility for marginalized genders.
Create Equal Opportunities - Creating scholarships to help overcome the socio-economic barriers of entry that prevent marginalized groups from working in the industry.
Foster Community - Developing a safe space where individuals of varying experience levels can work with and learn from each other.
7. Women in Jazz Organization
Women in Jazz Organization was founded by NYC Saxophonist Roxy Coss, to address many of the issues that Women and Non-Binary people in the Jazz world are facing on a daily basis. Roxy joined forces with Vocalist Aubrey Johnson to plan WIJO's very first "Monthly Meeting" in July 2017, which included 12 women, and was held at the Local 802 Musician's Union in NYC. From there, the WIJO Leadership Team quickly grew to include Vocalists Tahira Clayton and Sirintip (Tippan) Phasuk. WIJO has now grown to over 500 members, and their leadership team has come to include vocalist Allegra Levy. The organization contains several committees with respective project directors and coordinators, and even an intern, that work hard to keep things running.
Women In Jazz Organization is a collective of over 500 professional Jazz Musicians and Composers who identify as Women or Gender Non-Binary. Largely a New York City-based organization, with connections to other individuals and groups nationally and internationally.
Women In Jazz Organization intends to help level the playing field in Jazz, so that women and non-binary people have equal opportunity to participate in and contribute to Jazz, leading to an improved and more rich, diverse, and successful art form.
WIJO is committed to honoring Black Americans as the creators of Jazz.
8. Princess Janae Place
The mission of Princess Janae Place is to help people of trans experience maximize their full potential as they transition from homelessness to independent living.
Princess Janae Place fulfills their mission by offering a safe space for people of trans experience to connect with community, access gender affirming support, as well as engage in educational and recreational activities.
Princess Janae Place serves as a critical referral source for their members to secure housing navigation, substance use and mental health resources, legal assistance, job training/placement and healthcare.
Princess Janae Place is named in honor, and memory, of Princess Janae Banks, an icon in the New York City ballroom and pageantry scene and mainstay in the entertainment industry.
Janae was born on February 8th, 1970 in Brooklyn, New York and was kicked out of her home at the age of 18 for identifying as transgender. Soon thereafter Janae found a safe and affirming new home amongst the New York City ballroom scene. For close to 25 years, Janae worked as an accomplished entertainer, gracing the stages of infamous NYC venues including Two Potato, Hatfields, The Coliseum, Krash, Key West, Escuelitas, Feathers, Chi Chiz, Ikon, Kokonuts, Mi Gente, The Monster, Boots & Saddles, and the historic Stonewall Inn.
9. Marsha P. Johnson Institute
The Marsha P. Johnson Institute (MPJI) protects and defends the human rights of BLACK transgender people. They do this by organizing, advocating, creating an intentional community to heal, developing transformative leadership, and promoting their collective power.
“We intend to reclaim our relationship as BLACK trans people to our movement legacy. It is in our reclaiming of this that we give ourselves permission to reclaim autonomy to our minds, to our bodies, and to our futures. We were founded both as a response to the murders of BLACK trans women and women of color and how that is connected to our exclusion from social justice issues, namely racial, gender, and reproductive justice, as well as gun violence.”
Marsha P. Johnson was an activist, self-identified drag queen, performer, and survivor. She was a prominent figure in the Stonewall uprising of 1969. Marsha went by “BLACK Marsha” before settling on Marsha P. Johnson. The “P” stood for “Pay It No Mind,” which is what Marsha would say in response to questions about her gender. It is the consideration of who “BLACK Marsha” was that inspired The Marsha P. Johnson Institute.
So much of our understanding of Marsha came from the accounts of people who did not look like or come from the same place as her. As transness is now more accessible to the world, introducing the Institute to BLACK trans people who are resisting, grappling with survival, and looking for community has become a clear need.