Grantee Database
Women's Audio Mission
Grant Year
2023-24
Grant Program
Impact Projects
Award Amount
$21,250.00
Project Description
With support from the California Arts Council, Women’s Audio Mission (WAM) will commission new work and provide a recording studio residency to the artists of Skip the Needle in WAM’s professional recording studios, culminating in a Local Sirens Concert featuring Skip the Needle in collaboration with two other BIPOC, female and gender-expansive musical artists, hosted at a premier venue in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Skip the Needle are an all-female, all-queer, and majority Black super group of Bay Area music legends who make music that addresses social justice issues and reclaims rock for women, for queer people, for Black people, “subverting people’s minds by injecting them with joy.” Local Sirens artist residencies/concerts provide a supportive space for BIPOC women/ gender-expansive artists to build community, create critical artist support systems, and engage with their communities.
Organization Summary
WAM has consistently engaged thousands of women, girls, and gender-expansive individuals every year from historically marginalized communities over the last 23 years.
● WAM’s Artist Residency programs provide free recording studio services ($10K value) and artist mentorship/development in WAM’s professional recording studios to 10-15 local female/gender-expansive artists each year, as well as digital distribution and promotion to expand their audience.
● Girls on the Mic (GOTM) annually provides 2,000+ girls/gender-expansive youth from the most under-resourced communities (96% low-income/93% BIPOC/ages 11-18) with free music production and media arts training that inspires them to amplify their voices and creativity.
● WAM Academy provides music production and recording arts training to 500+ women/gender-expansive students every year in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Curriculum includes everything from songwriting, electronic music composition in Ableton Live to industry certifications in Pro Tools recording software Dolby Atmos/Spatial Audio.
● Paid Internship & Job Placement program: WAM’s paid internship program serves 60 college-age women/gender-expansive young adults (94% low-income; 84% BIPOC)/year with hands-on Music production training,, career counseling, mentorship and job placement in creative careers at companies like Dolby, Pixar, NPR, Sony, Disney, ESPN, etc. WAM hosts 6 cohorts/year (3 in SF, 3 in LA).
● Local Sirens Concert Series serves 30-40+ under-represented women artists every year (majority low-income; 100% BIPOC) with performance opportunities at premier venues like Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, SF Jazz, Brava, Dolby, The Independent, Rickshaw Stop, etc to audiences of 2,000+.
● WAMCon is a national recording arts conference series for women/gender-expansive aspiring music producers, songwriters and recording engineers. WAM has hosted dozens of conferences in Los Angeles, Nashville, New York, Boston, and virtually reaching 2,000+ women/gender-expansive people from 30+ countries and featuring music producers, songwriters and recording engineers who have worked with everyone from Selena Gomez to Cardi B to P!nk and Rihanna.
Organization
Women's Audio Mission
Address
542-544 NATOMA ST
#C-1
SAN FRANCISCO
94103-2817
County
San Francisco
Region
Bay Area – San Francisco
Website
Congressional District
California's 11th congressional district
State Assembly District
District 17
State Senate District
District 11
