Girls Rock!

WWU
Media Backgrounder
Press Contact: Jennifer Freitag
Freitaj2@students.wwu.edu (206) 7246624

Overview:
Girls Rock! WWU is a Western Washington University Associated Students club
dedicated to incorporating female empowerment into the music industry through offering a
space to express creativity through music and offering events that inform students on media
empowerment. They aim to accomplish this by offering songwriting workshops and mentorship
to college-aged musicians with the hopes to create a supportive arts community and a space for
people of diverse identities to express their voice. The organization began last year on Westerns
campus by former student, Morgan Paris Lanza, as a way to provide a space for discussion
around media literacy, self-empowerment, body image, gender identity and expression and
cultural appropriation. Girls Rock! WWU is open to students of all identities with an interest in
music, as well as those who want a safe environment for their voice to be heard on these topics.

Current Activities:
Girls Rock! WWU will offer workshops, lectures from guest speakers, concerts and
showcases, film showings, discussions, festivals and fundraiser opportunities. During fall
quarter, the club will show a documentary, host an open mic-night and a songwriting
workshop. They will meet once a week on Mondays in Academic West. Event and workshop
dates will be posted throughout the quarter.

Key Terms:
Media Literacy: the ability to access, analyze, evaluate and create media in a variety of
forms (Center for Media Literacy).

Body Positivity: the idea and understanding that all bodies are beautiful and
powerful- understanding power behind all forms of ones physical self.

Empowerment through music: the understanding that one can use their
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creativity to affect change- becoming the best person one can be through musical expression.
(Girls Rock! WWU, 2015).

Facts:
Local:
-Western offers five music related majors, as well as a minor in women, gender and sexuality
studies (Western Washington University).
-Whatcom Community Foundation has a fund for Bellingham Festival of Music Education
Outreach (Whatcomcf, 2015).
-In 2014, the Pickford Film Center in Bellingham began a Doc-ED program for 1,100 local
middle and high schools. This program allowed documentaries to be shown at the schools for
free, as well as a free visit and lecture from an expert on Media Literacy in the classroom. Free
media literacy workshops were given to the students as well (Whatcom Talk, 2015).
-The Center for New Media in Bellingham helped initiate a new cable channel that would
provide an educational program that is intellectually stimulating, emotionally compelling,
aesthetically enriching and personally relevant with a strong emphasis on community building
and responsible citizenship (Cascadia Weekly, 2014).

Regional:
-Eating disorder clinics such as the Eating Recovery Center and The Moore Center in Seattle
have joined together in efforts to expand access to eating disorder treatment in the Pacific
Northwest. (Eating -Recovery Center of Washington, 2012).
-Girls ages 8 to 18 are exposed to an average of 8 hours of media per day (Girls Inc. of the Pacific
Northwest).
-In March 2010, Mrs. Pacific Northwest, visited schools in the region to spread awareness
about the importance of music education in schools (National Association for Music Education,
2010).

National:
-1 in 5 women in the United States struggles with either an eating disorder or disordered eating
(The Emily Program Foundation, 2015).
-Bullying about body size and appearance is the most common form of bullying in school (The
Emily Program Foundation, 2015).
-Women do not engage in the music industry like men do in the U.S. out of the fear that they
will be sexualized (BBC News, 2015).
-The NAMM Foundation (National Association of Music Merchants) started a 2016 Best
Communities for Music Education surveys, to award schools individually as well as in regions,
who make music education an important part of their education system (NAMM, 2015).
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Short Bios:
Jeanie Marinella
Jeanie Marinella is one of three Co-Coordinators of GirlsRock! WWU as well as a senior and
Vocal Performance student in the Music Department at Western. She has a passion for music
and social change and is an advocate for people of all identities being able to express themselves
no matter what their background. She plans to keep developing the club after she graduates this
fall.
206-491-7533
marinej4@students.wwu.edu

Erica Ewell
Erica Ewell is a Co-Coordinator of GirlsRock! WWU, and is working on her second BA degree in
Musical Theater Performance at Western. She was involved in Bellingham Girls Rock Camp last
summer, and currently teaches drama and choir classes at a local school. When she graduates,
she hopes to work with a non-profit organization for music and social change.
(425) 870-4213
EricaEwell5@gmail.com
girlsrockwwu@gmail.com

Owen Fox
Owen Fox is a Co-Coordinator of GirlsRock! WWU and a junior in the Music Education and
Vocal Performance major as well as a Fairhaven student. He is an accordion and bells player and
backup vocalist for a band in Seattle. He advocates for a space where any instrument and sound
can be a good sound.
(509) 881-1273
Owenfox0@gmail.com

Boilerplate:
Girls Rock! WWU, an Associated Students club of Western Washington University, is a
chapter of Bellingham Girls Rock Camp, a Bellingham nonprofit organization. Girls Rock!
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WWU, which formed in 2014, brings a multitude of opportunities to campus in order to get
students involved in creative music and to gain confidence through their musical abilities. The
aim is to provide a safe, inclusive place for students to express their thoughts on female
empowerment and gender identity in the media. For more information on Bellingham Girls
Rock Camp, visit their main webpage at http://www.bhamgirlsrock.com.

Sources:
"Beth Orton Tackles Lack of Women in Music Industry - BBC News." February 20, 2015.
Accessed October 7, 2015. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-31438617.
"Designated Funds - Whatcom Community Foundation." Whatcom Community Foundation.
Accessed November 1, 2015.
"Eating Disorders Statistics." June 28, 2013. Accessed October 7, 2015.
http://emilyprogramfoundation.org/our-work/eating-disorders/stats-about-eatingdisorders/.
"Media Literacy - Girls Inc. of the Pacific Northwest." Girls Inc of the Pacific Northwest.
Accessed October 7, 2015. http://girlsincpnw.org/curriculum/media-literacy/.
"Media Literacy: A Definition and More." Accessed October 7, 2015.
http://www.medialit.org/media-literacy-definition-and-more.
"Mrs. Pacific Northwest America Spreads Music Education Message." National Association for
Music Education. March 18, 2010. Accessed October 11, 2015.
http://www.nafme.org/mrs-pacific-northwest-america-spreads-music-educationmessage/.
"NAMM Foundation Opens 2016 Best Communities for Music Education Survey." NAMM.org.
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October 15, 2015. Accessed November 1, 2015. https://www.namm.org/news/pressreleases/namm-foundation-opens-2016-best-communities-music.

"Not Ready for Prime Time: City Rejects Public Access Television Bid." Cascadia Weekly. June
22, 2014. Accessed October 8, 2015.
http://www.cascadiaweekly.com/currents/city_rejects_public_access_television_bid.
"Major List." Majors. Western Washington University. Accessed November 1, 2015.
http://www.wwu.edu/majors/.
"Pickford Film Center Offers Doc-ED Program - WhatcomTalk." WhatcomTalk. July 6, 2015.
Accessed October 7, 2015. http://www.whatcomtalk.com/2015/07/06/pickford-filmcenter-doc-ed-program/.
"The Moore Center Is Renamed Eating Recovery Center of Washington - Eating Recovery
Center of Washington." Eating Recovery Center of Washington. June 25, 2014. Accessed
October 7, 2015. http://www.eatingrecoverycenterwa.com/moore-center-renamedeating-recovery-center-washington/.

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