Anna Garza’s Mission to Amplify the Next Generation at Girls Rock Camp Houston
- Nia Delmast
- Aug 27
- 6 min read
Interview takes place on July 12, 2025 at Campesino Coffee House in Houston, TX
The showcase opened with a video montage — footage and photos from camp, complete with band portraits and the camp song, “Don’t Be Afraid to Be Weird,” playing over it. The room buzzed with anticipation as the screen lit up with moments of creativity, collaboration, and pure joy from the week.
Girls Rock Camp Houston is a one-week summer program where campers learn to play instruments, form bands, write original songs, and participate in art- and music-based workshops designed to build both musical skills and self-confidence. Part of the Girls Rock Camp Alliance, a global network of independent camps committed to empowering girls and gender-diverse youth through music and creative expression, the Houston camp wrapped up its 2025 session from July 28 to August 1, with a high-energy showcase on August 3.
Before the week kicked off at MECA, Houston Music Classifieds sat down with founder and executive director Anna Garza to talk about the camp’s history, evolution, and the kind of transformation that happens when young people are given a stage.
Meet Anna Garza
Anna Garza is a musician, social worker, and psychotherapist who plays guitar, bass, and drums. Her roots in Houston’s music scene run deep, starting with her work booking indie, punk, and hardcore shows through the early-2000s collective Hands Up Houston.
Through that experience, Garza noticed a glaring lack of female representation in the scene. Inspired by Girls Rock Camps in Portland and Austin, she decided Houston needed its own — and set out to make it happen.
The Birth of Girls Rock Camp Houston
Garza recalls:
“There was a very popular booking collective in the early 2000s called Hands Up Houston, and Hands Up Houston was responsible for booking a lot of the indie punk hardcore bands in Houston.
Music was always something that I was interested in from an early age. I didn't know how to play an instrument. I never played in bands. In high school, I started hanging out with a group of punks who would book DIY shows, and so that's where I kind of got my experience booking shows. I was also friends with some of the people in Hands Up Houston and kind of bulldozed my way into the collective.
At the time, there weren't a lot of girls involved in Hands Up Houston. Being a very male-dominated scene, it was definitely some sort of privilege to be involved in Hands Up Houston and being able to be a part of an organization that brought music to the city.
I started playing music, teaching myself how to play instruments, and forming bands. I was in a very short-lived all-girl band, and we were just hitting a brick wall and decided, okay, let's just skip rock. Let's go to the movies. And we went to see this documentary called Girls Rock. It's about the original Girls Rock Camp, which was formed in Portland. And as I was sitting there thinking, ‘these 8-year-old girls can write songs and perform, why is it so difficult for my band to do it?’ And then the light bulb just hit like, we need something here in Houston.
So I just grassroots, DIY got people together and figured it out. Austin had a camp, and I went to Austin to volunteer to see how they ran their organization. Took a little bit of what Austin did, a little bit of what other camps were doing at the time — it was still a pretty new radical idea. And from there, just 15, 16 years later, still doing it.”
The Evolution of the Camp
From its early days as a girls-only program, Girls Rock Camp Houston has evolved into a gender-diverse, inclusive space that reflects the identities of its campers. But Garza says the mission has stayed consistent: keep it DIY, keep it accessible, and keep the focus on empowerment.
“I would say it has evolved from just being a girls' rock camp. We're now very gender diverse because a lot of our campers don't identify as girls anymore, but they still feel like the camp was their safe space, and it felt wrong to exclude them from the experience. So now we're gender diverse.
The original vision hasn't changed very much. We're still very DIY. We all do it on a volunteer basis, and we all do it because we love doing it. We provide all of the instruments. You don't even have to have experience playing any instruments. We want it to be accessible for everybody. In terms of the financial aspect of it as well. As someone who grew up in a very working class, blue collar, lower income family, I couldn't afford to purchase instruments. Even in school, I couldn't join band or orchestra, because my family couldn't afford the instruments. Choir, singing was what I did, because it was free and you only needed your voice. We only charge $350, which is very cheap when it comes to summer camps. We also provide sliding scale, and fully funded scholarships as well.”
Behind the Scenes: A Week at Camp
Garza and her all-volunteer team mix music instruction with workshops on social justice, feminism, collaboration, self-esteem, and creativity. “We’ve had workshops on self-defense, politics, and body image. We keep them busy from the minute they walk into the door until they leave.”
Day one begins with a group songwriting workshop — the birthplace of the camp’s now-traditional theme song, “Don’t Be Afraid to Be Weird.” Campers split into “Minor Chords” (ages 8–12) and “Major Chords” (ages 13–17), rotating between instrument instruction, band practice, and workshops. By Sunday, the bands perform at a live music venue to an audience of about 300.
A week at camp is not just educational for the campers; they’re also given a safe space where they’re surrounded by like-minded peers and encouraged by camp volunteers to express themselves freely. “If they wanna write a song about pizza and cats, they can. If they wanna write about frustration, alienation, or politics, they can. There’s no right or wrong — we just validate them.”
Beyond the Music: Lasting Impact
The camp’s Junior Volunteer program gives longtime campers a new perspective — learning how to run sound, repair instruments, and manage the logistics of a live show.
“We've had campers that have been with us since they were eight years old until they were 15 or 16, and they're like, I've done every instrument that I can in camp, I wanna do something different. So we developed this new program called the Junior Volunteers, where they transition from camper to being trained in the behind-the-scenes part of music.
They get that experience now as well, and some junior volunteers are now part of our leadership. Seeing that transition has been pretty amazing. There are campers now who have children. We have campers who graduated college and now they're in medical school.”
Looking Ahead
Garza dreams of making the camp a year-round program but says it’s a challenge with an all-volunteer staff.
“We all do this with full-time jobs, and so, finding the time to devote to figuring out how to finance this thing all year round has been a challenge. People's lives change. But I think it's time that we, you know, find the right people to make this an all-year-round organization ”
She also wants people to understand the dedication behind the scenes. “Our coordinators and our volunteers — we all do this with no financial benefit. It’s hard. It’s a lot of hard work. I’ve been doing this for 16 years, and sometimes you feel like you just want to throw in the towel, but then that camp week happens and the magic solidifies what all the blood, sweat, and tears are worth.”
My Experience at the Girls Rock Camp Showcase
It was inspiring to listen to Anna’s interview and hear about the impact that it has on campers, but it was another thing to witness it at the showcase on August 3. You can see the confidence that she talks about in the creativity that campers have shown with their stage outfits, and in their voices as they introduce themselves and their bandmates. They are performing songs about things that matter to them, whether that’s dinosaurs, salad wraps and positivity or scrolling on social media. It is easy to see how important it is to give youth a space where they aren’t afraid to be weird. The final number brings all the campers on stage for a raucous, heartfelt rendition of “Don’t Be Afraid to Be Weird,” a joyful manifesto for everything the camp stands for.
How to Support Girls Rock Houston
The camp runs entirely on volunteer work and community donations. Opportunities range from music instructors to coordinators to social workers, plus Junior Volunteer roles for teens 16–18. No music experience is required, just a passion for supporting young artists.
Learn more at www.girlsrockhouston.org or email girlsrockhouston@gmail.com.
Story by Nia Delmast and Photos by Shelby Mathews
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