By Lori Tennenhouse, Girls Choral Academy

Girls Choral Academy’s (GCA) mission of Giving Girls a Voice is accomplished by providing a safe place where girls of all ages regardless of race, religion, or socioeconomic status can gain a strong choral education. GCA has served over 2350 girls in the 20 years it has been in West Michigan with over 150 girls being served this year.

GCA is dedicated to creating quality performances and providing quality arts education, as well as providing a place where girls can form a positive sense of self as they experience the rewards of successful planning, hard work, and goal accomplishment. GCA encourages girls to develop self-esteem, self-confidence, and leadership skills through mentoring, opportunities to perform solos, as well as work as a team and building a community of like-minded artists.

Through its programs, both singers and audience members experience a wide range of musical styles, genres, origins, and cultures, including traditional, jazz, gospel, multicultural, classical, and contemporary music. GCA provides a safe, loving and nurturing environment for singers, and a high-quality artistic experience for its audience members, while contributing to a growing arts community in Grand Rapids.

Girls develop vocal technique, musical skills, creativity, expressive artistry, and an awareness of music from many cultures. The Campus Choir program encourages girls to respect the uniqueness of others, to take risks that foster individual growth, and to collaborate as a team and create something bigger than themselves. In addition to performance, girls have opportunities to attend choir camp and travel.

In 1999, the Grandville Avenue Girls Choir (GVA) was founded as a non-tuition after-school choir program for girls who attend Grand Rapids Public Schools in the southwest urban area of Grand Rapids. The three choirs that make up GVA Choir meet at Cesar E Chavez School, Southwest Community Campus School, and Buchanan School. Close to 100 girls participate in this structured after-school music education program on any given year. Our Grandville Avenue Girls Choir after-school programs give girls the opportunity to learn the values of perseverance, teamwork, commitment, respect, and friendship—all through the medium of excellent music-making in a nurturing, positive environment.

In addition to offering a high quality of vocal education, our mission further centers on personal growth due to exposure to new experiences through competitions and collaborations. In the most recent season, the choir programs’ programming included:

• Participating in the Treblemakers’ Showtunes Showdown competition in the fall.
• Participating in Celebrate! A Community Arts Day with the Artists Creating Together Choir and Drum Troupe and the Grand Rapids Youth Ballet.
• Visiting Calvin College for campus tours.
• Singing at Porter Hills and Clark Retirement Homes.
• Singing the National Anthem at a Grand Rapids Griffins game.
• Singing at the Roosevelt Park Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony.
• Taking a trip to the city of Chicago which included: attending My Fair Lady at the Lyric Opera Theatre, having pizza at Giordano’s and visiting Navy Pier.
• Visiting Mackinac Island and performing at the Grand Hotel and the Little Stone Church.
• Performing for various companies, organizations and fundraising events, including the University Club Scholarship Breakfast, the Kiwanis Club and Pridgeon & Clay.

On April 21, the GCA will collaborate with the Chicago Children’s Choir at St. Cecilia Music Center at 6:30pm to present “Voices Rising”, a concert open to the community. Then in May, the Grandville Ave Girls Choir will travel to Chicago for “Canto Latino” where they will sing with the Chicago Children’s Choir Humboldt Neighborhood Choir. They will also visit the Chicago Aquarium, and enjoy Giordano’s Pizza.

The Campus Choir program will have all 4 choirs, ages 6-18, perform their Spring Concert at First United Methodist Church (224 Fulton E) on May 21 at 3pm.

GCA is fortunate to have wide ranging financial support from foundations, corporations, and individual donors. Those funding us include among others: Amerikam, Amway, Cook Foundation, Douglas & Maria DeVos Foundation, Pridgeon & Clay, Sebastian Foundation, and Wege Foundation.

For more information, go to www.girlschoralacademy.org or www.facebook.com/girlschoralacademy