El Paso Jazz Girls
About Us
El Paso Jazz Girls is a non-profit organization for young female musicians to learn about jazz, write their own music, and build a support system all at no cost to participants. Our mission is to empower girls in a supportive community that fosters self-expression, confidence, and collaboration through music education and performance.
"This program is the reason why I believe in myself!" - Chantal Camus, El Paso Jazz Girls participant 2018 - 2020, and Junior Teaching Artist 2024
“I appreciate so much the effort going towards this program and think it's a super important aspect of the jazz scene. Thank you for all you've done :)” – Daniela, 2020 El Paso Jazz Girls participant
Why Jazz?
Jazz music has significant cognitive, social, and emotional learning benefits that are essential to young females, regardless of what career they pursue. Through jazz composition, participants develop leadership and improvisational skills, which stem from self-creation, exploration, and that feed into self-confidence, flexible mindsets and problem-solving skills. We want confident, problem-solving, females in our work force who can create innovative solutions – qualities that are fundamental to jazz composition and improvisation.
We use an inclusive definition of "female" and "girls" and welcome trans girls, as well as genderqueer, non-binary, and gender non-conforming students.
Why we do what we do:
In the last decade only 7 girls have made Texas All-State Jazz Band. A recent USC Annenberg study found that only 12.6% of professional composers were women/non-binary. There is clearly a lack of diversity, both in institutions and professional settings and El Paso Jazz Girls is making direct, practical progress towards changing these demographics in our local music community and beyond. Locally, we’ve changed gender demographics in All-Region Jazz Band by growing female participation from 8% to 17%.
According to research done by Dr. Ariel Alexander, most young girls don’t join or drop out of jazz education due to the masculine image of jazz, gender stereotypes of instruments, and competitive and dominating settings. El Paso Jazz Girls is making direct, practical strides towards breaking these barriers.
We foster confidence, exploration, and camaraderie amongst females. Professional women in music are sharing their stories and skills with young girls, and students are given the opportunity to meet and play with girls they would have never met otherwise, building friendships, encouraging one another, and changing the dynamic of music education.
