Girl Be Heard’s primary programs are the Girl Empowerment workshops, which are held after school and on Sundays, where participants work on original theatrical materials based on social justice issues. The second core program, the Mainstage Theatre program, has GBH participants audition to create and perform in annual mainstage shows. Pre-Covid, the show had a two week run off-Broadway. Post-Covid, the show was staged online. GBH believes that its current programming does not address the needs of its majority Black and Brown participants. The curriculum and framework are old and were not created with a focus on minority populations. To address this need, Girl Be Heard will hire an arts-education specialist to help revise the curriculum to be more culturally inclusive and to have a leadership component for youth of color.
This grant will support improvements to services for young women and gender expansive youth ages 12-21 at Girl Be Heard.
