One safe space can change everything.

Music can be the bridge back to voice, confidence, and connection — but only if young artists feel safe enough to express themselves. Your gift creates that space.

Too many teen girls carry anxiety, trauma, and silence into their school day. Arts programs are underfunded. Music education often centers Western norms and shuts out the students who need expression the most. And without a space to be heard, they shut down.

When students don’t have access to creative outlets or trauma-informed mentors, they lose more than just music. They lose a place to process emotions, connect with others, and find their voice. Without safe space, the harm continues — silently.

Girls Write Nashville partners with schools to create expressive, inclusive music programs led by trained, trauma-informed teaching artists. Each session offers snacks, instruments, mentorship, and real tools for songwriting and production — no auditions, no wrong notes, just support.

As a result of our work, a quiet student shares lyrics about her anxiety — and 12 girls snap in recognition. A teen performs her first original song with a guitar she learned to play, and she gains a daily music practice she can turn to in difficult moments. A teaching artist creates space that helps, not harms, for too many of our girls with a background of childhood trauma in a world of increasing stress.

Your gift creates music, mentorship, and safety — all in one room.

• Your $47 gives a student a seat in the weekly Writers Guild circle, where she shares lyrics about her anxiety, 12 other girls snap in recognition, and she realizes she's not alone.
• Your $189 puts a guitar (or electronic instrument) in her hands that she practices with every Tuesday after school, so when she plays her own song at the year-end showcase, she knows she can create something from nothing.
• Your $287 passes around healthy after-school snacks to 15 girls every week for 25 weeks — so no one goes hungry, and every girl is reminded her body deserves to be nourished.
• Your $447 puts three new teaching artists through our trauma-informed training — so that every classroom they lead for years to come becomes that first place where healing can happen.