This summer, a small handful of teens will have the opportunity to write and produce music in a collaborative, professional studio environment when the inaugural Amplify Arts Project x Push-Up Bra LA Writers Camp takes place in Los Angeles. The five-day intensive, open to 14 to 19-year-old girls and gender-expansive youth, includes songwriting sessions with professional mentors and workshops on subjects like music publishing and marketing.
“We want to give them a positive first impression of what it’s like to be in a recording studio,” says Devin Davis of Amplify Arts Project (and also of the band Ramonda Hammer), the organization that runs music and arts summer camps for girls. To do this, Amplify partnered with Push-Up Bra LA, a local non-profit working to empower women in music through writing camps, live performances and networking events. The goal of this summer’s teen Writers Camp is to function much in the same way a professional one would.
“Writing camps happen all the time and it’s such a cool experience to have at a young age to do that,” says Zealyn, founder of Push-Up Bra LA.
Maybe you’re wondering, what’s a songwriting camp? These are events held by recording artists, record labels, publishers and other entities looking for new material where songwriters and producers get together for a few days in the studio to write. “Typically, the main goal is collaboration,” says Zealyn. “It’s people that you wouldn’t technically work with and you get the chance to because so-and-so put the camp on.”
The ten participants will be split up into pairs and each duo will work with two pros— a songwriter and a producer— to write a collaborative piece that they will then register with performing rights organization BMI, one of the camp’s sponsors. Other sponsors include long-running punk record label Epitaph and indie music distributor CD Baby. The studio time will be held at Just for the Record in Burbank, while the workshop days will take place at Glendale event space Junior High.
The program will also accept five teen videographers who will shadow a pro as they hone their own documentary skills. “The aspects of this will be focused more on behind-the-scenes and capturing stuff for social media,” says Davis.
While the goal is to release the music, and maybe perform them live too, the greater ambition is to provide mentorship for young artists. “It was just the perfect collaboration to make this mentorship program that shows girls that they don’t need to squash themselves or make themselves smaller in a writing room,” says Zealyn. “We want to get rid of that concept right from the get-go and make sure that their voices are very loud and heard and very confident.”
Applications for the program are open through April 15, 2026 and prospective campers will need to submit samples of their work.
Liz O. is an L.A.-based writer and DJ. Follow on Instagram or sign up for the weekly, Beatique newsletter for updates on new stories and gigs.
Listen to Beatique, April 2026 on Mixcloud, featuring music from Slayyyter, Kneecap, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Armand Van Helden and more.
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