Goshen’s Institute for Musical Arts seems a modest place. It consists of just a house and outbuildings. Enter one of those buildings—the big red barn—however, and it becomes clear that what’s inside is much larger than the building’s footprint should allow.
Whatever the reason, the rock and roll tradition has always been dominated by men. There are, of course, lots of women who figured prominently early on, from Motown “girl groups” to firebrands like Janis Joplin and Tina Turner. Plenty of guitar-wielding women preach the word now, women like DIY royalty Ani diFranco and songcrafters Norah Jones and Erin McKeown.
Fostering the particularly female creation of music is the focus at IMA. Spearheading the effort are Creative Director June Millington and Executive Director Ann Hackler. IMA began in northern California in 1986, but these days what was the East Coast branch office (founded in 2001) has become the sole property.
Inside their barn, Hackler and Millington have created a space both beautiful and welcoming. High ceilings are capped by cupolas that let light in. The main space holds a stage on which the girls who come to music camp here get to perform. It’s a homey, perfect space for up-close and personal music. Around the corner lies a gorgeous (and enormous) studio with top-of-the-line equipment, a smaller second studio, and a bunk room for campers. The collection of instruments sprawls everywhere, peppered here and there with pink guitars, as well as the six-strings that Millington herself plays.
The primary activity of IMA is hosting all-female music camps in the summer, five-day experiences that draw girls from the Valley and much further afield, girls who want to learn how to make songs, but perhaps more importantly, how to command a stage as performers.
Millington is a veteran of all-female band Fanny, which enjoyed considerable success in the ’70s (about them David Bowie later said, “Revivify Fanny. And I will feel that my work is done.”). She’s navigated the world of rock as a female performer, and in her view, girls make music with considerations unlike those of boys.
“Boys play louder and faster,” says Millington. “It’s important that girls have their space, a space where they don’t have to worry about competing for attention.”
Creating that kind of space—what Millington refers to as “a creative prana that they’re swimming in”—yields interesting results. Girls clearly gain confidence, explains Hackler, often moving from self-deprecation to wholehearted embracing of the sounds they make in that five-day span.
The results are readily observed in the Valley with performers like Naia Kete and Sonya Kitchell, who’ve spent plenty of time in the IMA barn. Regional performers like Kristen Ford and Erin McKeown are also frequently part of the IMA scene. The more IMA-related women become visible in all aspects of the recording industry, the closer Millington, Hackler and their companions in the IMA adventure get to finding out what happens when girls become women with a fully realized and distinctly female musical vision.
This week, their cause gets a boost when former Monkee Peter Tork visits the IMA barn to play with his band, Shoe Suede Blues.
Peter Tork plays Nov. 13, 8 p.m., $15-50/suggested donation, IMA, 165 Cape St., Goshen, (413) 268-3074, ima.org.
