Doodle girls: Online high school aims to empower young women

International – A team of female role models has joined forces to launch the School of Doodle, a free online learning lab dedicated to empowering teenage girls through teaching the arts.

Now on Kickstarter, the school will be set up as a peer-to-peer digital learning community and offer a range of classes and tutorials led by artists, including Marina Abramovic, Rodarte and Kim Gordon. The aim of the project is to teach girls to speak up and express their creativity – a set of qualities that the organisers of the campaign define as being loud. 

Described as a self-directed, peer-to-peer community, the platform will offer teenage girls the chance to learn from others as well as to teach lessons and give tutorials to other members. Instead of grades, students who contribute to the community will be rewarded with Doodle Dollars that they can use to buy offline experiences and products, from inspiring field trips to art supplies.

An impressive line-up of female artists and activists are already backing the campaign, including Yoko Ono, Pussy Riot, Yayoi Kusama, Sia and Arianna Huffington. 

To find out more about women embracing their community and using it to promote female empowerment, read our macrotrend The Athena Woman.