About
Who gets to choose how women spend their time, their creative gifts and their passions? There are many moms who are musicians, but there are also many moms who have given up making music because they don’t have time or because their attention is pulled in too many directions to allow them to make creative space for themselves. Lindsey Moon, Iowa Public Radio
Mothers in Music Inc. is a nonprofit organization founded in 2023 by Serbian-born, Los Angeles based performer-composer and producer Jasna Gara. After giving birth to her son Theo in early 2022, Jasna found herself motivated to connect with other mothers in the industry, but soon noticed a pattern of challenges each of them faced in the industry not catered to accommodate a family friendly work environment or opportunities, and Mothers in Music was born as the platform to actively work on resolving these obstacles, bring motherhood into the conversation, and support projects by mothers.
Our Mission:
Our mission is to support, educate, connect and empower all mothers and female-identifying parents in the music industry.
Through educational and networking events, summits, workshops, and our unique ambassadorship program, Mothers in Music will enable our members to feel empowered and motivated to continue to create, and will shed light on challenges artists face in the workforce once becoming mothers, ensuring that their voices and needs are respected and implemented.
Our Vision:
Equal opportunities and family-friendly environment for all mothers working in music.
People did not count on me and did not even ask me if I want to take jobs during the first year of motherhood.
Women in Live Music, June 2020
who we are
Educators
Composers
Performers
Engineers
Music Therapists
Theatre Artists
and more!
Motherhood is one of the most rewarding experiences we are grateful to be given, but it's no easy task, and every mother deserves to feel fulfilled in their motherhood role, while staying connected to their creative identity. Your support of Mothers in Music directly contributes to our cause of providing these opportunities and tools for mothers in the creative industry, enabling them to accomplish their projects and creative goals!
Connect with us for updates and learn how to support!
About the Founder
Jasna Gara
(she/her)
Founder/President/CEO
connect with Jasna
info@mothersinmusic.org
Jasna Gara is a Serbian-born, Los Angeles based vocalist, composer and producer. Her first contact with music education began at the age of 8 when she started her piano and music theory studies. At that time she was also a soloist for her hometown children’s choir, that held the national champion title for five years, and performed in various festivals in Loreto (Italy), Civitanova (Italy), Olomouc (Czech Republic), Varna (Bulgaria), Ohrid (North Macedonia) and many others. At the age of 13 she had her first solo performance at the Mini-Tini Festival with the song titled “Sama”/“Alone” written by the famous Serbian composer Jovan Adamov, and soon began actively performing and touring in Europe.
At the age of 16 she started her vocal pedagogy studies in the class of Ana Aleksic Sajrer. As a member of one of the oldest Folklore Ensembles for Dance and Music in the region, Gusle, Jasna started collecting and notating music from field studies, participated and co-hosted international Ethnomusicology summits and assisted in traditional vocal coaching. Under the conducting baton of the famous conductor Darinka Matic Marovic she extended her knowledge and got accepted to LCCM(London Center of Contemporary Music, UK) to major in Performance and Music Production, and was also offered a scholarship to Berklee College of Music (Boston, US) - a result of a very competitive audition process.
After moving to Boston in 2010, parallel to her music studies, Jasna created learning and performance opportunities outside the classroom. She was motivated to musically unite Eastern and Western cultures, who are politically at odds, and started directing performances with students from all around the world at the Berklee International Folk Festival. These performances were ultimately broadcasted on Serbian National Television. As a student assistant, she helped create the Berklee Balkan Choir, which is still an active ensemble at Berklee. With her passion to raise awareness about climate change and education, Jasna volunteered her talents to enact positive change in the world. She was deeply involved in many musical relief projects that benefited the survivors of earthquakes in Japan and Turkey, worked with AmeriCares to give disaster relief to people in crisis in USA and around the world, raised awareness for the Amazon rainforest with the Amazon Aid Foundation and supported quality education for girls with the organisation Because I am a GIRL. She also built an impressive performance resume, singing multiple times at prestigious venues such as the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Massachusetts State House, Paramount Theatre, Boston Symphony Hall, Berklee Performance Center, Agganis Arena, Hatch Memorial Shell, Brighton Music Hall, Outside the Box Festival, TEDx Conference, Walt Disney Concert Hall; at Harvard University she was invited to perform for honorary guests President Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea Clinton in celebrating 100 years of Harvard School of Public Health. As a studio and live performer, Jasna's collaborations include Grammy Award winning artists Bill Whelan, Valerie Simpson, Terry Lynn Carrington and Gerry Allen.
Since moving to Los Angeles in 2016, Jasna graduated from California Institute of the Arts, earning a Master's Degree in Fine Arts, majoring in Composition and Performance. Upon graduation, she was the CalArts teaching artist fellow, providing voice lesson to students at Watts Towers Arts Center, in Watts, CA, and was also the music and creative director of CalArts Expo. Jasna currenlty serves as Los Angeles Opera Production Manager.
In her free time, she loves exploring Los Angeles outdoors with her baby Theo and Border Collie Looper.
Join us!