Kristen Arant

Kristen Arant is a music teacher in a public school in Washington, DC, a drummer known as the drum lady, and the founder of organizations focused on social justice and empowerment. She has been a musician for about 40 years and has worked in music education for 20 to 25 years. An oboe major in college, she later switched to drumming, particularly African drumming with the jembe, which she teaches while emphasizing cultural respect and history. In the early 2000s, she became an activist leading organizations around social justice, peace, and anti-war movements, using drumming as a companion outlet. She founded the Young Women's Drumming Empowerment Project nonprofit in 2005, a summer program using drumming, song, performance, movement, spoken word, and poetry to help young women find their authentic selves and voices. Since 2013, she has led the Belly Belly Rhythm Collective, an all-women's West African drumming ensemble that performs regularly in DC and includes many of her longtime students. She also runs the Drumming Empowerment Mastermind Program, training women to lead their own events, circles, and groups for bettering humanity and expressing their authentic selves.