The singer and her sister — who faced financial struggles growing up — co-founded the Firework Foundation together to help kids in underserved communities
Rony Alwin
Katy Perry and Angela Lerche in 2022.
Katy Perry is one of the bestselling musicians of all time, but the superstar has always dreamed of leaving a legacy beyond her No. 1 hits.
Growing up, the singer — who was raised by strict Pentecostal parents — struggled financially, and her family often relied on food stamps and food banks for their next meal.
“You want to talk about food stamps? I can talk about food stamps. You want to talk about food banks? I can talk about food banks.
You want to talk about busking in the street as a teenager, hoping to make $20 to cover yourself, I can talk about that too,” Perry, 39, who launched the Firework Foundation in 2018 with her older sister Angela Lerche to help kids in underserved communities get access to the arts, tells PEOPLE in its latest issue.
Adds Lerche, who serves as president of the foundation, of helping the kids feel less alone: “A lot of times it’s reminding them that we didn’t come from anything either.
[Katy] wasn’t born into some musical family that had all this access. She worked so hard for so many years to get to be where she is.”
Rony Alwin
Katy Perry and Angela Lerche in 2022 at Camp Firework.
Over the last few years the Firework Foundation has hosted more than 400 middle schoolers to Camp Firework, where kids from underserved areas surrounding Los Angeles participate in songwriting sessions, shoe design workshops and choreography classes.
Both Perry and Lerche are hands on during the camp, and “I’m up with them in the morning, and they’re throwing whipped cream on me in the evening,” says Perry.
“The kids know me as the girl that sang ‘Roar’ or ‘Dark Horse,’ but I hope [by the end] they [think], ‘I too can live out my dreams like Katy Perry. She’s just like me, in a lot of goofy ways.'”
Campers are also encouraged to take what they’ve learned — including mental health tools like Transcendental Meditation — back into the real world.
“We [want to] support these young people throughout their whole education journey,” Perry says of the kids, some of whom have gone on to participate in the foundation’s Leaders in Training program, which partners with schools like FIDM for design workshops and LAAMP for week-long music programs.
Seeing tangible growth in the campers has been an emotional experience for Lerche, who calls working with her sister on the foundation a “dream.”
“I’m just so grateful. It’s so overwhelming because you hear so many stories from these kids, and what it’s like back home and what they’re dealing with,” says Lerche.
“They give so much to us, and I’m just grateful that we’re able to show them that there is something better out there.”
Adds Perry: “If in a hundred years nobody knows Katy Perry or the song ‘Firework,’ but they know what the Firework Foundation is, then I’ll have fulfilled my purpose.”
News
A Creative Journey: Lady Gaga’s Artistic Growth and Fearless Embrace of Individuality
The weirdness and craziness of star Lady Gaga’s outfits have been increasing every day. Even if she were dressed in rags and beggar clothes, no one would be surprised. Lady Gaga created her own unique, shocking fashion line that no…
Gaga’s Street Style: No Bras, Semi-Sheer Top, and Daring Daisy Dukes in NYC
Lady Gaga recently unveiled the much-anticipated track list for her latest album, Joanne, and she is certainly not shying away from the limelight. The singer was spotted in New York on Saturday confidently flaunting her unique fashion sense. Her daring…
VIDEO : Unexpected Flashback: Old Footage Resurfaces Showing Lady Gaga’s Unusual On-Stage Act with a Girl Vomiting on Her Chest
It’s come back up. A clip of a woman making herself vomit on Lady Gaga during her SXSW performance in 2014 has resurfaced online — and the bile hasn’t aged well. Gaga, 36, incorporated performance artist Millie Brown into her choreography…
My First Piano Teacher Was a Stripper’: Lady Gaga Reveals Dad Hired a Stripper as Her Music Teacher, Linking it to Her Signature Long Nails
Lady Gaga is one of the popular artists who’s known for image reinventions and musical versatility. She rose to fame with her debut studio album, The Fame in 2007 with its chart-topping singles Just Dance and Poker Face. She is not only…
20 Bizarre Photos Prove That Lady Gaga Is The Most Unhinged Fashion Icon Ever
One of the most iconic and multi-talented artists of our time, Lady Gaga, with worldwide hits such as Bad Romance, Judas, and Born This Way, is also known as a composer, an actress, and above all, a fashionista. Known as…
Lady Gaga Goes Makeup-Free for Oscars Performance, Letting People See the Real Her
Oscars executive producer reveals Lady Gaga decided to go makeup-free during her performance to show people the ‘real’ her. Featured Image Credit: ABC Yesterday (March 13), the musician stunned viewers with a performance of the Oscar-nominated song ‘Hold My Hand’…
End of content
No more pages to load