Ali Epperson and Stella Maxwell-Putman have spent more than a decade being the adults who say yes to big, messy, creative ideas. Their nonprofit, spilled milk social club, was built on exactly that instinct.
Since 2012, the Austin-based co-founders have built spilled milk social club around a simple but increasingly radical premise: kids need time to just play. The organization, which transitioned from a for-profit business to a nonprofit in 2024, offers after-school care, summer camp, and community education programming centered on free expression, creative collaboration, and child-led fun.
"In today's society, kids' time is filled with scheduled activities," Maxwell-Putman says. "We started spilled milk social club with the importance of free play at the foundation."
That spirit extends to their newest offering: spilled milk song club, a five-Saturday songwriting and recording workshop launching in fall 2026. Rooted in the fan-favorite summer camp session Operation: Rock-N-Roll Nation, song club gives small bands of five to eight kids, guided by local working musicians, the space to write, collaborate, and record an original song at a studio in Austin. The result is a professionally mixed and mastered track that will debut at a culminating Listening Party and be made available on all streaming platforms.
What sets song club apart isn't musical training. "We don't provide instrument lessons," Maxwell-Putman says. "We mainly provide space for young people to create, collaborate, and compromise."
At $250 per child, with sliding-scale options available, the program is designed to reach families beyond spilled milk's existing summer camp community. Enrollment opens Aug. 1. Workshops run Saturdays, Sept. 26 through Oct. 17, with recording sessions Oct. 24-25.
Some of the best songs start with a little mess.
For more information and enrollment, please visit www.nousecrying.com/song-club.