Local songwriters, poets, arts, crafts and food vendors will host the inaugural Teal Arts Festival on Saturday, September 14 from noon to 5 pm. The festival will benefit the Lowcountry Ovarian Cancer Alliance (LOCA), and will be held at the Barn Jam grounds at the Sewee Outpost, sponsored by Awendaw Green. Advance tickets will be available here.
The American Cancer Society estimates for the United States in 2024:
- About 19,680 women will receive a new diagnosis of ovarian cancer.
- About 12,740 women will die from ovarian cancer.
Mike Kaufman, David Perry, Martine Friedman, Lisa Spears, Pernell McDaniel, Bob Call, Jeep White, Tom Kinney, Alan Hartley, Jerry Lee Gilchrist ,and Ryan Walsh will all perform at the festival, held this year at the Awendaw Green Barn Jam grounds in Awendaw."
“We did an evening concert last year in Mount Pleasant,” said Kaufman, “and raised about $1000 for research, treatment and support.”
Kaufman lost his wife to the disease in 2021.
“I realized that, with a little more effort we could put on a bigger event and hopefully raise a lot more money," he said. "Eddie White from Awendaw Green was willing to let us use the space for a 5 hour festival at no cost! We decided to make it a family-friendly, fun event, and reached out to some food and crafts vendors as well."
“Just about everybody performing this year was part of the initial event. Each of them said to me, ‘Iet’s do it again next year!’ Jeep White and Ryan Walsh reached out to play for this event. None of us are getting paid for this one – it’s all in support of the Lowcountry Ovarian Cancer Alliance.”
An interprofessional group of students from the Medical University of South Carolina will be present at the event as volunteers. These students are passionate about increasing community awareness and support for gynecologic cancers now and in their future careers as health professionals.
Caroline Kittrell, LOCA Board Member said, “LOCA is incredibly grateful to the community partners, artists, and volunteers for planning and executing the Teal Arts Festival. All contributions from this event will allow us to gift each patient diagnosed with ovarian or other gynecologic cancer a bag of necessities for their chemotherapy treatment, provide a monthly lunch support group for survivors and those undergoing treatment, and fund our awareness and research efforts.”
The Lowcountry Ovarian Cancer Alliance was founded by ovarian cancer survivors, healthcare professionals, health professional students, and caring community members. We are striving towards a cure, bolstering local gynecological cancer patients, and raising awareness of ovarian cancer.
